21 May 2004

At Last A Credible Commitment To Auckland Transport

“At last a major political party is demonstrating it understands Auckland’s transport problems and coming up with credible plans to fix them”, Roger Kerr, executive director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable, said today.

“Don Brash’s speech to the chamber of commerce made simple, common sense points which politicians have shied away from recognising: fixing the roading system is by far the most important part of the solution; public transport has a role to play but it is a smaller one; buses are likely to be much more economic than most rail projects; and many obstacles, such as Resource Management Act constraints, need to be cleared out of the way to make things happen.”

Mr Kerr said that the government’s efforts to grapple with Auckland’s problems still fell far short of what is required. Its transport policy was bedevilled by Green Party politics. The Local Government (Auckland) Bill which sets up an Auckland Regional Transport Authority is a mess, as all business organisations have been saying in submissions.

“What is needed, not just for Auckland but for New Zealand as a whole, is less politics and more commercial decision making in the roading sector, including better charging mechanisms wherever they are economic. The National Party’s grasp of many of these realities comes as a breath of fresh air”, Mr Kerr concluded.

ENDS

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