Hodgson Welcomes AA Report

Transport Minister, Pete Hodgson, today gave a qualified welcome to the AA's 'Benefits of investing in New Zealand Roading Infrastructure' report.

"The report is a useful contribution to the debate on our national transport infrastructure from the perspective of the AA and other groups. It does an excellent job in identifying the cause of today's problem - the last National government's chronic underinvestment in transport infrastructure through the late 1990s. The current government is committed to putting this right and is investing a record $18.7 billion over the next ten years to do so," says Pete Hodgson.

"Our economy, local communities, our environment and our quality of life as New Zealanders are all affected by our transport infrastructure. While we are investing record sums in state highways and roads to remove bottlenecks and reduce congestion we can't simply motorway our way out of trouble. As the AA noted in its recent review of Auckland's transport infrastructure, public transport has an important role to play. That's why we're investing record sums in building this up; to help reduce the pressure on our roads, commuters and the environment alike."

"I'm also pleased to say that such is the pace of this government's action, that much investment identified in the report as needing to proceed, has already been given the go ahead - particularly in Auckland and Wellington."

National's claim that the time for talk is over is pure hypocrisy. It was their inactivity that is the precisely identified cause of the problem. I presume that National will now warmly support the government's law change to increase petrol tax from next April, in order to pay for the solution to the transport deficit that they created."

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>>