Taxpayers' Union Responds To Scrapping Of Cycle Bridge

Responding to reports that the Minister of Transport has abandoned plans for a $685 million cycling bridge in Auckland, New Zealand Taxpayers' Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says:

"This is massive victory for taxpayers who made their opposition to this white elephant loud and clear. 59,000 signed our petition against the bridge, and hundreds chipped in to fund online ads and billboards exposing the waste.

"This money is now freed up for projects that benefit a wider range of taxpayers. We need nurses, ICU beds, and transport upgrades that serve the wider community, not just wealthy cyclists."

"The Prime Minister would have been paying close attention to multiple polls showing incredibly broad opposition to this spending, including from Labour's own supporters. This backdown will be humiliating for Michael Wood, but it's a welcome one for taxpayers."

"Millions have already been burnt on the planning phases for this project, so it was really important that the Government backed down now, before any more was wasted on consultants."

Last Thursday the Taxpayers' Union submitted to Parliament's Petitions Committee off the back of the popular petition against "SkyPath 2.0". The submission begins at 25:50 in the recording.

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