Roads, Treaty, poverty on PM's agenda

The Prime Minister says he wants to bring the new Minister for Roading to Northland for a first-hand look at the state of the region's roads.

Roads, tourism, poverty, immigration, international free trade, mining and the Ngapuhi settlement were among the topics John Key segued between while addressing a public meeting organised by the Kerikeri District Business Association at the Turner Centre on Tuesday.

There were murmurs of approval when Mr Key told the packed meeting that the new Roading Minister, Simon Bridges, should familiarise himself with Northland's roading situation.

Mr Key said the Government had committed a lot of money to roading. There was an argument for rebuilding a rail link into Northland, but the need for better roading was far more pressing, he said.

He said he wanted do away with the misleading implication that a four-lane motorway between Auckland and, in a few years, Wellsford was a "holiday highway" for Omaha holiday home owners like himself, rather than better infrastructure.

He talked about the region's tourism potential, saying the domestic market was the obvious key target. Earlier in the day he attended a Northland Tourism Association meeting at Waitangi.

Mr Key also said there was huge potential for partnerships and development with iwi, and Ngapuhi's Treaty of Waitangi settlement was important.

"Ngapuhi have the capacity to do a lot of good. The Government has a stated goal to have that deal settled. It's disappointing after an overwhelming number of people gave the mandate to Tuhoronuku."

Mr Key said there was little planning by private or public sectors in which Ngai Tahu in the South Island and Tainui in Waikato were not deeply involved.

After the meeting Mr Key told the Northern Advocate the Government was frustrated about the lengthy Waitangi Tribunal process about to be undertaken over who had the mandate to work on the Ngapuhi settlement.

He had earlier told the meeting that Northland was doing okay in some respects but could do better. What was needed to cut down child poverty was better education, more employment and more people prepared to start businesses.

"How do you make the boat go faster for a longer period of time? It's not as simple as the Government throwing money at it. If you want to lift people out of material deprivation you have to get them working."

He hinted that the skills base and business-based economy could be boosted by awarding extra qualifying points to immigrants wanting to start businesses if they agreed to set up in, for example, Whangarei.

After the meeting he congratulated Andrew Little for winning the Labour Party leadership and wished him luck.

"It's never an easy job, being leader of the Opposition. It's my view, given the state the Labour Party's in, he's in for a very tough job."