HELEN WHITE: LABOUR LIST MP

HELEN WHITE: OP-ED BY HELEN WHITE, LABOUR LIST MP BASED IN AUCKLAND CENTRAL

At this time of high prices and associated struggles, it was heartening a few weeks ago to visit the Auckland Girls’ Grammar School in Freeman’s Bay. The students told me of the impact of the half price bus fares on them and their families.

This is a very special school with a proud tradition of building strong women, with so many of the girls coming in from other parts of Auckland to attend. Many are from big families and they are not wealthy. They told me how the reduced tickets had made a huge difference, particularly because their parents were paying for more than one child to travel to and from school from far flung suburbs. I was really proud of this concrete government measure which is making a big difference at a time when inflation is rife.

58 million free and healthy lunches have also fed 200,000 students through Ka Ora, Ka Ako - as well as this, free period products for lower income families at a time of financial stress have been significant.

Now interests rates are noticeably rising, it is incredibly important that the fiscal policies adopted are mindful of the need to support middle and lower income earners. The Labour Government has raised the minimum wage by more than a third from $15.75 in 2017 to $21.20 and we have increased the wages of nurses, police officers and teachers also.

As a former employment lawyer I appreciate exactly why the emphasis of the reserve bank was on keeping people employed when the pandemic caused fear of widespread economic turbulence. Employment allows people to stay afloat. Unemployment is at a near record low of 3.3%, against expectations when Covid-19 hit that it could rise as high as 10%.

New Zealand is in a strong position to support households and businesses. Exports are growing and government debt is substantially below most other nations. The short-term cost of living payments will bring in an extra $27 per week for more than two million New Zealanders.

There is also a need to target problem areas like the oversized profits of supermarkets. I wasn’t even shocked when I heard that supermarkets had been earning a million dollars of additional profit per day from customers, because we’ve all been paying too much for far too long. It is now being targeted by changes which will make competition more possible.

I was appalled to hear National suggesting tax cuts for those on incomes at the upper end. I actually thought those on the other side of the house had moved on from this tired old trickle down economic theory. It would be inflationary and wouldn’t achieve anything to improve the lives of most New Zealanders.

This article was written with funding from Parliamentary Services. (HELEN WHITE)  PN

www.labour.org.nz/helenwhite

GAEL BALDOCK: AUCKLAND TRANSPORT ONLY CONSULTS WITH THE ‘CONVERTED’

After being rejected by community consultation several times, Auckland Transport's latest push on the Grey Lynn Cycleway, has been done by only asking pro-cycleways stakeholders.

The Surrey Crescent and Richmond Road intersection has a major design change from the traffic lights to a roundabout that narrows roads to single lanes, taking away all parking for these businesses.

*AT’s official feedback says, “During the consultation period, meetings were held with the following stakeholders: 8 February – Waitematā Local Board; 14 February – Grey Lynn Business Association; 22 February – Cohaus; 11 March – Bike Auckland. with eight tenants, Barry Jujnovich, is the only door knocked businesses found. He told AT, “the roundabout would negatively affect businesses by taking away most of our parking. It’s not necessary and if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.”

St Columba Church rents parking to businesses during the week and allows parents to use it for school pick-up since AT’s ‘temporary design’ outside the school removed parent parking. Street parking for weekday funerals and hall activities is also needed but AT didn’t ask them.

"On Friday 25 February, a door knock of 11 businesses was undertaken in the area around the intersection of Surrey Crescent and Richmond Road. This door knock was undertaken because the decision to install a roundabout at this location was taken subsequent to the 2018 public consultation and business owners might be unaware.

"We received 232 submissions and 246 pieces of feedback through the Social Pinpoint site.”

Bike Auckland, (130 Facebook followers) formally known as ‘Cycle Action Auckland’ who had their rebranding paid for by Auckland Transport, now get to rubber-stamp ALL cycleways. (Councillor Coom’s partner was the former treasurer.)

Occupy Garnet Road, (548 Facebook followers) who presented two petitions with 3654 signatures against the Grey Lynn Cycleway to Waitematā Local Board, were not consulted.

Grey Lynn Business Association coordinator, Irene King, when contacted by AT suggested they consult with all 55 businesses at ‘Black Box Corner, as they had expressed concern about parking removal and the dangerous placement of pedestrian crossings. She also questioned the relocation of the bus stop that cost $1million when moved four years earlier.

Neither the committee nor members were consulted, West Lynn Painters and Panelbeaters owner and building owner Waitematā Local Board had a secret workshop with AT. These predominantly ‘City Vision’ members and Councillor Coom, on their website, supported Bike Auckland‘s ‘Bikeable Auckland’ strategy. WLB’s representative on GBA, Julie Sandilands, had not passed on GBA views to the board. Living in Wellington, from October 2021, she had not attended GBA meetings. A month ago, she moved to the UK. WLB has not replaced her. Cohaus (20 apartments) is a group of people with shared cycling interests who wanted an exemption from their resource consent to build without off-street parking. Maybe they were consulted because cycle lobbyist Councillor Coom’s mother lives there!

19 Surrey (35 apartments) and The Isaac (75 apartments) is where community activist Lisa Prager’s mother lives, maybe that’s why they weren’t included in Auckland Transport’s ‘consultation’.

Auckland Transport only sought the opinions of those who agreed with them, the ‘cycle lobbyists’, not their opposition, the ‘community advocates and activists’ who out number them.

The ombudsman is investigating a lack of transparency of local government. He has been informed of this biased process, WLB’s ‘closed door’ workshop with AT and evidence of residents’ feedback responses, via the ‘Social Pinpoint’ site, not included in Auckland Transport’s redesign. (GAEL BALDOCK)  PN

*at.govt.nz/media/1989212/grey-lynn-and-westmere-improvements-engagement-report.pdf