Phil
TWYFORD
Auckland Issues Spokesperson

28 January 2016 MEDIA STATEMENT

Joyce destroys Government rail link certainty

Infrastructure Minister Steven Joyce has destroyed the certainty the Prime Minister gave private sector investors in his State of the Nation announcement on the City Rail Link, Labour’s Auckland Issues spokesperson Phil Twyford says.

“Steven Joyce has again poured cold water on network charging as a way for Aucklanders to pay their share of the City Rail Link. Today he suggested the Government may require the sale of public assets as a precondition for paying its half share.

“This is in sharp contrast with the Prime Minister’s indications yesterday that he is open to considering network charging.

“Billions of dollars of private sector investment are riding on a quick start to the City Rail Link. All John Key’s efforts to deliver certainty to those investors have been undermined by Steven Joyce’s blundering.

“The Prime Minister overrode Steven Joyce’s visceral contempt for the City Rail Link as a project to make the Government’s funding commitment. He then delegated Bill English and Simon Bridges to negotiate a 30 year transport investment plan for Auckland.

“But Steven Joyce has now crawled out of the crypt to run his tired old line about asset sales, and tell Aucklanders how they should run their affairs.

“The Government is all over the place. Within 24 hours of the Prime Minister’s announcement on the City Rail Link, all that certainty is now in doubt,” Phil Twyford says.

ENDS

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