31 March 2004
Media Release

Transfund’s disclosure of a surplus is a disgrace….

“What the hell are Transfund doing declaring a $250 million surplus, when there is so much transport infrastructure work to be done….”

In the context of Transit New Zealand’s confirmation in recent days that some six Auckland state highway projects are ready for construction, Michael Barnett, CEO of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, said that to now learn that Transfund has unspent money is a disgrace….

“For Transfund’ to be revealing a surplus when thousands of Aucklanders making their way home this evening are caught in traffic gridlock because of incomplete network is unacceptable and deserving of a rebuke from the highest quarter of the Beehive – It’s just not good enough.”

He called on the Minister of Transport to direct Transfund to reallocate the surplus to enable Transit to immediately kick-start all six of the projects it has confirmed in recent days are “ready to go.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>