KEY POINTS:
If Winston Peters were an Auckland MP, people in the City of Sails would not have to pay fuel taxes or tolls to have new roads built.
But if Greens co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons were an Auckland MP, the city would have the world's greatest rail system ... with no roads.
At least, that was what Labour Finance Minister Michael Cullen laughingly suggested at the Mood of the Boardroom breakfast yesterday.
Asked why a second Tauranga bridge was being built toll-free leaving the Northern Motorway extension in Auckland as Transit's only toll road scheme, Dr Cullen said maybe Auckland needed Winston Peters as MP. Although to build all the infrastructure needed "he would have to travel round to be MP in all the electorates", Dr Cullen said.
The bridge is being built as a condition of a political agreement between Labour and New Zealand First. Only the $365 million motorway extension being built north of Orewa is now likely to have a charge for motorists using the road.
On a more serious note, he said Aucklanders could have no complaint about the amount the Government spent on land transport in the region, but there came a point where the region had to come to the party and provide some cash.
