Nick Mills: We were offered free money and our councils didn't want a bar of it - Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills

OPINION

What is it with Prime Ministers from Auckland giving us a bad rap?

First it was John Key telling us we were dying. He of course was right - he just got his decades wrong.

Now we have Christopher Luxon calling us "lame-o".

I haven’t heard that phrase since the 90s, but that aside, he's dead right.

Why?

Well last year the government announced it would be offering councils the opportunity to sign up to what they called 'regional deals'.

These would be a 10 year plans based on a 30 year visions which would provide a range of options for funding. Maybe toll roads, maybe a new train line, a new tunnel. Whatever it might be, the idea was to try to help the regions with the high cost of infrastructure and unlock a bit more productivity.

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