City Counselling

A motion was recently brought before the Auckland city council by councillor Jo Bartley which would back Chloe Swarbrick’s proposed private member’s bill on community alcohol harm reduction.

The bill would give more autonomy to local councils when it comes to the distribution of alcohol, and would also limit the advertising alcohol companies are able to do.

For Casper's fortnightly chat with Auckland city councellor Pippa Coom they discussed the motion, which she supported alongside the rest of the council, as well as a final reminder around the annual budget consultation submissions.

Casper began by asking Pippa what the community alcohol harm reduction bill is and why it was supported so strongly by Auckland council.

On this week's city councelling interview Casper spoke to Pippa Coom about the Auckland fuel tax. This tax has been a topic of discussion since National party leader Christopher Luxon announced in his state of the nation speech that, if elected, his party would scrap the regional fuel tax. Auckland mayoral candidate and Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck also announced that a part of her platform is scrapping the Auckland regional fuel tax. Casper and Pippa talked about Auckland’s regional fuel tax, what it funds and the tradeoff between increasing already high fuel prices for Aucklanders and funding essential public transport projects.

For their final interview together for the year, Pippa and Ilena talked about the Mayoral Conservation Awards. The awards were held online last night and recognise and reward the commitment and work of those in our communities who take a leading role in the environmental space. 

They also talked about a groundbreaking new poll that shows huge public support for measures to protect and restore the Hauraki Gulf, which the Hauraki Gulf Forum will be taking to the government.

This week, Ilena talked to Pippa Coom about the Medium Density Residential Standards and what went down at Auckland Council's meeting about it last week. They also talked about Council services available at Level 3 Step 2 and new electric buses that will be replacing Auckland's diesel buses.