I have received a very nice letter from the Honourable Simon Ten Bridges, together with his photo to remind me what a dashing, fresh-faced young man he really is.
"Good afternoon Derek," is Simon's friendly greeting as he reminds me that we are heading into theholiday season, which I assume means I'll hear nothing more from Simon or his colleagues for quite a long time as they frolic on some beaches in far away islands.
It's really nice of Simon to call me from Queenstown, where he was very busy "turning the first sod" of the new $22 million Kawarau Falls bridge. I hope his spade wasn't too heavy, because he doesn't look the brawniest of sods.
However, "this replacement bridge is just one of the roading projects we are fast-tracking in the regions", Simon tells me, raising excitement in me as I wonder which of our promised 10 bridges he will tell me will be started first. I can't wait as I read on.
Simon's a fast worker. One of his bridges is already completed! That's the Kopu Bridge, in the Coromandel. Er, wasn't that done a few years ago? No harm in mentioning it, I suppose. But next year the Puhoi to Wellsford section of SH1 is expected to start. Now, where have I heard that before?
Apparently we have seven roads of national significance, at least one of which must be one of the promised Far North bridges, I naively thought.
What a disappointment to read of $1.4 billion being spent on another tunnel for Auckland, $455 million on a road for Tauranga, $2.1 billion for the Waikato Expressway, but not one dollar listed for a new bridge anywhere in Northland.
Oh, I get it. This is our punishment for dumping National's candidate at the last general election. What's more, anything they do up here risks the possibility of Winston Peters claiming the credit, so best not to risk that and give us nothing in return for our vehicle licence and mileage charges, which are obviously being spent further south. Well, if they succeed with a stranglehold on Winston - and I doubt they are capable of that - the result won't be much different to the 20-odd years' previous support we gave them.
They should understand, reneging on solemn promises is certainly not the way to regain our support.
