Goff Phil: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers Questions to MembersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeGoff Phil: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members[Sitting date: 17 June 2015. Volume:706;Page:4481. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]7.Hon PHIL GOFF (Labour—Mt Roskill) to the Minister of Transport: Why has he rejected Auckland City’s transport strategy and its proposals to fund that strategy?Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Minister of Transport): It is tremendous to see “His Worship” out of the starting blocks—Mr SPEAKER: Order! Just answer the question.Hon SIMON BRIDGES: I wish him well. We do not believe that Auckland Council’s current transport strategy is good enough for Aucklanders. It will deliver only very modest improvements in areas that matter most to Aucklanders—namely tackling congestion and greater public transport use. That is why the Minister of Finance and I have written to the mayor to initiate an engagement process to do better for Aucklanders and to improve alignment between central government and the council. I confirm that we will be OK working with “His Worship” Phil Goff if that comes to pass.Hon Phil Goff: Why did he wait until after Auckland Transport Auckland Council and his own agency the New Zealand Transport Agency had worked together over a long period to reach consensus on a transport strategy only then to reject it instead of working collaboratively with those groups on the problem right from the outset?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: I was very clear right from the get-go that that was the time line we were working to and when we would seek to formally engage. I think it is an exaggeration to say that there is consensus between those parties.Hon Phil Goff: Why is he holding up the implementation of this strategy to tackle Auckland’s urgent transport problems by asking for yet another report which will take at least another year when Aucklanders have been widely consulted on this strategy and when a Colmar Brunton survey of 5000 Aucklanders has shown that they strongly support this strategy?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Well I reject nearly all of that. Let us be very clear: in the face of decelerating investment in transport by Auckland this Government continues to put the lion’s share of funding into Auckland transport. We are getting on with the job while also engaging. We can actually do two things at once Mr Goff. Whether it is the Victoria Park Tunnel whether it is the Waterview Connection whether it is the electrification of rail in Auckland or whether it is the announcement today of a preferred route for the east-west connection we are making the biggest difference to transport in Aucklandin a very long time. We want to engage with the council to do an even better job.Hon Phil Goff: Why has he ruled out road pricing when the OECD last week Auckland Council the New Zealand Transport Agency the national infrastructure unit within Treasury and tomorrow the Productivity Commission have all recommended it; or are they all wrong and less informed about resolving Auckland’s transport problems than he is?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Tolling is not our preferred strategy—that is very clear. What is also clear is that funding should follow good strategy. We are trying hard to get alignment on these things in Auckland. I would note that many of the stakeholders that “His Worship” refers to actually think the plan is fundamentally flawed and are praising the Government for getting involved to try to get it back on track.Hon Phil Goff: Will he bring forward funding for the City Rail Link given that projections show that Auckland is now on track well before 2020 to meet the Government-imposed requirements of 20 million rail passenger trips a year and thousands of new jobs in the central business district or will he accept responsibility for Britomart having to turn away passengers after 2018 because it will have reached full capacity in the evening peak period?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: If the member wants to be mayor he will have to have a better transport policy than that. But be very clear that when he talks about bringing it forward this is the Government that is providing the lion’s share of transport funding in Auckland—some $1 billion a year. In terms of the City Rail Link we have been very clear that we support a business case in 2017. There are set criteria that will see it come forward although they look unlikely to be met. In 2020 construction will start.