Hon Darren Hughes
Transport Spokesperson

12 May 2009 Media Statement


National: Second-best good enough for Mt Albert and Auckland

The Government is driving an inferior solution for the Waterview Connection, Labour’s transport spokesperson Darren Hughes says.

“The people of Mt Albert are very clear. They want a deep tunnel. Labour supports that view,” Darren Hughes said.

“It is disappointing that from what Transport Minister Steven Joyce has said today, it is clear the Government is not prepared to fund the option of a deep tunnel that the people of Auckland overwhelmingly support.

“Instead it will go with a compromise that provides second-best solutions for the people of Mt Albert and the future needs of Auckland. What’s more, Steven Joyce is trying to place all responsibility for the final option on to the New Zealand Transport Agency, when the reality is that the NZTA can only do the best it can with the money it gets.

“National has been all over the place on Waterview. Transport Minister Steven Joyce has spent all year exaggerating the costs of a tunnel option, and because of this National’s Mt Albert candidate Melissa Lee probably thought she was on safe ground publicly advocating a surface route despite such an option meaning the destruction of hundreds of homes.

“Melissa Lee’s candidacy has now been thoroughly undermined by Prime Minister John Key who is effectively dismissing her views as irrelevant,” Darren Hughes said.

“Mr Key knows the people of Mt Albert are overwhelmingly opposed to the surface option, and that Melissa Lee is completely out of step with local opinion. She only wants a surface road. Her position is more extreme than the Government’s.

“It is extremely disappointing that the Government is not prepared to go ahead with the deep tunnel option that would have had least impact on residents in the area as well as meeting Auckland’s future needs.

“Labour is committed to the best possible solution for Auckland, in this case a deep tunnel. National is clearly happy to settle for second-best for the people of Mt Albert.”

ENDS

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