Auckland port move: Time for a deep breath by Cabinet

Monday, 9 December 2019

A working group has recommended expanding Northport at Marsden Point to replace Auckland's port.

OPINION: Cabinet on Monday has a chance to hose down the testosterone that has been pumping through the debate on moving Auckland's port to Northland.

Ministers will consider the final report by a working party, which has recommended the shift within 10, maybe 15 years.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters in September 2017 launching the 'move Auckland's port' policy which led to the current working group.

There has been a flurry of last-minute urgings to act now, but what is needed is calm, and recognition that just because a party-political project says 'go for it', the case for the biggest, most complex infrastructure move ever undertaken in this country looks interesting but is still far from proven.

The discussion has become almost unseemly with some big personalities squaring off against each other, New Zealand First MP and minister Shane Jones, working group chair Wayne Brown, and the Ports of Auckland chief executive Tony Gibson among them.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on the future of the report looking at Auckland's Port

It'll cost twice the price of a diesel tug, but Ports of Auckland's e-tug will be cheaper long term (first published June 2019).

* Auckland Port move: CEO decries 'made up facts' by pro-move group

* Moving Auckland's port - the curtain rises

* Auckland port move: Study favours $10b plan to shift hub**

Here is some reality. Auckland's waterfront would be lovelier if it did not have a port in the middle of it.

But it does, and always has, and like it or not, as a working port, it does not need to move, with at least 30 years of life left in its existing space by the port's own reckoning.

The current debate has not been sparked by need, rather the working party is a prize won by New Zealand First in its 2017 agreement with Labour to form a coalition government.

New Zealand First had campaigned on closing Auckland's port in favour of Northport at Marsden Point, and Labour agreed to fund a working party to explore the idea, but committed to nothing beyond receiving the report, which it will consider on Monday.

The report outlines how a shift to Northport might work and the infrastructure needed, but is more of a discussion paper - a solid starting point for some real detailed study.

Which is not to diminish the value of its work, but it's a start, not an end to the decision-making process.

For example, the final report - still confidential despite repeatedly falling off the back of a lorry near media outlets - puts the aesthetic value of the Waitemata Harbour at $25 billion.

This is a calculation based on an anecdote which the working group chair Wayne Brown likes to tell, about the value of his Auckland harbour-view apartment compared with one on the other side of the building without a harbour view.

To be fair, it is not typical of the working group's findings, but is in keeping with the racy, occasionally sneering tone of the final report which is a stripped down version of the interim report which contains the most detail.

A carefully-managed public campaign called Waterfront 2029 has created an impression that all of the good and the great, back the move.

Run by lobbyist Matthew Hooton, with help from A-league public relations firm Pead PR, the campaign is in the name of established harbour protection lobby, Stop Stealing Our Harbour.

It has garnered supporting quotes from former Prime Ministers Sir John Key and Helen Clark, and people ranging from businessman and philanthropist Sir Stephen Tindall, to a Crown solicitor have lent their voices on its social media posts.

There are many we have yet to hear from. For example the West Aucklanders who embraced living in higher density housing close to train stations, who may have anything up to 100 freight trains a day - and night - rolling past their windows.

Those in the south living in garages or cars, who might like decent housing, and public transport as appealing as those living in wealthier suburbs, before public money is spent on a port move.

Auckland has two kinds of big problems. Today's and those that might start looming in a decade or more.

Moving Auckland's port is neither. It should be explored, but not on the assumption that Northport is the best option, and not if it becomes an enormous distraction from the city's 'today' problems.

Cabinet has the chance to bring some perspective to the debate. Develop rail links, improve highway choke points, and continue to examine whether and how shifting Auckland's port might fit into that work over the coming decades.