9. Hon DARREN HUGHES (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister of Transport
How are last week’s transport announcements totally consistent with the statement in the Speech from the Throne that “of particular focus will be the development of new roading and public transport projects.”?
Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister of Transport) Link to this
I am pleased to report that they are totally consistent, because in the course of last week’s announcements we have committed very sizable investments to both. Last week we announced a 31 percent increase in actual funding for public transport services over actual expenditure for the last 3 years, in addition to a Government commitment to provide $750 million worth of electric trains in both Wellington and Auckland. This is on top of the half a billion dollars worth of rail-track upgrades that ONTRACK is already committed to, and the further $600 million spent by the previous Government on the double tracking of Auckland’s rail. For roading, we have increased funding for new State highway construction by almost $1 billion over the next 3 years, and $4.1 billion over the 10-year period.
Hon Darren Hughes Link to this
Does the Minister believe that there is a mandate to increase taxes by 6c a litre, thus forcing all New Zealanders to contribute funding to only part of Auckland’s transport needs—a plan that was well developed by local people—and why was such a move not signalled in recent pre-election documents or in the Speech from the Throne?
I can report that 3c of the 6c the member refers to was scheduled by the previous Government, which scheduled a 4.5c a litre increase in national taxes over 3 years, alongside the 9.5c Auckland regional fuel tax that it scheduled. It just forgot to tell Auckland that that added up to 14c a litre over 3 years.
Nicky WagnerUnfortunately, the previous Labour Government left office having signed off on a Government policy statement that projected a 9 percent reduction in new State highway construction over the next 3 years. This was despite the fact that 70 percent of all freight in New Zealand goes by road, and about 84 percent of people go to work by car, truck, or motorbike. The Labour Government’s slow-down of State highway construction would have occurred at the very time that the economy most needed State highway construction to increase.
Hon Darren Hughes Link to this
Why does the Minister of Transport think Kiwis will accept paying an additional 6c a litre to fund his half-baked ideas for Auckland, when his own Cabinet papers show that he is cutting spending on the renewal, maintenance, and operation of State highways by $123 million, and is cutting spending on the same issues for local roads by $75 million? How is that fair?
The reality is that we are not cutting expenditure on those items. We are increasing expenditure, but just not at quite the same rate that Labour was proposing, so that we can invest more—in fact, $1 billion more—in State highway infrastructure around the country over the next 3 years.
Keith LockeHow many new public transport projects has the Minister announced since he took office, or are they all pre-existing projects, some of whose public funding is less certain now, such as the building of new railway stations in Auckland?
We have not announced significant new public transport projects. What we have done is change the funding of Auckland transport projects. We have focused transport expenditure to match the modes of transport available to New Zealanders to get to and from work every day, such as car, truck, motorcycle, bus, or train.
Hon Darren Hughes Link to this
Do the deep cuts to public transport of nearly half a billion dollars over what had been scheduled mean that the prospect of new electric trains working before the Rugby World Cup in 2011 has now disappeared, and that Kiwis and tourists will still have to fork out $70 for a taxi ride from the city to the airport?