National’s transport priorities revealed

19 comments on “National’s transport priorities revealed ”

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1. Galeandra 1

   2 March 2012 at 8:36 am

   Oh dear, even Brownlee should be allowed to be droll sometimes.
   • Craig Glen Eden 1.1

     2 March 2012 at 2:58 pm

     Droll droll? He should try and be intelligent some times, that would be a welcome change.
     • Morrissey 1.1.1

       2 March 2012 at 7:53 pm

       Actually, Craig, Brownlee handled it with aplomb. Louise Upston was (deservedly) drowned in hoots and catcalls after her patsy question, and Brownlee said just the right thing to defuse the situation.

       It was a joke, and quite a deft one.
       • IrishBill 1.1.1.1

         2 March 2012 at 9:52 pm

         Who do you think gave her the patsy question to ask?
         • Morrissey 1.1.1.1.1

           2 March 2012 at 10:14 pm

           Brownlee, of course. But you still have to admire the way he made people laugh and defused the situation. That shows he has a deal of wit, and his little quip effectively closed down further interjections.
           • Craig Glen Eden 1.1.1.1.1.1

             3 March 2012 at 2:02 pm

             So he asked a patsy question then had to cover for an idiot colleague by an attempt at humor mean while actually letting sleep the true agenda! Yes thats as about as smart as it gets for this tory lot, shit you Nat’s must miss the likes of Simon Upton.
2. bbfloyd 2

   2 March 2012 at 9:26 am

   if you took away the protection of the media from their mindset, then that statement could be taken as a freudian slip….
3. Reagan Cline 3

   2 March 2012 at 9:30 am

   Designing, engineering, consenting, building and maintaining roads employs many of us in jobs with a big variety of skills and requires planning and working together for the good of all. This is better than stuck inside bored and unhappy.
   • bbfloyd 3.1

     2 March 2012 at 9:40 am

     you don’t really believe that any more than i do… unless you do believe what the fairies at the bottom of your garden tell you….

     word to the wise…. they aren’t all “good” fairies…
   • Macro 3.2

     2 March 2012 at 11:56 am

     Having worked in the civil engineering industry in recent years I can assure you that roading employs far fewer persons than any other civil engineering undertaking. Good for the companies, not good for the workers, many of whom are laid off (and most have now left NZ for more lucrative jobs in Australia).
     • McFlock 3.2.1

       2 March 2012 at 1:29 pm

       although I do find the concept of National making cycleways and pointless roads as an inefficient “job creation” scheme with zero benefit to the nation most amusing – Forbes&Coates all over again.
     • DH 3.2.2

       2 March 2012 at 2:54 pm

       Thanks for that, matches what I’d been told about the number of workers in roading. The whole principle of stimulus spending is for the borrowed money to circulate in the economy as much as possible and get unemployment down so spending on welfare is also reduced. These roading projects defy that principle.

       $1billion can pay 24,000 workers @ $20hr for a year. The govt gets 18% of the $1billion directly back in PAYE and GST, the remaining cash that the workers spend circulates & generates more economic activity and more income for the Govt. Add savings in welfare to that & it can work out nearly fiscally neutral; the govt will get back close to what it spends.

       Do it right and borrowing to stimulate the economy does work, especially if the spending builds assets that will generate a future income to pay off the borrowing. This govt isn’t doing it right and it’s obvious they’re not doing it right, the question is why.
4. Tom Gould 4

   2 March 2012 at 10:05 am

   This is business as usual for Tories. I guess it is just that we had forgotten how fundamentally venal they are. The Key government is run on the ‘dog whistle’ and lubricated by favours.
   • insider 4.1

     2 March 2012 at 10:22 am

     Yes Labour would never do anything like that…
     • muzza 4.1.1

       2 March 2012 at 10:50 am

       Simple people see things in 2 dimensions only!
       • insider 4.1.1.1

         2 March 2012 at 11:12 am

         Tom doesn’t deserve to be called names like that muzza. He needs a hand up, not a foot down.
5. tc 5

   2 March 2012 at 2:30 pm

   Appreciate the honesty from brown coal but really it shows the arrogance and contempt the Nats have as that’s on the hansard now.
   At least try and look as if you considered a few more issues and show some respect for the portfolio of minister of the crown, not minister for ensuring our party mates get elected. geez no wonder he didn’t cut it in the family business what a dork.
6. Georgecom 6

   2 March 2012 at 8:23 pm

   The bridge Brownlee refers to, the Atiamuri bridge, is actually a fairly bad one and having driven that road often, replacing it seems sensical to me. There are 2 or 3 other spots on that state highway between Cambridge and Taupo that likely warrant similar attention for safety reasons. That said, once those few spots are fixed I cannot see any point in making that stretch of highway a RONS. There are parts of the Puhoi-Wellsford road that need fixing and a $300 to $400 million spend up will take care of most of those. Spending $1.6 billion is eye wateringly dumb. Same with the Cambridge-Taupo stretch. Some prudent spending to sort out the worst bits of highway and be done with it.
7. alex 7

   3 March 2012 at 2:08 pm

   Personally I would vote against any party that sought to build more roads just for the sake of it, I think its a stupid waste of taxpayer money. Plus it is planning for a car dominated future which is simply not going to happen. We should be putting our infrastructure investment into things like light rail, better public transport and renewable energy.

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