Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: National's roading announcement was a massive letdown

Let's not pretend that this roading announcement is not a massive letdown for anyone who voted for the National Party believing it would deliver the roads it promised. It is a huge letdown.

Of the 15 Roads of National Significance promised following the last election, only six have construction dates: Takitimu North Link Stage 1 in Tauranga, Ōtaki to north of Levin, the Hawke's Bay Expressway, Warkworth to Te Hana, Cambridge to Piarere and the Ōmanawa Bridge. I don't even know where that is.

The rest of them? Well, good luck to you.

The second Mount Victoria Tunnel, which is one of my personal obsessions because of how badly Wellington needs it, has no construction date. In fact, the pre-construction work could take us all the way through to 2037. That is incredibly disappointing.

I've heard rumours for months that this was the case. I've kept asking Chris Bishop about it on this show and he has assured me the project was all go. But it's not really, is it?

And remember what National said at the last election: spades in the ground in the first term. That is now a broken promise.

Now, I have to give credit where credit is due and that is to Chris Bishop because he fronted up and got honest with the public about this. That can't have been easy for him to do - for his own reputation and for the political fallout facing the National Party ahead of the next election.

I know he's been anxious about this day coming and it has come. I think he's handled it as well as he could.
But this is a mistake that Chris Bishop and the Nats cannot blame on anyone but themselves.

They cannot blame Trump. They cannot blame tariffs. They cannot blame the conflict with Iran. They cannot blame inflation. They cannot blame the Labour Party.

It was obvious in 2023 that they were being too ambitious in promising all these roads. They were warned they were being too ambitious and the warnings were correct.

Now there will be significant numbers of disappointed voters who will have to wait so long for the roads they were promised that - given how changes of Government work - they may never actually get them.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right. Let's not pretend that this roading business today is
not a massive leftdown for anyone who voted for the
National Party believing that they would deliver the roads that
they promised. It is a huge letdown. Of the fifteen
roads promised following the last election, only six of them
have construction dates today. Taketimu North Link Stage one in
Todunga or Tucky to north of Levin, Hawks Bay Expressway,

(00:20):
Walkworth to Tehana, Cambridge to Peerere and the Ormana Ormanawah Bridge.
I don't even know where that is the rest of them, Well,
good luck to you. The second Mount Vic Tunnel, which
is one of my personal obsessions because of how badly
Wellington needs it, has no construction date. In fact, the
pre construction could take us anywhere through to twenty thirty seven.

(00:43):
That is incredibly disappointing. I've heard rumors for months now
that this was the case. I've kept on asking Chris
Bishop about it on the show and he has assured
me the project is all go. But it's not really
is it. Remember what National said at the last election,
spades in the ground in the first term. That is
now a broken promise. Now I have to give credit
wherek creditors due, and this is to Chris Bishop, because
he fronted up today and he got honest with the

(01:04):
public about this. They can't have been easy for him
to do for his own reputation, also for the political
fallout for the National Party ahead of the election. I
know he's axed over this day coming, and it has come,
and I think he's handled it as best he could.
But this is a mistake that Chris Bishop and the
Knats cannot blame on anyone but themselves. They cannot blame Trump,
they cannot blame the tariffs, they cannot blame the Iran war,

(01:25):
they can't blame inflation, they can't blame the Labour Party.
That it was obvious in twenty twenty three that they
were being too ambitious promising all these roads. They were
warned that they were being too ambitious promising all these roads,
and the warnings we find out today were correct. And
now there will be significant numbers of very disappointed voters
who will have to wait so long for the roads
that they were promised that, you know how changes of

(01:47):
government work, they may actually now never get them. For
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