Twyford Phil: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTwyford Phil: General Debate[Sitting date: 17 April 2013. Volume:689;Page:9453. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū): When the Government set up the Auckland super-city many people said it would have very far-reaching consequences and there is no doubt that right now Auckland is on the move. For the first time ever the city has a plan to deal with growth it is dealing with the gridlock Wynyard Quarter and Britomart Place have shown what high-quality urban renewal can do and the place is really buzzing. There is a new sense of unity and pride in Auckland.Unfortunately there is one thing holding it back like a dead weight—Wellington. Although Auckland is moving fast to transform its regional economy to focus on innovation and exports the National Government is a brake on progress. But when it comes to the big issues in Auckland the Government has no plan of its own. All it knows how to say is no to Auckland no to the popular city rail link that would have allowed trains to run every 5 minutes and that is supported by more than 60 percent of Aucklanders and no to the Auckland Unitary Plan that would allow Auckland to grow a little bit up and a little bit out.And what has the Government done? It has dispatched Laurel and Hardy—big Gerry Brownlee the tsar of Christchurch and Nick Smith the MP for Nelson; Nick Smith the “Minister for Sprawl” and Gerry Brownlee the “Minister for Gridlock”—to tell Aucklanders how to run their city. Well I have got a word of warning for the National Government: Aucklanders are getting fed up with Laurel and Hardy coming to Auckland and telling them how to run their city. Aucklanders had the super-city forced on to them. They accepted it they are making it work but Wellington simply cannot let go because their man John Banks did not win the mayoralty.While Gerry Brownlee pours scorn on the city rail link and Nick Smith threatens to legislate to take powers away from the Auckland Council the Prime Minister is all over the place. In recent weeks we have seen him misleading Aucklanders misleading the public on two key issues. He said that the Auckland Council wants the Government to enact the unitary plan straight away with no input and no opportunity for Aucklandersto have a say. Wrong. Right now thousands of Aucklanders are having their say and once the plan is notified in September even if the Government gives it legal weight like the council has asked the public can do it all again with the Government-appointed independent panel. How is that for having no input? Why is the Prime Minister misleading the public?He was caught out again when he said on television that Auckland Council is saying it is going to intensify it is pretty much going to go up within the urban metropolitan limits—just go straight up—and we are saying you need to go up and out. Nothing could be more misleading. The Auckland Plan says that up to 40 percent of new dwellings will be built on greenfields land over the next 30 years. For the benefit of Nick Smith what that means is that land equivalent to six times the area of Nelson will be freed up outside the current urban boundaries.It is a shame that the Prime Minister does not agree with Kim Campbell of the Employers and Manufacturers Association who said recently that the Government’s refusal to ratify Auckland’s plan before 2016-17 will load big costs on to Auckland’s ratepayers and hold back Auckland’s growth. It is a shame that he does not agree with John Roughan of theNew Zealand Herald who said that the Government is “on the wrong side of the city’s plan” and that no one else is putting up an alternative. It is a shame that the Prime Minister does not agree with Federated Farmers Chief Executive Conor English who says that Auckland needs to stop sprawling across the countryside and invest more in public transport. That sounds remarkably close to Len Brown’s Auckland Plan. So not only is the Government offside with Aucklanders but the National Party’s closest political allies in Auckland—the Employers and Manufacturers Association Federated Farmers and the chamber of commerce—have all deserted the National Party and are backing Len Brown’s vision for Auckland.Labour’s policy is to back Aucklanders not to fight them. We agree with the Auckland Council we agree with its balanced approach to managing the city’s growth and the fact that our country’s biggest city has to incorporate a million extra people in the next 30 years and we agree with the balanced approach to land supply and intensification. Labour will invest in the city rail link because it will allow trains to run on our rail network every 5 minutes. The biggest roadblock to progress in Auckland is this Government and New Zealanders deserve better.