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David Seymour
ACT Party Leader
Michael Wood needs to scrap his proposed Land Transport Government Policy Statement (GPS) and start again. Instead of governing for the needs of New Zealanders as he was elected to do, he is trying to force them to change their own behaviour to fit his own narrow worldview.
Wood’s attempts to use recent weather events as justification for his plan to cut roading improvements and invest in more cycleways are pathetic. If Kiwis have learnt anything from the past couple of months it is the need for safe and resilient roading infrastructure, not less maintenance and more cycleways.
The GPS is centred around changing peoples’ behaviours so the country can meet the objectives of the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP), the briefing states:
“To deliver the ERP targets, many New Zealanders will need to adjust their behaviours in a variety of ways. This means that we are asking people to change their current habits or routines while encouraging a new way of doing things.”
This is the sort of central planning of peoples’ lives that ACT warned about when we were the only party to not support the Zero Carbon Act. When all of those other political parties chose political theatre instead of practical climate policy via the Emissions Trading Scheme, they signed Kiwis up to micro-managing policy like this.
The good news is that if you look at light rail, chances are Labour will fail to achieve any of their plans. Unfortunately projects that would actually help people like the Northwestern busway also fail to get off the ground.
In the meantime the people who are trying to get their kids from hockey to the doctor, while picking something up from the dairy on the way home find life becoming increasingly difficult as parking disappears and roads degrade.
It is at odds with the Government’s own policy as well. Remember how the Government made tradies driving utes subsidise new Teslas? As unfair as that policy is, it is even more pointless when the low emissions vehicles Labour is trying to coax people into also can’t find a park. People will probably need a 4WD to handle New Zealand’s declining roads.
Labour is already skimping on road maintenance and Kiwis are feeling the effects. ACT has previously revealed that 2022 saw a record number of complaints to NZTA regarding damage from poorly maintained roads. We also revealed the Government has reduced the amount of structural asphalt resurfacing by more than half, replacing it with thin asphalt coverings.
If New Zealand is going to grow in prosperity we need better roading infrastructure. ACT says one of the best options to fairly fund new roads and manage demand on existing ones is to toll them. Electronic road pricing is increasingly used around the world. Put another way, we would give people currently stuck in traffic the opportunity to pay for new roads if they choose to.
The NZTA and Kiwirail both operate massive networks of transport infrastructure, both with very limited sources of funding due to their Government ownership and statutory provisions. ACT would transform them to become utilities more comparable to Chorus, regulated private networks required to provide a service to customers using the flexibility and discipline of a business.
The Government’s sole focus for the roading network should be getting people from A to B as safely and efficiently as possible. That’s what ACT stands for.
