Labour continues war on motorists

The Herald reports:

Ministers are finalising a new transport strategy that will, for the first time, make climate change the top priority when it comes to deciding how transport funding gets invested.

The plan, which will go out for consultation this year, will dictate where tens of billions of dollars of transport funding will be spent in the next three years and promises a stark pivot towards public transport and away from emissions-intensive investments, like new highways.

Transport Minister Michael Wood has proposed changes to the way $2b of maintenance money is spent each year, which could mean swapping car parks for new bus lanes and cycleways – paid for with the money used to fix potholes, according to a briefing released to the Heraldunder the Official Information Act.

This is not in fact about climate change. Transport is in the Emissions Trading Scheme and any reductions in transport emissions just means that other sectors of the economy will pay less for their emissions. Under the ETS emissions are capped and declining.

This is about politicians wanting to control us, and remove choice. They want to force people out of cars (even electric cars) and have no empathy for families who need cars to get to work, to get kids to school, to pick up groceries etc.