Auckland Transport’s Chief Operating Officer, Greg Edmonds says, “This final stage of the roll-out of AT HOP is the largest piece of one of the most transformational transport projects in the city. Auckland has 1100 buses in its fleet and carries 80% of public transport users which equates to 54 million passenger journeys a year. This means the roll-out is significant and must be handled carefully”.

Mr Edmonds says that in order to manage the scale of the roll-out Auckland Transport will be phasing the introduction of AT HOP on buses to ensure the smoothest transition possible for customers. The roll-out is planned to start with Urban Express bus services in June. Birkenhead Transport, NorthStar, Ritchies, Northern Express, Metrolink, Go West and Waka Pacific are planned to follow through to November. Howick & Eastern, Bayes, Fullers Waiheke Bus Company, the Airporter and Airbus are planned in the final phase to the end of the year. ”As each bus service begins its roll-out we will be providing more detailed information to customers.” Mr Edmonds says.

“The AT HOP card will bring Auckland in line with many other international cities by providing an integrated public transport ticketing system”.

The AT HOP card can be topped up online, at an Auckland Transport Ticket & Top Up machine or in person at a ticket office. Purchasing an AT HOP card may save up to 10% off single trip cash fares (excluding the NiteRider bus service). An AT HOP card also allows free unlimited access to ride on the City LINK bus service.

Registering an AT HOP card online helps to protect your card from unauthorised use should it be lost or stolen, while also helping to protect the balance stored on the card within 24 hours from the time it is reported missing. Cards can be registered online at ATHOP.co.nz. Terms of use and the registered prospectus for the AT HOP cards and other information regarding the AT HOP cards are available on ATHOP.co.nz or at the Auckland Transport Customer Service Centre, Britomart. The obligations of Auckland Transport under the AT HOP cards are unsecured.

ENDS

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NZ Herald: Police officer among those charged
DominionPost: Police officer refused bail; wife also in court

The charges include:

• Supplying a Class A Controlled Drug
• Offering to Supply a Class A Controlled Drug
• Conspiracy to Supply a Class A Controlled Drug
• Conspiracy to Supply a Class A Controlled Drug
• Manufacturing a Class A Controlled Drug
• Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Robbery
• Conspiring to Defeat the Course of Justice
• Accessing a Computer for Dishonest Purposes
• Participating in an Organised Criminal Group
• Possession of a Class A Controlled Drug
• Possession of a Class C Controlled Drug

Eight men, aged 25, 36, 39, 41, 42, 44, 49 and 59, and a 23-year-old woman, will appear in the Waitakere District Court on the charges this afternoon.

District Investigations Manager, Detective Inspector Bruce Scott, said the arrests were the culmination of a detailed investigation and reflected the Police’s commitment to reducing the harm caused by drugs in the community.

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An internal shot of a partially fitted-out train at the CAF factory in Spain

The countdown is on for new electric trains to commence passenger service in Auckland. The first train is about to roll off the production line at Construcciones y Auxillair Ferrocarriles (CAF) in Spain. CAF is building a fleet of 57 three-car high-speed train sets to carry passengers on the Auckland suburban rail network. These new state of the art trains have been designed to meet the specific needs of Aucklanders and feature the latest in terms of safety, comfort and reliability.

The first train is expected to leave Spain in June, arriving here in early September. Between September and April the new trains will be thoroughly tested and used for driver training before going into operation once there is a sufficient number to run a commercial service.

And for the first time we can reveal the seating layout for the trains. This comes after Auckland Transport consulted with user groups (including the mobility impaired and cyclists) on what they need from the trains.

An external shot of the first motored car

Auckland Transport Chief Executive David Warburton says, “The input of various interest groups has helped with the final layout. These trains are designed specifically for the needs of Aucklanders.

The three-car trains carry up to 375 passengers, around 100 more than the current trains or an increase of over 35 per cent.

All cars will have a variety of seating arrangements. The longitudinal seating will be Priority Seating for people with mobility issues, seniors and parents with children as well as those travelling with large items like bikes and cases. There will be four sets of flip up Priority Seats inside the middle (or trailer) car where bicycles and wheelchairs can be secured for travel.

Dr Warburton says, “Passengers will be able to walk the full length of a three car train via the connection between the motor cars and central trailer car, making it easier to find a seat and meaning increased safety.”

A full update on the new electric trains can be found at: http://www.aucklandtransport.govt.nz/improving-transport/auckland-rail-upgrade/electric-trains/Pages/default.aspx

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Under the multi-million dollar revamp, the fleet has been upgraded to a two-class model with an enhanced Business Class increasing from 24 to 32 seats with a new angled lie-flat design. The new Economy Class features comfort-focused lightweight seats that are a spacious 18 inches wide and have an average 32-inch pitch.

