NAISI CHEN, LABOUR PARTY

STEPHEN BERRY, THE ACT PARTY

When it comes to housing and development, Berry said his party would scrap the Resource Management Act and introduce a new set of town planning rules. They would get rid of the ruralurban boundary to allow development in Okura.

On the topic of traffic, Berry said there was no such thing as cost-effective public transport solutions.

‘‘For a successful transport solution you need to actually do what the market wants and most people are not getting onto public transport.’’ He suggested a congestion charge.

On early childhood education, Berry the cost of housing needed addressing first as many parents have to work two jobs. Chen said her party would look to work with private developers to ensure the development-to-open space ratio was ‘‘suitable for living’’ and said the party prioritised sustainable development.

She also said Labour’s proposal of light rail in the city would free up the streets and have a flow-on effect on the Shore.

‘‘We need to get people off the roads onto these rapid transport options,’’ she said. She agreed with Berry on education that the problem was that teachers couldn’t afford to live in Auckland because of house prices, and the cost of living was a fundamental issue.

‘‘We need to look at the fact that our whole society right now is being displaced.’’

NICHOLAS MAYNE, GREEN PARTY

Mayne agreed the RMA should be reviewed but opposed removing the rural-urban boundary to allow ’’intensive development in areas which are currently deemed to be sensitive and important to our cultural values’’.

He said infrastructure also needed investment. On transport, he said the Government should be investing in public transport options with a smaller footprint to move ‘‘a lot more people for a lot less dollars’’. He said a lot of work needed to be done in terms of how different early childhood education services are funded and parents need to have the time to look after their children and not feel pressured to return to work. Mayne said parents are educators.

TERESA MOORE, THE OPPORTUNITIES PARTY

Moore said she wanted a written constitution to recognise environmentally significant places, such as Okura, where she said development was occurring too close to the marine reserve.

She said she stands by the most cost-effective method to transport as many people as possible around the city.

She said there were a lot of problems with not providing the transport infrastructure and the feeder buses required to do so.

She also reiterated the TOP policy of providing 4 and 5-year-olds with free early childhood education and brought up the party’s $200 unconditional basic income for families with children under 3.

ILJA RUPPELDT, NEW ZEALAND FIRST

Ruppeldt said government assistance was required for first home buyers and building quality needed to be higher and include leak-proofing, insulation and earthquake resistance. He said maintaining Okura was also important. On transport, Ruppeldt said New Zealand First would support the council in expanding public transport services. He said it was also important to support council in reducing sewage and stormwater outflows into the sea during heavy rain.

He said NZ First was committed to inclusive early childhood education and would review the funding model for kindergartens. ‘‘These are the backbone of our public early childhood education system.’’

ERICA STANFORD, NATIONAL PARTY

Stanford said: ‘‘Green spaces are absolutely vital because we have a growing population.’’

She said it was important to plan for green spaces, as had been done in the Long Bay development.

She said light rail to the airport wouldn’t help the North Shore and the most important transport project was the

$700 million Northern busway extension.

‘‘That’s a massive project that is going to have huge impact on our traffic woes at the moment,’’ she said.

She also agreed that housing was an issue which affected education so National would focus on reforming the RMA to build houses.

She was proud of what National had achieved.