The National Party’s South Island plan has been called “a breathtakingly brazen snub of Dunedin”. That assessment came from city councillor Jo Galer, who decried “government efforts to leave us off the map”, while other city representatives questioned the party’s commitment to South Island investment, doubted Dunedin was the target audience for the party’s election pitch or labelled its plan a joke. National unveiled a growth plan for the South Island on Friday that was largely focused on Canterbury and Queenstown. Dunedin — the South Island’s second-largest city — was mentioned a few times, but mostly in connection to funding already in place, such as for building the city’s new hospital. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said a re-elected National-led government would invest in the infrastructure, exports, energy and public services needed to drive the South Island’s next chapter of growth. Asked about the perceived snub for Dunedin, Minister for the South Island James Meager said its plan was about “backing every part of the mainland to grow, and Dunedin has a central role in that”. National had “a strong record of investment” in Dunedin, including a $1.88 billion commitment to build the city’s new hospital. Other investment included “up to $8.2m for a rail siding at the Southern Link Logistics Hub near Mosgiel, the reopening and redevelopment of Hillside Workshops, a $2m investment in the Dunedin Tunnels Trail and $3.9m to expand predator control around Dunedin”. Mr Meager said transport funding for Otago and Southland had risen to $1.4b in the national land transport plan, which was a 27% increase on the previous period under the last government. The party’s announcement came in the same week a report was presented to Parliament that said the South Island’s share of roading expenditure appeared to be disproportionately low. Last year, the South Island received 11% of the national land transport fund roading spend, despite accounting for 24% of the population and generating 27% of national vehicle kilometres travelled, 22% of gross domestic product, one third of goods exports and 40% of international visitor spending, the report by economist Benje Patterson said. Dunedin city councillor Andrew Simms said there was a yawning shortfall in the government’s spend on roading infrastructure to support development in the South Island, particularly in Otago. [Missing Credit]Cr Andrew Simms. Photo: Supplied The cost of supporting the planned inland port at North Taieri was a fraction of the $3.6b earmarked for a road of national significance north of Auckland. “Yet it appears that Aucklanders getting to their holiday houses more quickly is a priority over the real work being done in Otago, and the real need to improve the efficiency of getting our primary goods to market.” Cr Steve Walker said he nearly fell off his seat laughing while reading National’s plan for the South Island. “The only thing of merit capable of reasonably countering this ridiculous catalogue of claims and promises would be a good old-fashioned Tui ‘Yeah. Right’ campaign,” the Labour-endorsed councillor said. Cr Mickey Treadwell, from the Green Party, said the plan was “plainly an election pitch, but I don’t believe Dunedin is the target audience”. Dunedin’s three biggest sectors were healthcare, education and construction. “Beyond a mention of the hospital, which they delayed, there is nothing for those industries here.” Cr Galer said the council leaned left politically and she wondered if this had cost the city opportunities to grow. Dunedin Mayor Sophie Barker said the city was thankful for the hospital build and she was interested in what all political parties might offer, such as to help Dunedin grow as a southern powerhouse. One key issue was helping local government with critical infrastructure issues, such as providing water, roading and resilience around flooding. “Rates caps are just going to make it a lot harder for us to [deal with] those very known infrastructure deficits to our communities.”