The new inflight entertainment system offers on-demand access to a wide range of movies and television programs as well as magazines, games, music and special channels for kids plus a destination focused channel allowing customers to experience Tahiti and her islands from the moment they step on board.

As the international airline of Tahiti, the interior design continues to reflect the beauty and charm of French Polynesia.

The newly configured planes are being gradually phased in across the network and will service some Auckland to Papeete services.

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The Mayor says the plans are reducing car travel in Auckland by 135,000 kilometres a year, delivering an annual congestion benefit of more than $20 million.

“Congestion costs Auckland $1 billion a year. Media attention focuses on the big ticket items like integrated ticketing, our new electric trains, AMETI and the City Rail Link.

“However school and work travel plans are also really important. 480,000 students and workers currently take part in these plans and these numbers are continuing to grow.

“Aucklanders are fast discovering that alternatives to their car such as public transport, walking and cycling are cheaper, safer and healthier.

“It’s great to see a real reduction in the chaos created by cars around school gates and the significant reduction in accidents as a result of school travel plans.”

More than 325 schools, representing almost two thirds of Auckland school students, now have transport plans.

In the latest plan, Bucklands Beach Primary is joining a cluster of four other schools in the area.

A growing number of children getting to school by scooter is an important element of the plan at this school.

The plan also includes road calming measures on street around the school such as pram crossings, splitter islands and side islands .
Len Brown will be at Bucklands Beach Primary School, Clovelly Rd, Bucklands Beach from 2.15pm today.
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“Key, English and their mates are simply turning this country into a millionaire’s playground,” says Auckland Action Against Poverty spokesperson Sarah Thompson.

“Their latest Budget entrenches the recycling of low income people on and off the benefit, and into and out of state houses.

“In 2011 they promised cumulative job growth of 92,000 by the time of this Budget. Instead we’ve seen a mere 27,000.

“Employing 354 more Work and Income staff to hound people who already want to work will do nothing to alter this failure when the real solution is decent job creation now.

“Bill English said earlier this week that ‘we don’t believe there is a solution to poverty in general’.

“His Budget demonstrates the sad truth of this with a total absence of any substantive measures to decrease poverty, unemployment and inequality.

Auckland Action Against Poverty invites everyone who shares our disgust at National’s continuing attacks on those living in poverty to join us on a picket today. Media welcome.

11.00am Friday 17 May – Vector Arena, Auckland – Picket of John Key who is speaking about the Budget to the Trans-Tasman Business Circle at 11.30am.

ENDS

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AgriKidsNZ and TeenAg Competitors were undeterred by the downpour as they battled it out in their respective Grand Finals held at Kumeu Showgrounds in Auckland today alongside the Practical Day of the ANZ Young Farmer Contest Grand Final.

Taking home the honour of the 2013 AgriKidsNZ Champions were ‘The Milky Bar Kids’ – Caleb Dymond, 12, Ricky Howells, 13, and Cameron Hasler, 12, from the Taranaki/Manawatu Region.

All three contestants were buzzing with excitement after the big win and are looking forward to the next level of competition in TeenAg. “We’re all really excited, this is awesome!”, commented Cameron. In preparation for the big event the team worked diligently on improving a number of skills such as first-aid, fencing, and general farming knowledge.

Second place went to Northern’s own ‘The Mean Green Farming Machine’, Jonty Morgan, Jacob Cook, and Buster Carr. And in third was ‘Southland P.E.A’, Abby Sim, Peter McLeish and Emma Freeman from the Otago/Southland Region.

“It’s an honour for these kids to represent their school and region at this rural challenge”, commented Contest Announcer Craig ‘Wiggy’ Wiggins. “They were so excited to be there that the rain didn’t matter at all”, Mr Wiggins said.
The Waikato/Bay of Plenty Region took home the TeenAg Grand Final Champions title this year by ‘The Udder 2’, James Robertson, 16, and Regan Kidd, 17.

The boys prepared for the Grand Final by working together as much as they could on the farm and James and Regan both cited solid teamwork and knowledge as paramount to the win.

As the two head off to Lincoln University they have high hopes for their competition futures. “I’m definitely going to join Young Farmers, and the ANZ Young Farmer Contest is definitely a goal of mine”, said James.

Second place winners were ‘Bren and Sezz’, Brenna Coleman and Sarah Greenwood representing Taranaki/Manawatu and in third place was East Coast’s team ‘The Stags’, Hamish Allen and Scott Maultsaid.

