“Waka Kotahi’s response to the events of January 27th in Auckland have been revealed to have been slow off the mark and totally underwhelming,” says ACT’s Transport spokesperson Simon Court.

“Much has been made of the Auckland Mayor’s response, but responses to Written Parliamentary Questions show that Waka Kotahi was asleep at the wheel and inadequate in their initial response.

“Waka Kotahi didn’t activate the National Emergency Response team until 8.45pm. That is more than four hours after Police started warning motorists of disruptions. At the point Waka Kotahi kicked into gear most motorists were working out for themselves whether streets were safe to drive down.

“They also didn’t start posting social media updates until 5.55pm, and at 7.50pm announced in a tweet they were clocking off for the night, just when the deluge was starting to have a real impact on Aucklanders and was threatening road safety.

“Even though Wayne Brown declared a state of emergency at 9.27pm, Waka Kotahi didn’t provide another update until 10.30pm.

“Kiwis deserve better for their taxpayer dollars than a department that goes missing in action when it is needed most.

“There’s been plenty of blame thrown round about January 27th but Waka Kotahi has escaped the bulk of it. Like the Auckland Council has recently done, they need to show they’ve learnt from their mistakes and are prepared to step up if such an event happens again.”

© Scoop Media