Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland should be famous for our beautiful natural environment, vibrant arts and culture and creativity.
For our food, our parks and our Waitematā. Unfortunately, right now, if you ask many other New Zealanders (and oftentimes even other Aucklanders) the key thing that tends to come to mind when prompted to think of our city is traffic (if not the Sky Tower).
It’s important to understand that this situation didn’t just happen. It’s a consequence of political decisions which have shaped the world around us. Different decisions can and must be made.
Landmass wise, we live in one of the largest cities in the world. But in the past few decades, there’s been an almost dogged effort to sprawl out into all of it, destroying our fertile growing land, generating unnecessary congestion, dripfeeding into a cost of housing crisis and pushing people further and further away from friends, whānau and opportunities. That’s not how you build a functional city.
In the last term of Parliament, under the former government, I was among many involved in a lot of heavy lifting to try and fix the planning system which has helped enable that insanity. Focus on these issues became particularly acute in the wake of the Auckland Anniversary floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, when many learnt that not only was it perfectly legal to build in flood zones – it was, in fact, currently legally very hard for councils to prevent people from building there.
This was the point of the three pieces of legislation which sought to replace many politicians’ favourite whipping boy, the Resource Management Act (RMA) 1991. The Natural and Built Environment Act and Spatial Planning Act were set and ready to be operationalised, with National Policy Statements which could have given strong direction on density done well and green infrastructure, which not only helps adapt to and reduce climate changing emissions, but beautify our urban environment. Basically, connecting people and making our city all the nicer to live in. The Climate Adaptation Bill was anticipated to follow a Select Committee Inquiry to canvass the issues paused by election 2023.
Then came a change of government, and the shredding of this progress. Christopher Luxon repealed these laws and reinstated the RMA. A year and a half later, we’ve had an announcement about an announcement of the apparent ‘property rights’ centered law to come to replace it. The signs aren’t good for people and planet (just look at the fast-tracking of coal mines).
The Greens had reached out to the Government a few times before this announcement, hoping to try and build consensus on the hard stuff necessary for a robust and enduring planning framework before the public politicking started. Unfortunately, the Government continued to tell us to wait for ‘an announcement’ which eventually came at the end of March. In that announcement, they told the public they would now start trying to get cross-party consensus.
Consensus on planning rules have long been politically fragile, not the least because current Ministers of the National Government were once the same Opposition MPs involved in negotiating and supporting the Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS) for more sensible density under the former government. National then pulled out from that consensus.
While the politics persists at a national level, I’m stoked to be working locally with incredible people like Mark van Kaathoven, who’s been recycling green waste to build a micro-climate urban jungle near the bottom of Western Park. Shortly, I’ll be helping him launch a campaign for common sense expansion and protection of nature in our city.
We deserve better and we will win by getting our hands dirty organising and working together to make that a reality. If you want to get involved in the campaign, or I can help you with anything as your local MP, please don’t hesitate to email me and the team at chloe.swarbrick@parliament.govt.nz.
(Chlöe Swarbrick)
Chlöe Swarbrick, T: 09 378 4810, E: chloe.swarbrick@parliament.govt.nz www.greens.org.nz/chloe_swarbrick
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