Auckland species going extinct - Hulse
Auckland faces a loss of biodiversity ‘‘at a cataclysmic level’’ unless it increases spending by up to $26 million.
This is the warning of Penny Hulse, chairwoman of the city’s environment committee.
A ‘‘clear-eyed’’ discussion was needed about how the environment would suffer if current funding in the council’s 10-year budget continued – and whether Aucklanders were happy for that to happen, she said.
Hulse said she would prefer the council found the money without raising rates.
‘‘We need to be honest about what kind of species will go extinct because of the Long-Term Plan.’’
Hulse brought up the subject at the Waita¯kere Ranges Local Board meeting on October 26.
She said she wanted the council to present the public in the new year with three priced options: ‘‘go backwards fast, kind of hold our own and go backwards slowly, or protect and enhance our environment’’.
The money needed to protect and enhance was equivalent to between a 1 and 1.7 per cent increase in the general rates, she said.
A calculation on the council’s 2017/2018 budget showed this would be between $15m and $26m a year.
‘‘The current amount of money in the Long Term Plan will actually lead to a decline of species, extinctions – and loss of biodiversity at a cataclysmic
‘‘We simply cannot protect them without this money’’
Penny Hulse
level. We simply cannot protect them without this money,’’ Hulse said.
‘‘If people say ‘no, let’s not do that’, then we can be quite honest and say: ’well you will have poo on your beaches, you will have degraded water systems, you will have non-swimable streams’.’’
We will also lose parts of our ranges, our sensitive biodiverse areas and some of our species, she said.
If the city wanted to properly look after its environment, the money could be raised by putting up rates or a targeted rate, but she would prefer if the council rearranged its priorities.
It would only take delaying a couple of capital projects, she said. ‘‘What I’m aiming to do is put the environment up the pecking order so it’s debated fairly alongside.’’
Auckland mayor Phil Goff campaigned on keeping rates increases to 2.5 per cent or less.