Opposition parties react to Auckland housing U-turn

Source: Radio New Zealand

Labour says the Housing Minister has been undermined by his leader and colleagues following the announcement to lower the maximum number of houses in Auckland from 2 million to at least 1.6 million.

Meanwhile, ACT leader David Seymour says “we’re not there yet” and wants to see the location of the 1.6 million homes before supporting it.

Chris Bishop announced the change to Auckland leaders at the International Convention Centre on Thursday.

Deputy leader and spokesperson for Auckland Carmel Sepuloni said it’s a humiliating backdown for Bishop and there’s been a relationship breakdown between government ministers.

Sepuloni said there’d been “self-interest” from some MPs, including Epsom’s David Seymour and Howick’s Simeon Brown, and that they were “concerned with their own leafy suburbs” and the feedback they’d got from their constituents.

“This is a humiliating backdown for Chris Bishop, who has spent months talking up housing reform only to be forced into swallowing a dead rat when Christopher Luxon threw his plan under the bus,” Sepuloni said.

She said Bishop had been ambitious for Auckland, “he knows how important housing is”, and called it a huge blow for Auckland families looking for affordable homes.

She’s concerned about the uncertainty the change brings, given council entered into agreements with government in good faith and “this really turns all of that on its head”.

The Greens were similarly frustrated, with co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick saying she’d call it embarrassing if it wasn’t “harmful”.

“We’ve been having this debate for longer than I have been involved in politics. Aucklanders and New Zealanders deserve far better.”

She said cities weren’t museums, and they needed to house people.

Swarbrick said she found it “profoundly ironic” that the government was capitulating to those who own property at the expense of everybody else at a time where the Infrastructure Commission called for “clear-eyed, evidence-based criteria” for development in New Zealand.

She asked if Bishop was willing to show his spine and do the things he said he believed in.

Neither Labour nor the Greens would rule out making further changes or campaigning to make further changes to the plan.

Nor did the ACT leader give his full endorsement for the change, with Seymour saying it was good progress the government was making changes, “but we need to see what 1.6 million looks like before we vote for it”.

He said when parliament voted for 2 million homes, “we hadn’t seen the maps from the council”.

“They had kept them hidden and basically released them the next day. This time, we need to see what 1.6 million looks like before we vote for it.”

Asked about Auckland mayor Wayne Brown’s comments that the change was an overreach from central government, and he didn’t want to seek Cabinet’s approval on another plan, Seymour suggested the mayor “be a bit of a democrat” and help inform the public of what 1.6 million looks like.

“I don’t think he has the right to withhold information that’s important to many Aucklanders.”

Seymour said people did want housing intensification but they wanted to see it being consistent and looking sensible, saying it would be “crazy” to have a field of single family homes with a 150 metre tower in the middle.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters was pleased the change was happening, saying a lower number of homes was “doing better” and the change was more “attuned to the actual realities of future growth” rather than “wild speculation”.

“You’ve got to compromise, in my view. I’ve talked to a lot of planners there. We could have done better, and we still can.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand