TL;DR: The new Government unveiled its draft Transport policy last night, surprising voters with a $50 increase in car registration fees, 22c/litre of increases in fuel taxes from 2027 and plans for privately-run toll roads, congestion charges and a new system of road-user charges based on weight of vehicles and kilometres travelled.
Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced the spending of $7 billion a year to build 15 new Roads of National Significance (RONS), while slashing spending for cycling, walking and bus infrastructure. The word ‘climate’ does not appear at all in Brown’s five press releases. It appears just twice in the 43-pages of the full draft Government Policy Statement (GPS).
Elsewhere at 7 am in Aotearoa’s political economy:
Listen to this episode with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Kākā by Bernard Hickey to listen to this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.
