Winston Peters has again said no to wasteful and silly spending, this time it is the light rail project that Labour promised would be completed by 2021, but so far hasn’t had a single rail tie laid.
The Government has conceded its flagship transport has been put on ice, again.
It had been obvious for months the project was troubled, with coalition partners NZ First openly saying it wouldn’t progress this Parliamentary term.
After almost three years, the project finally made it to the Cabinet table on Monday. Transport Minister Phil Twyford should have left the Cabinet room closer to a decision on who would build the enormous infrastructure project.
Instead, the project was axed, which the Government was forced to admit on Wednesday.
The Government has now conceded that the project has been axed, saying it would be kicked back to officials after nearly three years of deliberation.
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said he was “disappointed” and “frustrated” with the outcome.
Another broken promise and like Kiwibuild it was a flagship policy of Jacinda Ardern.
What we know now is that if Labour promises anything then you can expect it to be still born as a project.
While Winston can claim to have been the hand brake, I think it is true to say that much of the trouble has been because of the grandiloquent Minister, Phil Twyford, who has the reverse Midas touch.
His credentials as a progressive must now be seriously in doubt as not much progresses when he is in charge. He should be renamed the Minister for Trainwrecks.
Things are starting to get testy inside the government. Until yesterday I thought that the Government would run full term, but after this reversal plus a couple of others in the last 24 hours we now run a high chance of an election in the next six weeks.
Fingers crossed.