The AgriKidsNZ and TeenAg competitions are structured into seven 10 minute modules, including a written exam, and the top scoring seven teams continue on to the Race-Off challenge where contestants are given a series of tasks they must complete as fast as possible.

The modules for AgriKidsNZ this year ranged from cooking, gardening, and animal health to dairy taste testing, wool identification, and veterinary skills.

The Race-Off involved a potato sack race, churning butter, making a marmite sandwich, creating a flower arrangement in a gumboot, and packing potatoes.

The TeenAg competitors were challenged with stock judging, tractor safety, soil sampling, farm first-aid, a mock scholarship interview and identifying disease in animals and finding the appropriate treatment measures.

Their Race-Off involved a three-legged race, running with hail bails, bobbing for apples and making a scarecrow.

“Everything went really well today, all the competitors were really enthusiastic despite the weather”, commented AgriKidsNZ & TeenAg Project Leader, Josie Hampton. “The AgriKidsNZ and TeenAg competitions are growing in popularity all over the country, and they are a great way to introduce young people to the fun side of agriculture”, Miss Hampton said.
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Last week the Government said this, ‘The Government commits not to use any proposed or existing powers … to override the council’s planning and consenting processes’. But its housing Bill says this; ‘If an accord cannot be reached in an area of severe housing unaffordability, the Government can intervene by establishing special housing areas and issuing consents for developers’.

“No wonder Auckland Council says the so-called Accord is in danger of falling over.

“Desperate to be seen to be doing something, the Government could not resist riding in over the top and giving itself extra powers to override Councils if they cannot negotiate an agreement.

“This Government rides roughshod over anyone who gets in their way.

“What we haven’t seen from this government is a commitment to addressing the tax and investment drivers of housing speculation. Or even a basic commitment to dig in and deliver affordable homes like Labour’s KiwiBuild will.

“This is a massive expansion of powers, which would mean decisions would be made by the minister in his Beehive office, away from the community concerned.

“Mayor Len Brown has also pointed out that the Bill contains a number of inconsistencies with the agreement he negotiated with Nick Smith in relation to people having a say on new developments, rules applying to new houses, who runs the process and the extent of appeals.

“Clearly Auckland Council feels betrayed. They negotiated in good faith only to have the Government then sneakily insert extra powers in the Bill.

“The Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Bill sets up the legal framework for the Government’s deal with Auckland to fast track elements of the Unitary Plan, including the rules for development of both greenfields and brownfields land, as well as fast tracked consenting. The Government has indicated it wants to roll these types of agreements out across the country.

“Labour voted for the Bill to go to select committee because we recognise that while the Bill is an inadequate response to Auckland’s housing crisis, a deal hammered out by the Government and Auckland Council at least deserves to be properly reviewed at select committee.”

“Council decisions can affect the entire economy by increasing house prices, driving up rents, and putting increased pressure on family budgets,” Housing Minister Nick Smith says. “Housing supply constraints are causing widespread concern about financial stability, with potentially negative impacts on interest rates and the exchange rate. The Government’s first preference is to partner with councils to improve housing affordability.”

The legislation will apply for three years and allows special housing areas to be designated under accords between the Government and councils. Council approvals for new housing in those areas can then be managed under a streamlined process.

The first accord has been agreed with the Auckland Council and the first special housing areas are expected to be designated later this year.

“The developments need to be predominantly residential, in greenfields or brownfields areas adequately supported by infrastructure, limited to low-rise construction, and in areas of high housing demand,” Dr Smith says.

“If an accord cannot be reached in an area of severe housing unaffordability, the Government can intervene by establishing special housing areas and issuing consents for developments.”

Budget 2013 includes $7.2 million over four years to help the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment fund the initiative.

The legislation will go through its first reading as part of Budget 2013 before being sent to a select committee for a shortened six-week timetable for urgent consideration and progress.

“This legislation is an immediate and short-term response to housing pressures in areas facing severe housing affordability problems,” Dr Smith says.

“This provides time for the Government’s substantive changes to resource management reforms and the subsequent council planning processes to bear fruit and address these land and housing supply issues in the longer term

Businesswire report by Paul McBeth
Finance Minister Bill English has given the tick of approval to the Reserve Bank’s new set of tools to cool asset bubbles, the most pressing of which is the country’s heated property market. The minister has signed a memorandum of understanding with central bank governor Graeme Wheeler granting the bank regulator the ability to require lenders to hold more capital on their balance sheets against certain assets, or restrict the level of low-equity home loans, English said in a statement.

Under the agreement, Wheeler will make his final policy decision independent of the government, though the governor is expected to advice the Finance Minister of any macro-prudential policy decision.

