No decision on road, rail industry review

Press, 22 September 1980, Page 4

No decision on road, rail industry review

PA Dunedin The Minister of Transport (Mr McLachlan) said last evening that he made no apology for the Government’s delay in reaching a decision on its road and rail transport review. “It’s no use rushing into a decision just to get one,” he told about 650 people when he opened the annual conference of the Road Transport Association in Dunedin. Mr McLachlan said he was aware that there was speculation that he would use the conference to announce the Government’s decisions.

“This conference would have been an appropriate occasion indeed, but there are still matters to be tidied up.”

The review had been extremely involved and a complex exercise, which would have substantial ramifications for the future of the transport industry as a whole, he said. Mr McLachlan said the Government is getting close to making a decision which it hopes will have a lasting and beneficial effect on the industry. He said it was a matter of some regret to him that a confidential document relating to the review was leaked to the news media. This had made it more difficult for final decisions to be reached. The complex probleriis of this type of industry would never be solVed- through a trial by the news media, Mr McLachlan said.