Roche Denise: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRoche Denise: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 30 April 2015. Volume:704;Page:3075. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]5.DENISE ROCHE (Green)to the Minister of Transport: Does he stand by his statement that “Auckland must have a transport system that meets the demands of its growing population and we are committed to working with the Auckland Council to help make sure Auckland succeeds”?Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Minister of Transport):Yes.Denise Roche: Why will he not invest in a congestion-free network in Auckland one that costs less than his current plan and one that will save Aucklanders from rate and levy hikes?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: I would love to see such a plan.Denise Roche: Does he agree that if the Government adjusted its transport-funding priorities in Auckland the new transport levies on households and businesses announced today would not be necessary?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: I am not responsible for the transport levies. I think what is important from the Government’s perspective is that Auckland has a strong transport strategy in place and that is certainly the case before we can start to think about how we will fund that.Denise Roche: Why is he proposing to wait two more elections before committing to build the City Rail Link the most critical missing piece of Auckland’s transport infrastructure?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: In fact we have brought that project forward by a decade—2020. We have committed to a business case of it in 2017 and then to getting on with preparation and planning for making it happen. I think it is worth noting that we spend $1 billion a year on transport in Auckland. We have spent $1.6 billion on the metropolitan rail and the electrification of that. That is $1.6 billion more spent on public transport than the Green Party ever has. We have done a host of projects in Auckland because we back that city. We will continue to do so.Denise Roche: Will he commit to providing new funding in this year’s Budget to build the City Rail Link given the latest rail patronage statistics showing growth so strong that it will reach his own patronage target 3 years ahead of schedule in 2017?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: It is not for me to preannounce the Budget and decisions in that. What I certainly can say is that we are always interested in ways to reduce congestion in Auckland and ways to improve public transport. In fact what we have seen so far in terms of Mayor Brown’s preferred plan in Auckland does not do that sufficiently in the 2030s and 2040s. We want to work with him with the council and with Auckland to make a better more optimal plan that does deal better with congestion and public transport.Denise Roche: Does it make sense to fast track the expensive Pūhoi to Wellsford motorway a motorway with declining traffic volumes at the cost of not investing in Auckland rail when nearly twice as many people use Auckland’s rail network as use the State highway between Pūhoi and Wellsford last year?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: These things are not either/or. In fact that highway is and will be a very significant and important economic game-changer for the Northland region. It is important that it is a connected area to Auckland. I think it will also be good for Aucklanders to have that. I think we can do that and we can also fund excellent public transport. As I say I am committed to working with Auckland to make sure that happens.Denise Roche: Will he support the Green Party plan for Auckland transport that could meet the city’s transport needs without new levies simply by redirecting its transport budget away from wasteful spending on motorways towards a congestion-free network?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Given that the National Government has spent more on public transport in terms of electrification of rail and metropolitan rail than the Green Party ever has and given that we have the most transformative urban cycleway package ever in the history of this country I think it is highly unlikely that we would back a Green Party plan.Denise Roche: Is it fair to say that his Government is out of touch with the vast majority of Aucklanders who consistently say they want alternatives to motorways to escape congestion while he consistently spends the vast majority of their taxes on motorways? How long will he leave Aucklanders waiting for the train?Mr SPEAKER: The Hon Simon Bridges—either of those two questions.Hon SIMON BRIDGES: I think the member has a very simplistic view of life. This is a Government that yes does spend money on roads because that is still where 99 percent of commuters commute from. But we also have spent more than any other Government on metropolitan rail in our largest centres—indeed the same is true in relation to urban cycleways. We are delivering a game-changing package in that area for Auckland Wellington and Christchurch.Denise Roche: I seek leave to table a Generation Zero report Fix Our City which shows that you cannot fix Auckland’s—Mr SPEAKER: Order! It is a Generation Zero report. What is the date of it and then I will put the leave?Denise Roche: March 2015.Mr SPEAKER: On the basis that it may not be easy for members to get I will put the leave. Leave is sought to table that particular report. Is there any particular objection? There is none. It can be tabled.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.David Seymour: Has the Minister seen any modelling within the Congestion Free Network by Generation Zero and adopted by the Green Party of the effects it would have on trip times for trips that Aucklanders actually make in everyday life?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: No but I think we know the answer to that though. Indeed the same can be said of the mayor’s preferred plan that despite the investment in public transport it does not really make any difference in terms of congestion into the 2020s 30s and 40s. That is why I am committed to working with the mayor and the council to see a better plan that does deal with congestion and that does see a mode shift to public transport in a sensible orderly and value-for-money way.David Seymour: Will the Minister consider allowing Auckland Council to use time-sensitive congestion pricing on the motorway network to help raise revenue and ease congestion there?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: I think they are all interesting issues—demand management and pricing broadly. They are not ones for today and indeed I think that a primary reason for that is we do not yet have a strategy with the right projects and the projects prioritised in the right way to justify such funding tools.