Change course now, say Greens

Green Party Co-Leader Russel Norman has responded to the prediction by Australia's CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organization) that gas could cost $10 a litre within a decade by calling for a rapid change of course.

"Petrol at that price would make the Government's entire motorway building project a white elephant - modern-day Easter Island statues. Our new motorways would be monuments to short sightedness and profligate waste of resources.

"Governments even contemplating building motorways like the billion dollar-plus Transmission Gully project in Wellington or the $2 billion Waterview tunnel project in Auckland are seriously out of touch with reality."

In Palmerston North, I think the city council will eventually have to remove all its traffic islands, median strips, etc., and put down tracks for electric trams. We could have an excellent tram service.