Kelvin
DAVIS
Tourism Spokesperson

Party Central turns into Party Shambles

The Prime Minister's self-lauded "Party Central" could best be described as “Party Shambles", says Labour’s Tourism spokesperson Kelvin Davis.

“What should have been a showcase celebration instead turned into chaos. It was an embarrassment.

“I had a first-hand view of the shambles unfolding from an adjacent hotel, and it was obvious from very early on that the waterfront wouldn’t be able to cope,” Kelvin Davis said.

“It’s been reported some people jumped into the water to escape being crushed, while dozens of others had to be treated by ambulance staff.

“This was our big opportunity to promote New Zealand to overseas visitors. It was a debacle, from the disaster that was the transport system to the inadequacy of crowd control and police numbers, and the failure of technology which saw only three out of the six big screens working.

"It was interesting to overhear Kiwis caught up in the shambles apologising to foreigners for the problems.

“The Prime Minister, the Rugby World Cup Minister, the Minister of Infrastructure, and the Minister of Transport all had a hand in this. It’s now up to them to explain what went wrong.

“Their Party Central was a shambles. It was poorly organised, and it was dangerous.

“This was supposed to be an occasion for families to celebrate a major international event.

“Call me a party pooper, but it was certainly not something I would have wanted my family to have been part of,” Kelvin Davis said.

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