Peters Welcomes Tolls Being Taken Off Tauranga Bridge

The Rt Hon Winston Peters MP, Leader of New Zealand First, today welcomed the news that the tolls were being taken off the Tauranga Bridge and said that they had been unduly harsh on the people of Mount Maunganui.

“The tolls have long since served their purpose but the total roading structure shortfall had been partially met by tolls long after the bridge had been paid for. That was because Central Government failed to meet their obligations. That is the very least that the people of Tauranga should expect given that less than one out of every two dollars collected for roading purposes is actually being spent on the roads. Consequently, the total Tauranga/Mount Maunganui package will have a shortfall which should be met by Central Government forthwith.

“If Central Government is helping out Auckland why not Tauranga?” asked Mr Peters.

ENDS

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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>>