Prime Minister John Key (right) meets Cody Campbell (8), a
pupil at Remarkables Primary School and past president of
the Queenstown Rotary club Chris Campbell. Photo by
Christina McDonald.
With the Government reviewing the Resource Management
Act, Prime Minister John Key said it was hoped the planning and
approval process for new developments, such as the proposed
Queenstown convention centre, would be made quicker.
Mr Key was in Queenstown yesterday, starting his day by
visiting Wakatipu High School, lunching with the Rotary club,
opening the restored historic boat shed and slipway at
Frankton and attending a function at the Bungy Centre.
In an address to the Queenstown Rotary Club at SkyCity, Mr
Key said ''fundamentally'' Queenstown needed a convention
centre as it was ''the sort of thing that will bring people
in all year round ...''
''But you still have to go through a planning process and
approval and if that was going to take you five years or 10
years to get approval, then you're going to find that
extremely frustrating.''
Later in the day, he said he did not rule out a financial
contribution from the Government towards the centre, but
would wait for details of the proposal from the Queenstown
Lakes District Council.
He said as Tourism Minister he was ''acutely aware'' of the
importance of a centre to Queenstown and saw it as part of a
national strategy linked with Auckland and Christchurch
centres.
He told the Rotary club he hoped to get New Zealand back into
surplus within two years, and said two years ago the deficit
was $18 billion.
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