National has slammed the Government's plan to hike petrol taxes amid a cost-of-living crisis and promised its transport plan will not require any increases at all.
Labour has also been accused of copying National after the Government announced this morning it wanted to prioritise several of the same roading projects that the opposition has promised to build if it wins October's election.
On a counter to both, the Greens weighed in with the suggestion that both parties are in a "road race to come up with the most expensive waste of money" this election, whilst ACT said a fuel tax increase showed the Government's policy has been "incoherent".
Earlier today, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins revealed 14 "priority projects" as part of a new plan on how tens of billions in Government transport spending will be allocated.
Overall funding for transport is proposed to increase to a "record" $20.8 billion over the next three years, but some of the money will come from raising taxes.
Petrol taxes would be raised by 12 cents per litre over the next three years, whilst road user charges would also go up.
The Government's announcement comes as transport shapes up to be a major election issue. With just over 40 days to go until the first votes are cast, National's transport spokesperson Simeon Brown said raising the tax "cannot be justified".
“It’s extraordinary that Labour is hitting Kiwis with big fuel tax hikes in the middle of a cost of living crisis," he said in a media release.
He added that the new announcement of new projects was "cynical" and "desperate".
“Whether it’s at the checkout or the petrol pump, Kiwis are under assault from the cost of living. The Government shouldn’t even be thinking about hiking petrol tax until the cost of living crisis has ended and inflation is back inside the Reserve Bank’s 1-3% range.
“National’s fully-costed transport plan will deliver 13 new Roads of National Significance and four major public transport projects – and does not require increases to petrol tax."
Past governments have semi-regularly increased the taxes prior to July 2020, which was the last time the fuel excise duty was raised.
But Labour has labelled the party's plans as "a false promise" and "shoddy" because the numbers are supposedly out by billions. (Source: 1News)
Brown continued: “Labour has cut and pasted transport projects from National’s Transport for the Future policy released last month, including the Cambridge to Piarere expressway, the Woodend Bypass, and a second Ashburton Bridge, in a cynical attempt to fool New Zealanders into thinking that they care about building roads.
"It’s great to see that Labour has finally accepted that they have been wrong about roads and that they are endorsing National’s transport plan – but no one believes they will actually, finally deliver," he said.
Last month, National unveiled its $24 billion plan to build 13 major new roads and four public transport projects if it won the election in October.
The Greens' transport spokesperson Julie Anne Genter said the Government's announcement today was too focused on new road projects.
"Funnelling billions into building more roads, instead of investing in low carbon transport options like regional rail, shows Labour are not serious about climate change," she said.
"It’s so obvious that most people want greener options. These options are better for the climate and also do more to free up our existing roads for those who use them.
“Investing in rail to get more freight and private vehicles off our state highway network is absolutely essential - and must be scaled up as quickly as possible to meet the challenge of climate change.
"The Green Party would transform public transport networks, build light rail in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, and provide comprehensive bus lanes in all cities."
ACT's transport spokesperson Simon Court said Labour was focused on a "cynical attempt to bribe Kiwis with the prospect of shiny new roads".
"The 12c increase to fuel taxes shows how incoherent Labour is, they cut fuel taxes in a bout of populism and now they’re ramping them up because they’ve run out of money.
The ACT Party leader has ruled out working with NZ First after the upcoming election. (Source: 1News)
"There’s nothing new about political parties announcing a slate of transport projects in areas where they think they can secure some votes in election year.
"The problem is they all rely on the same broken system to produce these roads, meaning most projects are greatly delayed or never happen.
"This policy statement highlights the failures of the past six years... After all this, they’re back to where they started, proposing roads that were announced years ago.
“ACT is proposing to change the way roads are funded, so politicians spend less time announcing new roads and Kiwis spend more time driving on them."
Meanwhile, Auckland mayor Wayne Brown was "pleased" that more public transport on the city's northwestern motorway would be prioritised as it would "take precedence over the mega dream projects proposed".
Brown was heavily critical of the Government's $35-45 billion mega-plan for tunnels underneath the Waitematā Harbour, which Hipkins announced earlier this month.
"I particularly welcome the progress on northwest rapid transit, which is a growing area where we can affordably deliver much faster, more reliable public transport," he said.
"I have been saying that this is an obvious priority and needs to take precedence over the mega dream projects proposed."
He continued: "You only need to look at the success of the Northern Busway. If something works well like that, do it more. We don’t need to reinvent things with new pipe dreams.
David Parker told Breakfast that "no single government" could finish the multiple projects involved. (Source: Breakfast)
"I also like that we will get more funding for maintenance and renewals, which we need to fix the state of our road surface, and that we get some flexibility on the safety budget which has seen a lot of poor-quality spend."
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