![\"Bridge\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4JTFEI6_Nicola_Willis_10_02_26_1_jpg.jpeg\")
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\nFinance Minister Nicola Willis
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Mark Papalii\n<\/p>\n
National’s Nicola Willis says the government has not given any consideration to putting a $9 toll on both the Auckland Harbour Bridge<\/a> and a new crossing, calling it a “completely hypothetical scenario”.<\/p>\n And Labour says any such move would have to be “thought through very carefully” given the cost of living.<\/p>\n The Infrastructure Commission this week suggested twin $9 tolls as way of funding a tunnel or a second bridge<\/a> across Waitemat\u0101 Harbour.<\/p>\n In response, Transport Minister Chris Bishop said any new crossing would be tolled, but the government was still seeking advice regarding the existing bridge.<\/p>\n Speaking on Morning Report’s political panel, Willis played down the $9 figure.<\/p>\n “I just want to be really clear that that is a completely hypothetical scenario in the Infrastructure Commission’s plan. It’s not something that the government has given consideration to.”<\/p>\n Willis said both National and Labour faced a challenge in paying for the “essential” multi-billion dollar project as no funding had been put aside.<\/p>\n “How do you pay for it? And what the experts and advisers always say is, you should make sure that the users of roads are contributing the cost to them.<\/p>\n “And actually, that’s a road that would have so many vehicle movements a day that actually a toll to help pay for it would mean you could deliver it sooner.”<\/p>\n Labour’s deputy Carmel Sepuloni said her party was “not completely opposed” to the notion of tolling but said they needed to be “thought through very carefully”.<\/p>\n “For someone like me who doesn’t go over the the Harbour Bridge very often, and perhaps is in a better position to be able to pay the $9, it’s not a big deal, but for someone who’s travelling over that bridge every day and going to work and perhaps not on the highest income, that becomes quite a big deal.”<\/p>\n Sepuloni said the government needed to think about ways to ensure any tolls were affordable given the pressures of the cost of living.<\/p>\n “We need to make sure that any measure, including tolls, are fair and equitable.”<\/p>\n Willis said both political parties had made decisions in recent years to keep petrol taxes a bit lower, meaning that road funding had had to be topped up from general taxation.<\/p>\n But she said that also raised questions of fairness: “we used to have the concept that those who use the roads pay for them”.<\/p>\n Auckland mayor Wayne Brown told Midday Report the $9 figure was based on “ludicrous proposals” for a new bridge or tunnel.<\/p>\n “A bridge next door to the existing bridge which solves nothing, or a tunnel which is even more insane,” he said.<\/p>\n “If you convert it back to the $9, people will say ‘gee, that’s a lot’.”<\/p>\n Brown said his idea of a bridge connecting Point Chevalier to the North Shore over Meola Reef was more sensible – but he wouldn’t say whether it should be tolled.<\/p>\n “A, it’s infinitely cheaper, and B, it ends up on a piece of land the government owns, so they can develop that and cover a lot of the costs.”<\/p>\n \nAuckland mayor Wayne Brown. Brown was supportive of congestion charging in Auckland because “anything that’s free gets overused quickly”.<\/p>\n He could not say what routes might be charged, or when.<\/p>\n Overall he felt “quite positive” about the commission’s report.<\/p>\n “It sounds like someone’s listening to me, I’ve been banging on about infrastructure,” he said.<\/p>\n “We don’t concentrate enough on what the costs of it are, we blather on about world class, what we need is good economic functions that suit for New Zealand … it has to be reliable and sensible and affordable.”<\/p>\n Too many projects were there as a bid for votes, rather than solving a problem, he said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nPhoto: MARIKA KHABAZI \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n