NZ Government to un-ban walking, due to fuel crisis
A leaked Cabinet paper suggests the government is looking at a range of extreme measures to support New Zealanders with transport challenges through the fuel crisis.
These include a surprise U-turn on former Transport Minister Simeon Brown’s world-first ban on walking, which we first reported on two years ago today.…
16 Comments Greater Auckland’s Annual Plan feedback
Feedback on Auckland Council’s Annual Plan close 11.59pm this Sunday (29th March). If you want to make a submission and haven’t yet, you need to get onto it now. Giving feedback is easy – and you don’t need to answer every question if you don’t want to!…
What can we do?
Or rather, to echo Patrick’s post from last week, what we can do…
…about the maybe imminent – but always possible – imported liquid fuels crisis.
We, in this case, being everyone except the government. Because leadership doesn’t always come from the top down.…
What Should We Do?
Or rather:
What We Should Do…
…about the maybe imminent – but always possible – imported liquid fuels crisis.
And by “we”, I mean the New Zealand Government, whose job this is.
First, and above all: we should think and act strategically, not just reactively.…
More intensification in Auckland? Yes Please
The following is an op-ed I wrote which ran in the Sunday Star Times and The Post on March 8th 2026. Yesterday, Auckland Council agreed on principles to guide a review of PC120 after the government amended the plan. Everyone agrees we need more housing in Auckland, and that it’s best located near transport options, and places people work, study and shop.…
We-told-you-so Wednesday: “the RoNS clause”
A comment on yesterday’s eye-catching post by Connor about the skyrocketing costs of the Roads of National Significance programme (and the enormous opportunity cost it represents), made a request:
It would be good to have a post from Greater Auckland on the National Infrastructure Plan.…
$22,000,000,000 on just one road?
Last year, I posted about the challenges I faced, trying to daylight public-interest information about the government’s Roads of National Significance programme. As I wrote then, entire documents – including even titles – were being withheld on what looked to me like flimsy grounds.…
Auckland’s next harbour crossing: A costly failure that needs fixing
The following is an op-ed I wrote which ran in The Post on February 13th 2026. We need cross-party consensus for good long-term political decision-making, especially when it comes to major infrastructure. Right now, this isn’t happening. Worse: political parties may agree about the wrong things, seriously undermining our future at huge cost.…
Midtown Trial: Who wants to ruin Queen St?
Earlier this week, I detailed how Auckland Transport is messing up Midtown with a proposed trial on Queen Street and Wellesley Street.
AT’s trial will: Reopen the section of Queen St between Wakefield and Wellesley to general vehicles, from 7pm – 7am (Currently, this is a 24/7 AVO zone – Authorised Vehicles Only – used by buses, bikes, mopeds, motorbikes, emergency vehicles, and registered goods vehicles.)…
Midtown Trial: How AT are making a mess of Queen St & Wellesley St
Just before Christmas, Auckland Transport (AT) let slip a plan for a two-year “trial” of bringing back overnight traffic along Queen Street.
Specifically, they want to reopen the section of Queen St between Wakefield and Wellesley to general vehicles, from 7pm – 7am.…
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