Transport Minister Michael Wood needs to stop wasting taxpayers’ money on pet projects and advertising props, says National Party Transport Spokesperson Simeon Brown.

“Less than three weeks after the National Party revealed Michael Wood had spent thousands of dollars on large prop zeros to promote the Road to Zero campaign, the Minister has been forced to admit it is worse than we thought.

“According to RNZ, Wood has been forced to contact Waka Kotahi a second time as he admitted it had actually spent around $30,000 on five prop zeros, money that could have been put into something more useful.

“Promoting road safety is important, but it is at its most effective when it has a clear educational message, for example about not speeding.

“But spending $30,000 for a bunch of red zeros that light up is significant a waste of taxpayers’ money at a time when Kiwi families are doing it tough due to very high inflation and rising interest rates.

“The zeros are not even about road safety. They are about telling everyone about the Government’s policies, rather than knuckling down and doing the hard work.

“The Minister of Transport is addicted to spending on his pet projects, such as $56 million on Auckland light rail so far for zero meters of light rail, $50 million on a cancelled cycle bridge in Auckland, $38 million on consultants for Let’s Get Wellington Moving, and an empty 1,000 square meter office on Auckland’s waterfront for the cancelled cycle bridge.

“Michael Wood needs to stop wasting taxpayers’ money on his pet projects so that taxpayers actually get some value for the petrol taxes and road user charges they pay.”