Bi Partisanship against the Mayor

 

We know Auckland Council officials are opposing while the Mayor has gone cold on a referendum on motorway tolls to help plug the $12 billion funding gap in Auckland’s Transport funding gap. We know such a funding gap is either delaying or being used as a political weapon against public transport projects (see both: Otahuhu and Manukau Transport Interchange Confusion and Public Transport Projects Being Used as Political Weapons?).

The referendum question will be debated tomorrow at the Governing Body (see: Referendum? What Referendum for the agendas) with more Councillors coming out in support of the referendum.

 

The latest on the referendum is from Councillors Casey and Wood to which you can see their presser below:

Councillors Unite to Get Tolling Referendum

Auckland Councillors are uniting to ensure the people of Auckland are given the opportunity by way of referendum on the question of alternative transport funding options, including a motorway network charge.

In a historic precedent that unites left and right, Councillors George Wood and Cathy Casey are pledging to work together to ensure that the people of Auckland have a proper say in the future of how transport is funded.

Councillor Cathy Casey says: “The introduction of a motorway network charge is a huge change to the social fabric of Auckland and the public deserves to have their voice heard through a binding referendum. People are telling me that they don’t want user pays motorways and that they have already paid for their roads through their taxes. This is “highway robbery.”

Councillor George Wood says: “This proposal by Mayor Brown to toll the motorways will have an impact on certain sections of our communities and not touch others. Collecting $300 million each year will amount to a massive collection of $3 billion in revenue over ten years. All Aucklanders deserve to input their views and a full binding referendum is the only fair way to proceed.”

Councillors Casey and Wood believe that Auckland councillors will oppose the mayor on Thursday and opt for a binding referendum.

—–ends——

 

It will be very interesting to see how the debate pans out and whether enough Councillors can muster together to force a referendum on Thursday