Earlier in the month the government announced that they were spending $1 billion on state highways. It was apparent from the original press release that this was purely an exercise in PR, and that there was no actual new funding, but now Labour's Darren Hughes has uncovered the real kicker: they'll be cutting the maintenance budget to do it:
“I am staggered to read the fine print of Transport Minister Steven Joyce’s transport announcement last week,” Darren Hughes said. “The Government plans to reduce spending on local road renewal, maintenance and operation by $75 million over three years, and spending on renewal and maintenance of existing state highways by $122 million over the same period.So, the government gets a headline, we get potholes. You couldn't make this stuff up if you tried...
