There are parts of Auckland that hate Labour now.
That last lock down was brutal for many.
We accepted the harsh logic that Auckland had to remain locked down while the rest of the country vaccinated.
We accepted it but it destroyed many.
People who couldn’t say goodbye to loved one, people who couldn’t see their new borns, the jobs ended, the break ups it inspired, etc etc etc.
If Labour lose the election, it will be because they lose Auckland.
Private polling suggests 1 in 3 Aucklanders are considering voting ACT, that is a direct knee jerk response of rage against Labour.
By ending half priced public transport, Labour have kicked Auckland in the balls again.
The vast cost of living in Auckland was abated by the half price public transport that was putting money directly back into Aucklanders pockets.
Without a credible Minister of Auckland, no one is arguing for Auckland at the top table, if Labour want to win the 2023 election, they must immediately announce a return to Government will see half priced public Transport in Auckland will be permanent.
Here’s the simple truth.
We need to have a publicly owned public transport network that is free to use. No other measure will get Aucklanders out of their cars and return a social and environmental equity quite like free public transport.
A truly progressive political party that wants to do something meaningful for the environment would nationalise the public transport system overnight.
The climate crisis is only getting hotter and more dangerous, investment into mass public transport is going to be the only way forward, the time for getting messed around by a private company clipping the ticket on an essential infrastructure is over.
Nationalise all public transport and start running it like the essential service it is!
We urgently need to shift people out of private transport and onto public transport.
This would have an enormous benefit on the poorest amongst us who pay 20% of their wage on transport while taking vast numbers of people off the roads in their cars.
We must nationalise our public transport fleet and look at vast new investment inside cities and intercity.
That includes a vast upgrade on rail and a new domestic in shore shipping networks.
The Truck industry have had political dominance for too long.
Rather than continue to subside the NZ Trucking Mafia, we should subsidise public transport.
The floods you are seeing, the scorching temperatures, the heat waves – ALL of this is happening at speeds and jumps in temperature far outside where Scientists were expecting.
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I disagree we Aucklanders accepted Labours near 4 month lockdown. Far far from it.
Labours only strong point is they do politicking better than half of National, which makes me think they want out of power, especially with the 30 cent per litre fuel rise kamikaze stunt and to double down, the bus fare rise. Don’t forget Labour have added 17 cents per litre to start with during their tenure, 11 cents just for Aucklanders! And all of this screams to me they hate the working man more than most! And they became bored with this silly cost of living crisis thing the riff raff speak of!
XRAY – 100% in agreement…many Aucklanders found lockdowns bloody awful…I am guessing about 3 to 5 seats in Auckland transferring to National in this election due to Labour dislike of Aucklanders in general.
Don’t forget to also: Restore the long-haul freight monopoly for N.Z. Railways; restore full long-haul passenger service to all inter-provincial and regional lines; resume suburban rail services on all 7 lines in Christchurch and Dunedin; resume service on all 72 tramway routes in 9 cities; and restore all electric trolleybus lines in five cities.
That doesn’t mean the road network can then be ignored. Most of it seems to be stuck in the 1940s, with the inter-provincial highway system and metropolitan freeway systems looking very retrograde indeed.
At the same time as they raise taxes on ever more expensive petrol- thanks to their disgusting decision to allow Shell (the so called ‘z energy’) and other foreign filth to shut down the refinery that the heroic Muldoon government built.
Disgusting.
“the heroic Muldoon government”
Out of simple curiosity I ask if you were of voting age and living in NZ during Muldoon’s three terms in office?
“….I ask if you were of voting age and living in NZ during Muldoon’s three terms in office?”
No. Cannot have been. Heroic Muldoon government? Talk about revisionism!
“…other foreign filth…”
Them’s fightin’ words. Which foreigners in particular? I wonder…
Lol. C’mon, this is a nationwide policy that effects every city.
Sure Auckland has the most public transport users but this is an f you to poor people everywhere.
Most of cabinet is from Auckland too.
If you think Labour hates Auckland go visit our second largest city, Christchurch, whose metro population is now 500, 000 and growing rapidly and it’s satellite towns are growing even more rapidly and greater chch will reach atleast 750 k by 2040, but labour will scoff at you if you suggest any form of rail.
Despite its size and being a labour stronghold nicknamed “the peoples socialist republic of chch” we only have one minister compare that to the amount of Wellington based ministers!
If you walk downtown, you’ll see a city still in ruins but labour will tell you that your eyes decieve you, that the rebuild is over and was a massive success.
Labour mps here also look hate the city and everyone in it. Openly.
And yet….. The city still continues to support Labour. It’s genuinely nuts.
But hey … Atleast you have trains…. Our mps will tell us with straight faces that they have singlehandedly built mass transit in the city and that a bus IS a train.
Roll on September when I get out of this country.
Martyn, I am very substantially in agreement, but could you be a little less Auckland-centric? Several of us live elsewhere (even in the South Island).
Yes the sins of an incompetent Labour Government coming home to roost.
There is no such thing as free or half price public transport.
There is just the transfer of the cost to someone else – usually the taxpayer.
Or in the case of Auckland the ratepayer.
That we need to get more people onto public transport is a no-brainer. IMO the government, by not delaying withdrawal of the half price public transport, lost an opportunity to encourage people onto public transport . Delaying this withdrawal would have encouraged more people onto buses and trains, thereby making current services more effecient and economically viable.
Also, the free fares for Gold Card holders should be replaced with half price fares and the surplus used to fund reductions for other users.
It makes fuck all difference if a bus/ferry/train fare is 10c or $1000 if the fucking buses/ferries/trains never arrive, as is VERY common in Auckland.
rubbish, public transport in Auckland has improved greatly over the last 3 months, due to the private bus companies that run the routes paying better wages and actually trying to retain staff.
Does it need to be free or just convenient and well-priced? Adult fare $5 per day. Child fare $2 per day. Customer can use as many interlinking bus trips, ferry trips, train trips, scooter trips, ebike trips as they need during the day anywhere between Warkworth and Pukekohe.
Let them vote ACT. They’ll only do it once. They will realise how stupid that idea was when it bites their arses. Tough bikkies. Too many people concentrate on a few specific problems and vote out a government that is making a positive difference because of a few things they aren’t happy about, without thinking that the alternative could be a lot worse. If they honestly believe ACT would look after the country better good on them. It’ll be turkeys voting for Christmas in March instead of December though.
Don’t Stop at Nationalising Transport Martyn, Nationalise all Land, Banks, Power Companies, Water Companies & every other fucking Industry that’s making our lives a Living Hell! Deathcult Capitalism & Neoliberalism has been a failed experiment that’s turned our Lives to shit, bring back the Socialist Paradise we used to have in the 1950’s,1960’s & 1970’s before that bastard Roger Douglas, the greatest quizzling Treasonous Traitor that this Nation has ever had, destroyed this Nation in the 1980’s & which continues today! Fuck Neoliberals & Neoliberalism!