Labour Savaged In Rail Debate

in Auckland Featured General Top Debate Trains by AKT — September 15, 2011 at 7:55 pm | 4 comments

Labour tried to launch an urgent debate on the RWC Friday Fail in Parliament this afternoon but itself got bit on the bum - an expression Labour’s Trevor Mallard kept hurling at Ministers as he led the charge.
Holding up a photograph of Ministers Mallard and Joyce at the Kingsland train station inspecting facilities before the opening, MP Mallard insisted that the Ministers had looked for photo opportunities but not asked the questions to make sure everything was set for Friday.

But Transport Minister Steven Joyce tore into Mallard reading from old news clippings quoting the Labour MP’s insistence he was right that Auckland should have a waterfront stadium- and then he brought up Parliament’s Hansard record of parliamentary debates.
Labour and Greens, he said had attacked the fact that Auckland’s electric trains were not here in time for the RWC.
But on May 17 2007 then Labour Ministers Annette King and Michael Cullen said that the electric trains would not be ready for the RWC saying it “was too risky and costly in terms of sourcing the material” to make that happen in time for the event.
As for (Labour MP and Auckland Central candidate) Jacinda Adern’s suggestion the CBD rail tunnel should have been there, Mr Joyce said that that would have taken nine years of Labour pushing it through and more to build such a tunnel.
If Labour want to marshall a debate about rail, they need to get their facts and figures together - not churn out tired of point scoring and personal abuse which was all the speech was.

The Minister said Auckland Transport which he described as “ARTA enlarged” is determined to take action to fix the problems.

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