Coalition goes for cheap ferry option assuming no population growth
Aratere grounding forces Govt into buying new ferries for next 50 years, but only enough for current population & emissions profile; City Mission warns funding cuts will force it to halve food parcels
TL;DR: Responding to the grounding of the Aratere over the weekend, the Government has signalled it will buy new replacement ferries, but only enough to replace existing freight capacity.
That would effectively limit Aotearoa-NZ’s ability to handle any growth in population or the need to reduce emissions by shifting freight from road to rail over the next 50 years.
However, the National-ACT-NZ First Government has not signalled at the same time that it is conciously planning for a flat population or an emissions profile that breaches our Paris Agreements, and therefore the recently-signed UK and EU free trade agreements.
Elsewhere, Government funding cuts are set to force the Auckland City Mission to more than halve the number of food parcels it can give out.
Six things of note this morning
1. Coalition set to choose new ‘Corollas’ for Cook Strait
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