Aucklanders, Get Ready To Walk To Work

ACT Leader Richard Prebble today warned Aucklanders should get ready to walk to work.

He told more than 140 delegates at ACT's Auckland Regional Conference that New Zealand roads were "third world".

"To solve Auckland's traffic problems we firstly must completely rewrite the Resource Management Act so that we have workable planning laws," Mr Prebble said.

"Second, we must invest in infrastructure. Improving the New Zealand's infrastructure would transform the quality of our lives.

Asked when he thought Aucklanders would start walking to work, Mr Prebble said gridlock was a reality now - walking was not far away.

"Gridlock is certainly effecting workers, so you meet people who say they go into work at ten and go home at seven. These are not the hours they want to work, but they just can't move.

"To solve the problem we must have better planning laws and then invest more in infrastructure. Like the Aussies did, we just have to put the money in, Mr Prebble said.

Keynote speaker at the conference was National Party historian, Dr Barry Gustafson. In a wide-ranging address, Dr Gustafson said National should already be working behind the scenes with other opposition parties to develop a coalition of the centre-right.

"While I have no doubt that a centre-right coalition is both necessary, if there is to be a change of Government, and if New Zealand is to have less interference in people's lives, lower taxes, a more productive economy, less social division based on ethnicity, gender, age or source of income and is to rebuild close relations with its traditional friends and allies, it is much more difficult to suggest simply how this might come about," Dr Gustafson said.

Dr Gustafson is the third speaker from the National Party to address an ACT Conference this year. Murray McCully addressed the Wellington Regional Conference and Dr Don Brash spoke in Christchurch.

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