Dear John,

National’s Transport Infrastructure Policy

I am excited to follow up on the Transport Infrastructure policy announcement that includes the Mill Road four lanes upgrade being a project at the top of a National Government’s priority list.

Improving roads like Mill Road will relieve traffic congestion in many areas south of Manukau. It will keep traffic moving when there are accidents on SH 1 and also unlock land needed for housing growth.

The very comprehensive Transport Infrastructure policy covers New Zealand’s needs to maintain and improve existing roads as well as build new ones and invest in better public transport options too.

National has released a bold, comprehensive 10-year Transport for the Future plan to give New Zealanders faster, safer options for all types of travel like boosting public transport from in Auckland and Wellington that will bring us into the 21st century.

We want New Zealand to be a leading small, advanced economy with modern reliable infrastructure that drives prosperity and lifts living standards for New Zealanders.

From past National governments you will know that National doesn’t just talk. We build things. We started the Waikato Expressway, Transmission Gully, Waterview Tunnel and the City Rail Link and the widening of State Highway One from Manukau to Papakura.

The new Transport for the Future plan starts with building or completing 13 Roads of National Significance and it will include improving resilience against wear and tear and big weather events.

National’s policies will boost public transport infrastructure in Auckland and it will align with the priority road plans of Auckland Council and Mayor Wayne Brown.

The Transport for the Future projects will:

• Include a rapid transit network for Auckland, with public transport corridors in the Northwest, Airport to Botany, and completion of the Eastern Busway.
  
  
• Focus: The centrepiece which is a long-term plan for the completed four-lane motorway from Whangārei to Tauranga that will improve life for people getting around for business and leisure and additionally improve productivity and cost effectiveness for exporters and importers as goods and freight haulage will become more efficient.
  
  
• Cost: The total package is costed at $24 billion. National’s projects are properly costed and funded. A National Government will fund about $14 billion, and we’ll use private capital to get some of the work done, as happens overseas, so taxpayers do not have to pick up the full tab.

Labour released its Transport policy that includes a huge project to build tunnels for Auckland Harbour at a massive cost of $45 billion. This policy was launched by Sir John Key in 2016 when it would have cost $5.4 billion and would have been well progressed by now.

Instead, Labour cancelled it and spent hundreds of millions on investigating Light Rail for Auckland at a project cost of $30 billion. National have never supported Light Rail and it appears Labour have now abandoned it too, after spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on nothing.

Labour has spent more than $1 billion a week than National did when in office. But Labour has not started any of the infrastructure projects that it promised over the last six years.

Cost of Living Crisis

Labour’s answer to the cost-of-living crisis is to remove the GST from fruit and vegetables - an announcement that immediately showed a $135 million hole. The proposal costed at $365 million, only accounts for the cost of losing GST for nine months of the 2023/24 Budget. The cost for a whole year of this policy will actually be around $500,000 every year.

The Government says this measure will save households $20 per month on the average family spend of $130 a month on fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables.

National’s tax plan will mean that people get to spend their own money on what will benefit their families the most and that might be more vegetables.

National can give tax relief because we will stop wasteful spending when we are the government and this will include reducing bureaucracy. We will send more resources to the front lines of Health, Tackling Crime and Education.

National will strengthen the economy, support businesses to improve productivity and lift incomes which will reduce the cost of living and its negative effects. We will manage and make decisions that account for the consequences of the measures introduced and ensure they are beneficial to everyone.

A note of respect for Murray Guy

It with sadness that I note the passing of Murray Guy, whose funeral I attended at the Papakura Anglican Church on 21 August. It was a very big tribute to this all-round lovely man, also a stalwart of Rotary. My condolences to his son Michael Guy who runs Guy’s Life Pharmacy Papakura in the Roselands Shopping Centre and to the other members of the Guy family. Murray will be greatly missed.

Auckland Transport July August consultation results and Speed Consultation

For those who participated in Have your say on Auckland Transport’s revised Regional Public Transport Plan 2023-2031, the results are on the at.govt.nz website. You can read all or select the South Auckland consultations which cover Hingaia Road and Hayfield Way in Karaka; Te Makuru Lane, Maraetai; Walters Road, 14 Clevedon Road, Settlement Road, Smiths Avenue and Cosgrave and Old Wairoa Roads in Papakura.

A consultation on Speed Management for Auckland is now available until 28 August - please see here for details.

Best wishes for the fortnight ahead,
Judith