The Southern Link would firmly be back on the table if National is elected to government later this year, says National Party leader Chris Luxon.
Luxon was in Nelson on Monday, spending the day with Nelson’s National Party candidate Blair Cameron. In a sit-down interview with Nelson Weekly, Luxon says building the Southern Link would be on the agenda for his government. “Suffice to say, we think it’s an important project.”
In the lead-up to the 2017 general election, then-Prime Minister Bill English promised the road would be built if his party was re-elected. Waka Kotahi have since undertaken a strategy for the region’s roading infrastructure which does not include any addition to the existing roads.
Luxon says he’d like to see hydrogen and electric-powered vehicles operating on well-maintained roads around the country and that includes on a new State Highway in Nelson.
“It’s fair to say that we were big supporters of it in 2017, and also in 2020, so we’ve got a huge appetite for it. I’ve experienced the road congestion [here] myself, and you sit there and go ‘man, this is a town you should be able to move around in pretty easily’. If we could take some of that traffic pressure off, I’m sure that would be helpful.”
Labour MP Rachel Boyack says talk of the Southern Link “gets trotted out every election [by National]”.
“The National Party have promised the Southern Link for 30 years and have never delivered it for Nelson. As far as I’m concerned it’s an empty promise.”
She says the most pressing transport issue for Nelson is an upgrade of the lights at Lower Queen Street in Richmond, not the Southern Link.
Luxon’s visit came on the heels of another controversy surrounding a National candidate when Taieri candidate Stephen Jack was forced to apologise after posting a “offensive” joke on social media.
But he says Nelson has got it right with its choice, calling Cameron a “rockstar”.
“I got to meet Blair when I first became an MP and he had just come home from overseas, and I was just so impressed by him. I mean, you’ve got a real rockstar, I think. He’s been to Brown and Princeton [universities in the United States] and then working at the IMF and world bank.
“I’m super excited that he’s become a candidate here, he can be a great contributor to the caucus and the team that we have in government.”
Deputy PM talks cost of living:
Cost of living relief and the arts sector were some of Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni’s priorities during her visit to Nelson last week.
She held a meeting with local seniors alongside MP Rachel Boyack to discuss some of the measures the Government introduced on 1 April to help ease cost-of-living pains, such as the boost to superannuation which will see superannuitants receive an extra $52 a fortnight if they’re single and $80 if couples.
“It’s been really tough lately,” Carmel said. “The whole idea [of the benefit increases] is that you are able to continue to afford the things that you need to buy on a regular basis.”
Penny Molnar attended the meeting and said she was glad to see superannuation boosted.
“It’s essential to at least try and keep up with the expenses that everyone’s facing now.”
Carmel Sepuloni, who is the Minister for Social Development and Employment, said it was good to meet with local superannuitants to discuss the 1 April changes, but adds it was also helpful to hear about other challenges that the community is facing.
“It’s important for us to be able to take some of that away and to see whether or not we can do something with some of the insights that they gave to us.”
