The Government will defer a range of transport programmes to enable Waka Kotahi to focus on road recovery following Cyclone Gabrielle.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins this week confirmed a second tranche of government programmes is being stopped or delayed to free up more government bandwidth and money to focus on the cost of living.

“I want New Zealanders to know the Government is doing its bit and is cutting its cloth to suit the times we are in,” Chris Hipkins said.

“Some of these things we’re delaying or stopping mean a lot to us. But we’re taking the hard decisions because we know Kiwis are also making some tough calls.

“It will give ministers and wider government more bandwidth to deal with cost of living issues and the cyclone recovery.”

Changes include significantly narrowing the speed reduction programme to focus on the most dangerous one per cent of state highways, and ensuring Waka Kotahi are consulting meaningfully with affected communities.

“That means speed limits will reduce in the places where there are the highest numbers of deaths and injuries and where local communities support change,” Hipkins said.

“We will continue to make targeted reductions in the areas immediately around schools and marae and in small townships that a state highway runs through.”

The Government will stop the clean car upgrade scheme, where households can scrap their old cars in return for a grant for a cleaner vehicle or to pay for public transport, saving $568 million.

Instead, Hipkins said the Government will refocus its goal of increasing and improving public transport as an alternative to driving to the five main centres of Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington and Christchurch.

Transport projects in Auckland will also be rolled out in stages.

The Government will also put an end to the social leasing car scheme. The scheme intended to provide leasing arrangements to low income families for clean cars, but was proving difficult to implement. Hipkins said several of the communities where it was to be trialled had been affected by the recent weather.

The second group of programmes set out adds to the already announced stopping of the RNZ-TVNZ merger and biofuels mandate, and putting a hate speech law and social insurance scheme on a slower track until economic conditions allow.

Hipkins said the two lots of reprioritisation will save about $1 billion, which will be reallocated to support New Zealanders with the cost of living.

“That’s in addition to the over $700 million in savings we reallocated to fund the petrol excise cut and half-price public transport extension through to the end of June,” he said.

“This $1.7 billion in savings represents a clear intent of the Government to focus on the issues that matter most to New Zealanders and provide a little bit extra in support to households.”

Other areas of reprioritisation include alcohol reform, voting age, container return scheme, and contractor employment definitions.

“Reducing transport emissions is critical to achieving New Zealand’s climate change targets, but we need to focus our efforts on the areas where we can achieve the greatest reductions, such as our biggest cities,” Hipkins said.

“With around a third of New Zealand’s population estimated to live in our biggest city, it’s where we can make the largest single gains in future-proofing transport systems to tackle congestion and reduce emissions.”

Work on Auckland Light Rail will continue alongside other investments such as a second Waitematā Harbour Crossing, more rapid busways, and better connections to growth areas like the North-West.

The first stage of Auckland Light Rail is expected to be confirmed by the middle of this year.

“There’s nothing new in taking a staging approach to significant transport projects. The Wellington Northern Corridor and Northern Busway projects, for example, are being delivered by successive governments in stages,” Hipkins said.

“The Waikato Expressway started in 1993, with the Bombay Hills to Mercer construction, and was only finished last year.

“Auckland Light Rail is no different. Staging the rollout will align it with other critical transport investments, particularly the second Waitematā Harbour Crossing.

“Investing in a modern Auckland where people can get around, where there’s less congestion and cleaner travel options is the least the city should expect. Our Cabinet is absolutely agreed on that,” he added.

“This announcement doesn’t mean there won’t be more areas we will look at. My expectation is that Ministers will continue to prioritise their own work programmes, including by re-scoping plans and amending policy where necessary.”