Our new coalition government.

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#2140963 7-Dec-2018 10:08

MikeB4:
networkn:

Also, if you want to talk about tax promises....Petrol Tax increases anyone?

Just because they used word trickery doesn't mean it wasn't dishonest.

Excise, Levy......tax, maybe JA believes it but not many other Kiwis do, I hope.

In that case the public should demand that the AKL fuel tax is abolished. Its a neutral issue to the Govt and/or ACC as its collected to fix the congestion. Stop the fuel tax = stop the congestion investment. If thats the public preference, it should be put forward by the Opposition.

I cannot understand why intelligent people focus on some issues and avoid the core reason for these problems. If the extra taxes/levies had no purpose and were going into the Consolidated Fund as nothing more then extra revenue, that would be a real problem, but that is not the case as everyone knows

Fuel Tax or Congestion, which is it?

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MikeB4

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#2140964 7-Dec-2018 10:10

Ummm National started Transmission Gully one of New Zealand bigger projects. The Kapiti Express. Reinstated SH1 from Picton and if I recall correctly the Waikato Expressway, Northern Gateway and probably others I forget.

tdgeek

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#2140968 7-Dec-2018 10:15

MikeB4: Didn't they "promise" trees lots of them, new houses, no new taxes, being nice and a few I have forgotten.

Trees will be a fail, although that well worth pursuing anyway, given Kiwi's disinterest in doing anything to combat climate change

New houses will be a fail, although we wont need 100,000 as we dont have enough people who can afford them. Yes, I agree, not a great policy, stupid numbers

New taxes. I regards the fuel tax as a transport levy to fix an historical problem, happy to see it cancelled as well as the infrastructure it has set to update

Income Tax hasn't gone up, neither has GST , what new taxes have occured?

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#2140969 7-Dec-2018 10:20

MikeB4: Ummm National started Transmission Gully one of New Zealand bigger projects. The Kapiti Express. Reinstated SH1 from Picton and if I recall correctly the Waikato Expressway, Northern Gateway and probably others I forget.

Firstly, general transport infrastructure is always ongoing, its about congestion in AKL, which is where it has fallen behind the city's needs. As you know the fuel tax is for AKL transport infrastructure, what has Picton and the motorway extension 5 minutes from my house got to do with it? National did do some work in AKL, in and just before election year, surprisingly

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#2140978 7-Dec-2018 10:26

Once applied these surcharges seldom get removed. An example The Greater Wellington Regional Council imposed a rates surcharge to fund the building of the Wellington Stadium and during the campaigning and submissions the Council said it would be removed when paid off. It cost $130million and was opened in January 2000. The Surcharge still remains even though the build costs have been repaid and the GWRC has said the surcharge is not part of the regional rates and will stay.

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#2141021 7-Dec-2018 10:33

tdgeek:

MikeB4: Ummm National started Transmission Gully one of New Zealand bigger projects. The Kapiti Express. Reinstated SH1 from Picton and if I recall correctly the Waikato Expressway, Northern Gateway and probably others I forget.

Firstly, general transport infrastructure is always ongoing, its about congestion in AKL, which is where it has fallen behind the city's needs. As you know the fuel tax is for AKL transport infrastructure, what has Picton and the motorway extension 5 minutes from my house got to do with it? National did do some work in AKL, in and just before election year, surprisingly

Auckland is not the only centre affected by conjestion and NZTA has shown that it is often worse in the Capital. The changes National implimented to SH1 when finished will mean you will enter a multi lane express way at the Terrace Tunnel and stay on it until Levin (If the Coalition sticks to plan) a distance close to 100km. It eases north bound conjestion considerably and makes the accident prone section of SH1 safer.

I maybe wrong but I am certain that National also built a number of new roads and expressways in the Auckland region.

