National is launching its Pothole of the Week campaign to encourage the public to send in pictures of potholes in their community so that Transport Minister Michael Wood hears their frustrations loud and clear, National’s Transport spokesperson Simeon Brown says.

“Kiwis are sick and tired of all the potholes peppering New Zealand’s roads which are damaging vehicles and causing havoc for motorists. We’re hearing from people every day who say the roads are the worst they’ve ever seen them.

“We’re asking Kiwis to sign our petition and send us pictures of the potholes plaguing their community so that the Transport Minister can see just how bad things are. Each week, we will highlight the worst pothole, with the aim of getting the Government to sort the issue.

“Aside from causing damage to cars, potholes are a safety hazard and that’s why they need to be fixed. So it goes without saying that people should only take photos of potholes if and when it is safe to do so.

“Labour is far too focused on its pet projects, like Auckland light rail, and has forgotten about the basics.

“People in Tauranga and Rodney have taken to repairing the potholes themselves rather than waiting around for NZTA or local authorities to fix them.

“Kiwis would rather the Government spent money on fixing the potholes than on:

• 1,000 extra NZTA staff since 2017
• 97 comms staff at NZTA in 2022, up from 32 in 2017
• $30,000 for five big red zeros
• $491,000 in rent for an empty office on the Auckland waterfront for the cancelled cycle bridge project
• $4.7 million in advertising the existence of the Government’s Road to Zero policy
• $51 million for the cancelled cycle bridge
• Up to $29.2 billion for Auckland light rail.

“Minister Wood needs to stop wasting money on his pet projects and get the potholes fixed.”

People can sign National’s petition at national.org.nz/fixthepotholes and send in their photos of potholes in their community via the National Party Facebook page.