RAM Objects To Order In Council For Alpurt B2 Project

“On 5 October 2004 , RAM forwarded a document to the Minister of Transport calling for the Minister

to revoke an Order in Council authorising SH1: Northern Motorway Extension (Alpurt B2, Orewa-Puhoi)

to be constructed as a toll road” said Elaine West , Auckland spokesperson for RAM.

“RAM is objecting to an application for an Order in Council regarding the Alpurt B2 project.

The Minister of Justice was sent a copy, and further copies will go to the Leaders of the House,

the Auditor-General’s office and the wider public community.”

“The document explains how an application for an Order in Council was set up after flawed procedures

had taken place which resulted in the public being by-passed in the decision-making process” said Ms West.

“The document also describes how vital public bodies - Central Government, Auckland Regional

Council, and Auckland territorial authorities – endorsed a land transport ‘proposal paper’ promoted

by the Auckland Mayoral Forum (a non-statutory body which is free from the requirements of public

disclosure) and in so doing, excluded public discussion from the decision-making process.”

“The Alpurt B2 project has opened a whole can of worms that should be dealt with by an independent

public body” said Ms West.

“Issues connected to the Alpurt B2 project need to be brought into the public arena including:

public consultation, accountability, Consultation Hearing Panel bias, possible conflicts of interest,

and changing public roads into business roads” said Ms West.

“New Zealanders are not aware that massive road reforms including setting up ‘road companies’

are on their doorstep” she said.

Ms West said, “Tolling State Highway 1, from Orewa to Puhoi (Alpurt B2) sets a dangerous precedent –

one that puts New Zealand roads on the map as profit-making ventures.”

“The corporatisation of New Zealand ’s roads is being slipped in without full public knowledge or input” said Ms West.

“A large majority of the public don’t want any part of SH1 (or other roads) to be constructed as a toll road.

Instead, commuters want petrol taxes going into the Crown Account to pay for land transport systems” she said.

Ms West concluded, “The public must not be kept in the dark about road reforms. In a democratic society, it is the duty of

every civic leader to provide full information and to promote genuine public participation in decision-making processes.”

© 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>>