Pro-road groups spurn campaign

The pro-roads Auckland Business Forum and Chamber of Commerce have refused to join another lobby group's campaign that will slam the Government's road-building record.

The $200,000 Northern Employers and Manufacturers Association campaign will highlight a lack of progress on road congestion.

Chamber chief executive and forum co-chairman Michael Barnett said: "While I haven't had a discussion with [association chief executive] Alasdair Thompson, what I have seen is too political."

The campaign has angered the Government, with Finance Minister Michael Cullen slamming it as "party political" in Parliament.

The campaign was revealed after a Beehive meeting on Tuesday last week attended by Dr Cullen, Mr Barnett, Labour Party president and Transit board member Mike Williams and Transport Minister Pete Hodgson.

This week it was revealed that Dr Cullen apologised for what had happened at the meeting. A spokeswoman for Dr Cullen said on Wednesday the apology had been for Mr Williams' "behaviour", but Dr Cullen rebutted that yesterday.

He told the House it was because the Government "values its relationship with the chamber and wishes to co-operate further in proceeding even faster in resolving Auckland's transport problems".

Dr Cullen noted that the chamber had refused to join the association's "party political" campaign.

Mr Barnett said Dr Cullen had been "frustrated and angry" at the adversarial approach Mr Williams had taken at the meeting. He said the chamber wished to work with Dr Cullen on the roads issue.

Association spokesman Gilbert Petersen said other groups would support the campaign, but he would not name any. The association still intended proceeding, but the campaign would not be as political as outlined in a draft leaked last week.

Labour immediately bought the rights to a website cited in the strategy - www.revupthegovt.co.nz (see link below) - and put its own content up.

Mr Petersen said no start had been made on a $1.6 billion roads plan outlined 18 months ago.