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#2141026 7-Dec-2018 10:40

MikeB4:

tdgeek:

MikeB4: Ummm National started Transmission Gully one of New Zealand bigger projects. The Kapiti Express. Reinstated SH1 from Picton and if I recall correctly the Waikato Expressway, Northern Gateway and probably others I forget.

Firstly, general transport infrastructure is always ongoing, its about congestion in AKL, which is where it has fallen behind the city's needs. As you know the fuel tax is for AKL transport infrastructure, what has Picton and the motorway extension 5 minutes from my house got to do with it? National did do some work in AKL, in and just before election year, surprisingly

Auckland is not the only centre affected by conjestion and NZTA has shown that it is often worse in the Capital. The changes National implimented to SH1 when finished will mean you will enter a multi lane express way at the Terrace Tunnel and stay on it until Levin (If the Coalition sticks to plan) a distance close to 100km. It eases north bound conjestion considerably and makes the accident prone section of SH1 safer.

I maybe wrong but I am certain that National also built a number of new roads and expressways in the Auckland region.

I'm sure they did. The bottom line is that its still congested, and whether that's Nationals fault, also the previous Labour Govts fault. AKL City Councils fault, its the way it is. It doesnt really matter now, it needs to be dealt with. Its being fixed sooner than later with the help of a temporary tax, I have no issue with that, or if they stopped the tax and that extra funding for roading.

NZ cannot afford everything. In this case, its been deemed that fast tracking AKL transport is a good idea for AKL, and as AKL is our key city, its good for NZ as well

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#2141105 7-Dec-2018 11:27

Every main centre will say that their town has the biggest problem. I am not trying to deminish Aucklands problems and its long snaking car parks but all our main centres have traffic issues that need addressing. I am not sure if just providing more road capacity will remedy the problem as more capacity generally means more cars. What is needed is careful planning that looks way to the future and not just to the next election and considers all options.

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#2141117 7-Dec-2018 11:41

MikeB4:

Every main centre will say that their town has the biggest problem. I am not trying to deminish Aucklands problems and its long snaking car parks but all our main centres have traffic issues that need addressing. I am not sure if just providing more road capacity will remedy the problem as more capacity generally means more cars. What is needed is careful planning that looks way to the future and not just to the next election and considers all options.

I agree. I assume most of this issue is ACC caused? NZ is too small to afford everything, but all I can assume is all the curfuffle that went on with Akl City Council and the Govt, it was decided it was needed. If there was not a pending GFC waiting to happen, I;d be ok with borrow heaps and lets get it all fixed now, then manage it properly year on year after that. Borrowing or going into budget deficits are very genuine options. Its like people, sometimes its good to borrow, tidy all this up, as in home repair or upgrade issues. For NZ, the current world issues, make that a risk, best to keep as much in house as we can, which is why we have in the past managed GFC far better than most. I could suggest a working party to assess the nest 30 years full NZ transport infrastructure but working partys get bagged all the time. Bi partisan wont work as that reduces differentiation and less things to oppose, so thats out too

However, often a party in power sets goals that exceed the election period, and often those dont get canned if the party in power changes. the populous wants a lot, for cheap, so they will often be unhappy, the parties need to navigate that.

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#2141214 7-Dec-2018 15:00

networkn:

Trevor Mallard has to be the worst speaker of the house in my memory. His bias is outrageous and he in my view is about as poor a Speaker as he was an MP. Surely we can do better than this!?

These things are never as one-sided as some (biased) posters here try to make them. I don't have strong feelings about Mallard but it is worth examining the somewhat more nuanced views of past (National) speakers. The comments do not all favour him, but they certainly have more balance than the polemics here. Some excerpts:

"Mr Borrows said Mr Mallard had done some good things in the role, such as insisting MPs speak without notes and stick to the point, however, it was possible to get all the wheels in Parliament turning smoothly without being partisan.

He said similar accusations were made in the last Parliamentary term against the previous speaker David Carter who was accused of protecting former prime minister Sir John Key.

