Auckland mayoralty: Efeso Collins on his climate change focus

Voting papers for this year's local elections are making their way to people's mailboxes. In a two-part series to sum up the months-long campaign, 1News spoke to Auckland mayoral hopefuls about what Auckland Council, and therefore the mayor, can influence - transport, housing and climate change.

It was late August and Efeso Collins, alongside his rivals, was on the second of five consecutive days of mayoral candidate debates.

By the end of that week, the candidates could almost certainly perfectly recite each others' campaign slogans. But Tuesday night's venue was Shadows Bar at the University of Auckland. Labour and Greens-endorsed Collins was on home turf - the university was where the Manukau Ward councillor had studied, worked and become the first Polynesian Auckland University Students' Association (AUSA) president.

Years on, the AUSA co-hosted debate was teeming with students demanding cheaper housing, transport solutions and climate action. They questioned: could any of the candidates deliver?

Speaking to 1News after the rowdy university debate, Collins said he would direct council-controlled organisation Eke Panuku to include affordable homes in all of its regeneration projects if he became mayor. He also wants to establish a new unit within council to encourage homeowners with vacant properties to rent them out.

"People just want to sit on their house because they know it will make money. I would love for them to sit on their house - it can make money - but it's also got a community service… ensuring people have somewhere to live."

Collins estimates there are about 30,000 to 40,000 empty homes in Auckland. But determining the actual number of long-term 'ghost homes' in Auckland is complicated. Others have suggested the 40,000 figure could include the likes of holiday homes and properties that are in between tenancies.

Collins said locating those empty properties is possible through data like water usage.

From there, the council unit can contact owners and build trust in community housing providers who will look after the properties, he said.

As for where more houses could be built, Collins said intensification will become the reality as Auckland's population grows.

It comes as an independent hearings panel considers Auckland Council's response to central Government's higher-density urban planning policies: the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) and Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS).

But special character areas (SCAs) remain a point of contention between Auckland Council and the Government. While the council has applied SCAs liberally to protect the 'character' of whole areas from the new intensification rules, some ministers believe this is contrary to MDRS and NPS-UD's intention, and exemptions need to be applied to properties on a case-by-case basis.

So, has Auckland Council balanced the need to protect 'character' while enabling more houses to be built? Collins believes the council has landed in a "good position".

"We can't just intensify in South Auckland and West Auckland where a lot of that has been happening," he said of the plan's current iteration that places SCA protections across many central city suburbs.

Asked which suburbs where he would like to see intensified housing, noting that SCAs have been applied to many affluent central city suburbs with some of the best transport links in the city, Collins said: "They're all covered [under the current plan] - whether it's looking at Grey Lynn, Mt Albert, parts that are close-ish to the city."

Collins said, ultimately, the plan needs to arrive at a place that is "comfortable for most", with acknowledgement it isn't possible for everyone to be pleased. He adds that, at the very least, it's important everyone feels heard and "really robust" conversations are had.

Throughout the campaign trail, Collins' flagship policy of fares-free public transport has routinely been criticised by his opponents as unaffordable, or that ratepayers will have to pick up the tab.

Auckland Transport projects it would cost about $100 million a year, rising to double that once pandemic-hit patronage recovers. By 2030, that figure could be up to $500 million. Collins said other estimates range from $175 million to $300 million yearly.

Asked if there would ever be a point it would be too expensive, Collins said: "The ultimate cost is the planet burns."

He said funding the policy, which he plans will be in place from July 2024, "will always be affordable because we're going to prioritise all the money that's going into council on being climate-resilient".

In July, the Taxpayers' Union-backed Auckland Ratepayers' Alliance claimed Collins would divert money away from road improvements to help pay for fares-free public transport. Collins' policy document on the environment later stated he did "not intend to delay or halt existing planned roading projects".

Projects such as the Lincoln Rd upgrade will continue, Collins said, adding: "I don't think we should be scaremongering or giving off the impression that those which are key projects to Aucklanders that we're going to take [them] away.

"What I'm suggesting is let's focus all of our attention on becoming climate resilient. If a budget can be supported by the idea that it's driving climate resilience, then those budgets are going to be safe. Those budgets which are not… then we reallocate."

Collins also supports congestion charging once the regional fuel tax - something he voted against as a councillor - is phased out. He wants to use the money it raises towards transport infrastructure.

He supports surface-running light rail instead of the Government's preferred option of partially underground light rail.

"The bottom line is we have to do something. If this project doesn't go ahead, whether it's at-grade or tunnelled, we're going to suffer from the delays that just keep happening."

Collins' fares-free public transport policy intends to address several issues the city faces - congestion, easing cost of living pressures and lowering emissions.

About 15% of Aucklanders use public transport to get to work or school each day; that needs to increase by five- or six-fold by 2030 if Auckland is to meet its emissions reduction targets.

But will Collins' policy encourage enough people to get out of their cars and into public transport? Mayoral candidate Wayne Brown and Viv Beck (who has since pulled out of the race, but whose name will still appear on voting papers) are among those saying it would be better to focus on creating a better public transport system first so it's more attractive to people.

In an August presentation to Auckland Transport (AT) reviewing Auckland's transport plans, officials argued affordability isn't the major barrier to people switching to public transport. Instead, reliability, long travel times and low frequencies are.

An AT survey about the Government's half-price public transport fares also found 63% of non-public transport users "strongly disagreed" half-price fares would encourage them to switch. Among existing public transport users, 54% said they would make more trips because of the lower fares.

When asked about the survey and other candidates' proposals, Collins said he wants to be ambitious because he sees public transport as a public good that should benefit everyone.

"You can play with any data you want," he said, pointing to another poll he'd commissioned that showed nearly three-in-four Aucklanders support fares-free public transport.

Collins said the fares-free policy - alongside other public transport improvements like more frequent buses, light rail and a second harbour crossing for walking and cycling based on the scrapped Skypath project - would contribute to enough mode shift to help meet emissions targets.

Other "key levers" council could pull to help with climate change are encouraging cycling and intensified, compact cities, he said.

But while Auckland attempts to cut its future emissions, the risk of climate change-induced wild weather is increasing. Research released in May revealed Auckland risks inundation decades earlier than expected, and many parts of the city will see sea levels rise 30% to 50% faster than previously thought.

Collins said he doesn't currently have specific policies about adaptation measures, such as sea walls, because he wants to speak to communities first.

See the full list of Auckland mayoral candidates here. Information about other local body elections can be found here.

1News has interviewed candidates that have reached at least 10% in at least three scientifically conducted and publicly available polls.

Voting documents, including candidate bios and voting papers, will start appearing in your mailbox from September 16. Voting closes on October 8 at midday.