GARETH HUGHES (Green): Kia ora. I want to look at one part of the Budget in particular. When it comes to transport, this Budget is a gambler's Budget. The Government's cards are now on the table, and they show that we do not have a Minister of Transport; we have a "Minister for Motorways", a "Minister for Trucking", and a Minister for Corporate Welfare." The Key-led Government is betting billions on uneconomic motorways that lock us into a future that is dependent on cars and oil. Like a gambling addict, this Government fools itself into thinking it does not have a problem—"Just one more win, and then I can finally quit.", "Just one more motorway, then we can relieve congestion and finally stop building them." But one motorway leads to another, then another, until we are building motorways to solve the problems caused by the other motorways.
This Budget announces $714 million on new State highway construction, on top of the billions already announced for the roads of national significance. This massive amount gambles away our national wealth in some sort of 1950s fantasy, of whom the major beneficiaries will be the trucking lobby. Like a gambling addict, most of the money goes directly into feeding the addiction. From Government funds, for every dollar spent on sustainable modes of transport like buses, trains, walking, and cycling, National is spending $7 on roads. Why would the Government place all of our bets on roads, as a measure to reduce congestion, when all the local and international experience shows it just does not work? Steven Joyce's big gamble is simple economic mismanagement. The recent OECD report, referenced in the national infrastructure plan, showed there is no evidence of a positive relationship in New Zealand between motorways and macroeconomic growth, but a strong, positive link between growth and investment in rail. Research from the United States shows that the economic stimulus spending of public transport created twice as many jobs per dollar as spent on motorways.
To look at but one example, the Government is planning to pour $1.7 billion of our national wealth on the Pūhoi to Wellsford holiday highway. This "road of National Party significance" has a benefit-cost ratio of only 0.8 percent, which means the Government is not even staking on an economic return from it, coupled with the possible closure of the main trunk rail line north of Auckland, which will see more trucks on Northland's roads and State Highway 1. The agenda is clear. This is a road of trucking significance. Like gamblers who borrow from friends, and make hollow promises of "pay you back", the Minister has even managed to convince finance Minister Bill English to give him massive amounts of cash for his politically based mega-monuments. This Budget is not allocating resources according to a rigorous assessment of the economic benefits, but rather, according to a misguided belief that building expenses, infrastructure for high carbon, land hungry, job poor, imported cars and trucks is somehow good for the economy. As with many addicts, often it is those who live the closest who get hurt, like the 205 Waterview residents who will now have their homes bowled and paved for State Highway 16 or the job opportunities we have missed out on in general, at Woburn and Hillside in particular, or the $547 million we are spending in Auckland on health costs, from the extra one billion kilometres travelled by car in Auckland over the last 5 years.
This Budget invests $250 million for KiwiRail's turn-round plan, which is a start towards addressing 15 years of infrastructure neglect. But, coupled with likely line closures, increased fares for public transport users, and increased costs for local bodies, this Budget is still a Budget for and by the roading lobby, and it comes at the expense of local communities and the resilience of our transport network. What will the legacy of this Budget be for transport issues? My Joyce's big bet locks us into a model of car dependence that makes our roads less safe, makes our communities less walk-able, and reduces choices for people to get around. Under this Budget, our cities will continue to sprawl outwards, with more suburban big boxes. Unlike Europeans, Kiwis will keep paying more of their incomes on commuting and will spend more of their days stuck behind cars and stuck on our congested motorways. New Zealand will keep borrowing $250 million a week to pay the bills on our oil imports, which last year were $5.7 billion. That is a significant cause of our current account deficit. Like betting against the casino, this Budget takes a punt that the price of oil will stay stable and affordable, but on both counts the odds are stacked against us. It is like gambling to pay off gambling debts, and it is high time we stopped using the same ideas that got us into this mess to get us out of it.
The first step to health is acknowledging that there is a problem—a motorway addiction. The next step is seeking help. Luckily, the Greens are there for the Government, with real options and new solutions. The Greens are not anti-car or anti-roads; we are pro - transport choice. The Greens believe in sustainable, smart transport investments that balance roads with sustainable transport options to deliver jobs, safety, and liveable towns and cities. The Minister could read the Auckland Regional Council's regional land transport strategy for some inspiration for next year's Budget. The biggest loss of this Budget is the opportunity cost. Mr Joyce could have surprised us all with his leadership and vision, and he could have earned himself a place in history as the Minister of Transport who started Auckland's central business district rail loop, which is the single most effective thing that he could do to get Auckland moving. He could have announced Wellington's urban light rail system, paid for by the funds scrapped from Transmission Gully. Most important, Mr Joyce could have taken the opportunity to announce a fundamental overhaul of our transport planning in New Zealand that would balance funding between roads and other transport modes. This Budget could have announced the shift to corridors of national significance. For around $100 million, he could have linked the main trunk railway line with Northport, near Whangarei, and saved more than $1 billion and taken trucks off our congested roads.
We have heard this Government loudly trumpet that it is spending more than Julius Vogel did on roads. However, Vogel looked to the future in his investment decisions. We could be doing that, too. We could be investing in integrated transport options, in fast, modern public transport—bus rapid transport, light rail, underground rail in our biggest city—in walking and cycling, and in telecommuting and flexible working hour solutions. This Government, however, looks to the 1950s. It is as if Vogel would be borrowing to build bullock tracks. I look forward to the day when we have a Minister of Transport who is a transport choice champion, who has an inspiring vision for how liveable our towns and cities could be, and who is prepared to lead. I welcome the chance to be on record today, because it provides a stark contrast with the deficit of vision espoused in this Budget. Kia ora.
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