“The objective of the bank’s macro-prudential policy is to increase the resilience of the domestic financial system and counter instability in the domestic financial system arising from credit, asset price, or liquidity shocks,” the memorandum said. “Macro-prudential tools do not replace conventional prudential regulation, but may be used from time to time to help manage the risks associated with the credit cycle.”

The Reserve Bank has been under growing pressure to cut interest rates to reduce the appeal of the currency, which has been hindering exporters, while a heating property market has provided a counterbalance by threatening inflationary pressures. The memorandum said the Reserve Bank will have to consider the impact on monetary policy settings when using the new tools, and “in most instances macro-prudential instruments will reinforce the stance of monetary policy.”

Last week the bank said it would roll out restrictions on high loan-to-value ratio lending if it posed a “significant risk” to the system, having cited rising property values and the growing prevalence of low-equity lending as threats to the country’s financial health.

The Treasury today overhauled its forecast on house price inflation over the next five years, with annual inflation of 7.1 percent in the 2013 and 2014 years, having previously seen housing inflation peak this year at 6.5 percent, before slowing to between negative 1.3 percent and plus 1.6 percent over the following four years.

Real Estate Institute figures this week showed the stratified median housing price index, which smoothes out peaks and troughs, rose an annual 9.8 percent in the year ended April. Auckland’s stratified housing price was up an annual 14 percent and Christchurch’s climbed 13 percent.

Housing Minister Nick Smith today announced the government has reached an accord with the Auckland Council, in the first agreement with local authorities to streamline resource consents and make housing more affordable.

The Reserve Bank’s four new tools are adjustments to banks’ core funding ratio, required capital buffers during excessive credit growth, capital requirements for specific assets, and restrictions on high loan-to-value ratio mortgage loans.

Press Release – New Zealand Government
A bill to urgently increase the supply of land and affordability of housing has passed its first reading 104 votes to 15 in Parliament tonight and has been sent to a select committee for urgent consideration.

“The Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Bill is the circuit breaker needed to get some real pace and momentum around addressing housing affordability issues, particularly for first home buyers,” Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith said. “The bill recognises that councils control a very important lever with their land supply and housing development policies.”

The bill allows for the creation of Special Housing Areas in both greenfield and brownfield areas suitable for residential development. Within these areas qualifying low rise developments will be able to be approved on a streamlined process.

“This will see consenting decisions made within six months for greenfield developments, as to the current average of three years, and three months for brownfield development, as to the current average of one year.”

Dr Smith said there will be no appeals on developments up to three storeys high and special limited appeals on those between four and six storeys. High rise developments are excluded.

“The bill requires Government to work in good faith with councils to secure housing accords, like the one announced last week with Auckland. However, if an accord cannot be reached in an area of severe housing unaffordability, the Government can intervene directly by establishing special housing areas and issuing consents for developments. I’m pleased several councils outside of Auckland have expressed their interest in using this legislation in their regions and I look forward to continuing this dialogue with them. This bill is a core part of the Government’s work on housing affordability. It confronts the reality that homeownership rates have been in decline for a quarter of a century, that house prices have soared unsustainably over the past decade, and that for too many families, buying or renting a home is unaffordable. The bill isn’t a silver bullet for the problem but a much needed interim measure while the Government’s longer term work programme to address housing affordability beds in. This includes significant reforms to the Resource Management Act, our inquiry into building materials, work on infrastructure costs, review of development contributions and compliance costs, and investment in skills to improve productivity in the residential construction sector.”

The bill passed its first reading with the support of the Labour Party, United Future, the Māori Party, New Zealand First, Act and Brendan Horan. It has been sent to the Social Services Select Committee to report back to Parliament by 26 July 2013.

“There are clauses in the bill introduced today that appear to be inconsistent with the Auckland Housing Accord,” says Len Brown.

“My expectation is that the Select Committee process will provide an opportunity to clear up these inconsistencies.

“Clearly, in relation to the accord, the point of the legislation is to give effect to the agreements we reached.

“The accord still needs to be considered and agreed by the Auckland Council’s Governing Body. Before we can do this we need to be certain that the legislation is consistent with the agreements in the accord.

Len Brown said he would be writing to Housing Minister Nick Smith to raise questions about the consistency of the accord and the current bill.

The Housing Accord is an agreement between Auckland Mayor Len Brown and the Minister of Housing aimed at tackling issues of housing affordability and supply in Auckland.

It is subject to agreement by Auckland Council.

The streamlined consenting process outlined in the accord can only take effect once the council’s draft Unitary Plan is adopted for notification – expected to be September this year.

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