1st September

Lawrey calls on Ombudsman to break Southern Link silence

The Green Party's Nelson candidate Matt Lawrey has complained to the Office of the Ombudsman about NZTA's refusal to release a report being used by the National Party to justify its $135 million promise to build the controversial Southern Link if re-elected.

On Tuesday Prime Minister Bill English and Transport Minister Simon Bridges announced their plans following the completion of the business case part of NZTA's Southern Link Investigation into possible solutions to Nelson's congestion issues.

Lawrey said that following the announcement he asked NZTA for a copy of the report. He was informed by email that the inquiry was being treated as a request under the Official Information Act. This could potentially mean him not hearing back from NZTA until after the election on September 23.

"If National is going to use a taxpayer-funded report to support its election campaign, the public should have the right to read that report. There is no doubt in my mind that if the programme business case was a glowing endorsement of the Southern Link, it would have been released by now," he said.

"I've asked the Ombudsman to intervene because I do not believe there can be any good reasons for withholding this information and I think it's information Nelsonians deserve to have before they vote on September 23."

"It's really important. It's about transparency, the future of Nelson and the credibility of Nick Smith, the Government and NZTA. "

NZTA was originally due to report back to Nelson City Council on the findings of the business case by Christmas last year. NZTA's website for updating the project has not been updated since August last year.

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