Halbert Shanan; Salesa JennySPECIAL DEBATESInquiry into Congestion Pricing in Auckland—Report of Transport and Infrastructure CommitteeSHANAN HALBERT (Chairperson of the Transport and Infrastructure Committee): I move That the House take note of the report of the Transport and Infrastructure Committee on the inquiry into congestion pricing in Auckland.Auckland's population is projected to rise to 2 million by early next decade. In order to move 2 million people around our largest city safely and efficiently we need well-planned connected infrastructure. As the member of Parliament for Northcote and someone who literally lives and breathes Tāmaki-makau-rau Auckland I hear daily the urgency to address congestion to unblock our roads to give time back to families while alleviating mental health pressures and supporting economic productivity in our largest city in this country. That requires ambition. We cannot continue to repeat past mistakes of ad hoc planning and a scramble to build infrastructure when it is all too late. The challenges that we experience in playing catch-up now are driving us crazy and that is impacting on our city yet options like congestion charging need to be seriously considered to support mode shift and to provide funding for us to do this. The question that we ask ourselves is: would you pay the price of a coffee to get to where you need to faster? Aucklanders know what traffic is like during the school holidays and that in fact is what congestion pricing can achieve for us instantly. Transport is one of our largest sources of emissions and accounts for 17 percent or one-sixth of total greenhouse gas emissions and equally it is an area where we all can make a difference immediately. As a part of this Government I'm committed to ensuring that all people have a chance to change the way that they travel. I acknowledge that this Government is upgrading New Zealand's transport system to make it safer to make it greener and more efficient for now and future generations to come. That is about ensuring that our generations and our communities have good options and tools available for them for the trips that they need to make around our busiest city and our commitment to infrastructure investment will continue to play a critical role in securing our economy and recovering from the pandemic that we have experienced.The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is a select committee that I am very proud to be the chair of. We received 435 submissions back in March 2021 and we heard from 41 submitters in Auckland and Wellington and we also met with colleagues offshore where they have implemented congestion pricing.Can I acknowledge the former chairperson and now Deputy Speaker Greg O'Connor who was part of our team on our select committee; Paul Eagle; Julie Anne Genter; Christopher Luxon; Dr James McDowall; the Hon Mark Mitchell; Terisa Ngobi; and Helen White. We worked constructively as a team to seriously review the opportunities that congestion pricing could play in Tāmaki-makau-rau Auckland and worked through the terms of reference together to ensure that we could get the best outcomes for our people and for our communities.We made a number of recommendations in this report to this House: firstly that we progress legislation to enable New Zealand cities to use congestion pricing as a tool in transport planning. Number two was to implement a congestion pricing scheme in Auckland including as described in The Congestion Question technical report a region-wide strategic corridor scheme starting in the central city where access is charged for and that would apply once per journey in peak times. This would use the automatic number plate recognition—ANPR—technology to identify vehicles that incur a charge. The recommendation would be to undertake broad public engagement to help people understand the cost as well as the benefits of a specific scheme and that the House would consider whether existing schemes could be used to reduce the inequity that we faced in Auckland caused by implementing a congestion charge—and this came through very clearly from submitters and via the committee.We recommended that we use any revenue raised by the congestion pricing scheme to mitigate equity impacts on people and communities in Auckland and in fact that that money was reinvested in the public and active transport in the region where the charge would apply. It would undertake research into whether changes to or the removal of the Auckland regional fuel tax may be appropriate if congestion pricing is implemented and it would investigate the potential for any enabling legislation for congestion pricing to also provide for low-emission zones in our city and closely monitor the effectiveness of any congestion pricing scheme and act promptly to mitigate any unintended congestion in areas not included in the network.We really thank the submitters in this inquiry for the contribution that they made. They came with energy but they also came with a robust debate. They saw the opportunity in front of them to de-congest our city—to move around more quickly—but they did come up with key themes that they wanted us to consider and that particularly was around the inequity that some people in our city face but also some of the challenges that that presented and potential rat-run challenges in the congestion environment.We believe public input on this matter is important and we want to continue that and we believe that it is important that information about the benefits of a congestion pricing scheme is shared very widely because what the public will see first and foremost is the cost that is put in front of them and in our costs of living challenges that our country faces at the moment. We also want to present the opportunity—and I started my presentation in the House today talking about: for the price of a cup of coffee would you pay that to get yourself or your family to somewhere faster? That is the opportunity that congestion pricing presents to Aucklanders.On the Government front congestion pricing is a new initiative for New Zealand. We have spoken offshore to our counterparts but that means that we want to build a sustained support that will be necessary to demonstrate success through regular monitoring and review points. Schemes submitted for approval would need to set out the monitoring review and arrangements. Regarding the concerns raised by the committee which I talked about before—the rat-running—the Government agrees that people need to feel confident that congestion will not simply move from a main road into residential areas and that they are not designed for high volumes of traffic. I think that's a very important point that came up in this inquiry because people will try to avoid the costs that are put in front of them but that will impact on our suburban areas. A careful scheme design is required to reduce the risk of rat-running and monitoring of any scheme with the ability to amend it is essential. The technology solution proposed in The Congestion Question report—the ANPR cameras—is relatively flexible and low-cost in terms of installation meaning that a scheme could be adjusted to cover the relevant streets if rat-running takes place.I want to acknowledge finally in my final minute the contribution from Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau or Auckland Council and I acknowledge that we have had an election since then. But I suspect that their contribution and their commitment to congestion pricing remains the same. Auckland could benefit from a sustainable 8 to 12 percent improvement in network performance in line with school holiday conditions and I think it's an important part for Aucklanders that we see the opportunity to reduce trip times for where we're going at any time of the day and that we reduce demand for peak period and overall traffic volumes. It acts as an incentive to encourage more and more people to use our public transport system in Auckland and ultimately helps achieve our climate goals for what is one of the biggest challenges in front of our transport sector.So without further ado I'm very pleased with the report that the Transport and Infrastructure Committee sent back to the House. I think there's a great opportunity for us to consider further in congestion pricing for Aucklanders and as an MP in Auckland and the member for Northcote I see the opportunities primarily for my own community. Thank you very much.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): Ngā mihi nui. The question is that the motion be agreed to.