Labour

Controversial plans to extend Auckland’s container port 250m into the Waitemata harbour should not proceed in the absence of a Government strategy on the future of the country’s ports, says Labour spokesperson for Transport and Auckland Issues, Phil Twyford.

The diagnosis is right but the cure would kill us – that is the reaction of Labour’s Auckland Issues spokesperson Phil Twyford to the just-released annual Demographia survey on housing affordability.

Changing gambling laws in return for casino giant Sky City funding a national convention centre in Auckland is not the way the Government should be doing business, says Labour’s Auckland Issues spokesperson Phil Twyford.

“Cheque book legislation is not the New Zealand way,” Phil Twyford said.

Strategic assets like the Ports of Auckland should not be privatised, Labour Transport spokesperson Phil Twyford says.

“People using the Ports of Auckland dispute to push privatisation agendas are putting ideology ahead of good sense and the view of the majority of New Zealanders,” Phil Twyford said.

Labour’s Auckland Issues spokesperson Phil Twyford says he is concerned that the possibility of simultaneous tolls on the existing Harbour Bridge as well as on a second Harbour crossing will unfairly impact on North Shore residents.

The creation of a Te Papa satellite site in Auckland has enormous potential and perfectly fits with Labour’s arts policy says Labour List MP based in Auckland Central and Associate Spokesperson for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Jacinda Ardern.

Labour says the Government is being strangely inconsistent celebrating the purchase of electric trains while blocking the City Rail Link that would give them a modern network to run on.

A contract has just been signed with a Spanish firm to supply 57 electric three-car trains by 2014.

A report showing air pollution in Auckland is double that of Sydney’s and on a par with Tokyo’s is another blot on National’s ever-expanding not very environmental copybook, Labour’s Environment spokesperson Charles Chauvel says.

Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Phil Twyford says the Auckland City Council commitment to stop the sprawl and building the city rail link, contained in its draft plan released today is a shot across the bows of the National Government.

 Transport Minister Steven Joyce has cast doubt on the feasibility of the Puhoi to Wellsford road declaring it nothing more than a dead duck, Mt Albert MP David Shearer says.