Gerry Puts The Boot In
Whenever an opposition MP wants to visit a government agency, department, DHB etc we have to ask the Minister. I want to take Labour’s Transport spokesperson Phil Twyford to have a look at the Manawatu Gorge and I haven’t been there since September which is after the first slips but before the massive slip came down. So I asked, since the NZTA is running the site.
Gerry Brownlee then apparently called the Manawatu Standard and told them that I shouldn’t think myself such an ‘expert’ on the Gorge since I haven’t seen the slip myself. That’s rich from the fellow who only got there last week.
Ah well, such is politics. I don’t think I’m an expert. What I have consistently called on the Government to do is get the real experts to do a proper economic analysis of the options for a more reliable, resilient road to the east of Palmerston North. Not a big ask, but they keep saying ‘NO.’
That’s the issue here and although Gerry will run interference like he does in the house when things aren’t going National’s way, the issue remains. And I won’t stop asking for that analysis to be carried out because so long as our transport infrastructure isn’t up to scratch, our ability in Palmerston North to play to the strength our central location gives us as a distribution hub and retail centre is unnecessarily constrained.