He also pointed to the performance of another speaker Lockwood Smith, who he said was very successful in having clear rules around answering questions and holding the government to account.

His personal standing had risen to the point where at one point he was more popular than Sir John, Mr Borrows said.

Former speaker Sir Kerry Burke advised Mr Mallard to follow his example and speak to National's caucus members.

Sir Kerry took up former prime minister Sir Jim Bolger's invitation and laid down his rules to the caucus members.

"I told them I was going to be fair and absolutely transparent. I presided [as Speaker] for three years and never ejected any members."

Sir Kerry said he did not agree with the practice of the Speaker taking away questions from political parties as a punishment.

National's current "leadership issues" were making the situation more difficult for Mr Mallard, he said.

Mr Bridges was taking a more extreme position on issues than Sir Jim ever did and it was hard to know how it was going to be resolved, he said."

I am not defending Mallard but the comments I have bolded indicate that it is not all a simple black and white issue, as some here seem to suggest. If people get tired of being branded a certain way, like 'biased', I also get a little tired of the mantra that nothing and nobody having any kind of connection to Labour can possibly do anything right or well. Here is the source.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

bmt

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#2141358 7-Dec-2018 23:06

Left work at 5:15pm today and took me 50 minutes to get home. Its a 12 minute drive off-peak in the opposite direction. National completely and utterly failed to address congestion properly and the entire city suffers as a result. I have zero qualms about paying an extra transport levy to help fix this monumental cluster.

As for election promises, I wonder what would have happened to those Northland bridges National promised if they had actually won the by-election....

Bluntj

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#2141374 8-Dec-2018 01:11

MikeB4: Ummm National started Transmission Gully one of New Zealand bigger projects. The Kapiti Express. Reinstated SH1 from Picton and if I recall correctly the Waikato Expressway, Northern Gateway and probably others I forget.

I seem to remember some of these roads had been on the books for a long time. I maybe wrong but didnt Helen Clarks government mothball a lot of these infrastructure projects back in her day?

tdgeek

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#2141412 8-Dec-2018 08:21

Bluntj:

MikeB4: Ummm National started Transmission Gully one of New Zealand bigger projects. The Kapiti Express. Reinstated SH1 from Picton and if I recall correctly the Waikato Expressway, Northern Gateway and probably others I forget.

I seem to remember some of these roads had been on the books for a long time. I maybe wrong but didnt Helen Clarks government mothball a lot of these infrastructure projects back in her day?

I feel she did. Poor. JK did. Poor. The longer this stuff gets left, the worse it becomes, and the longer it takes to catch up

tdgeek

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#2141413 8-Dec-2018 08:22

bmt:

Left work at 5:15pm today and took me 50 minutes to get home. Its a 12 minute drive off-peak in the opposite direction. National completely and utterly failed to address congestion properly and the entire city suffers as a result. I have zero qualms about paying an extra transport levy to help fix this monumental cluster.

As for election promises, I wonder what would have happened to those Northland bridges National promised if they had actually won the by-election....

Did they promise that? Did you read the promises and detail they provided in the 2008 election that I linked to earlier? Its a good read

GV27

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#2141416 8-Dec-2018 08:26

tdgeek:

bmt:

Left work at 5:15pm today and took me 50 minutes to get home. Its a 12 minute drive off-peak in the opposite direction. National completely and utterly failed to address congestion properly and the entire city suffers as a result. I have zero qualms about paying an extra transport levy to help fix this monumental cluster.

As for election promises, I wonder what would have happened to those Northland bridges National promised if they had actually won the by-election....

Did they promise that? Did you read the promises and detail they provided in the 2008 election that I linked to earlier? Its a good read

Everyone has figured out that giving money to people gets your more votes than spending it on badly-needed infrastructure.

Sad but true.

If Labour were serious about it, we'd have SH16 LRT time frames, the cap on immigration they promised and instead we have neither.

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