KSK: Time to Implement a Mature Cross-Party Approach

It is time to bring some maturity to the infrastructure issue

The state of the nation is very fragile, as PM Luxon has rightly stated.

Tough choices and tough love are what’s needed for a “fragile” New Zealand as it faces a “rough” economic forecast and massive infrastructure deficit, says Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.

NZ Herald

Let’s look at just one issue: infrastructure. Although economic choices are part of that, we cannot continue to give our money away to those who refuse to work. The country is being bled dry by many of the recipients while we face an overwhelming labour shortage.

Infrastructure has become an in-word as billions of wasted dollars, a lack of adequate policy planning and parlous outcomes, catch up with us. In the absence of an agreed, bipartisan approach for the future, we run the risk of remaining in an infrastructure death spiral. I am not suggesting for a second that it would be an easy thing to achieve – but we now have a coalition Government that was not expected to be either possible or successful. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that a cross-party infrastructure alliance could be formed with intelligence, maturity and a hefty dose of common sense. The government already has several cross-party initiatives – including the Rainbow Network – but not a shared agreement on roading. The chop-and-change policies of successive governments have seen the country once again trying to play catch-up.

The Labour Party’s fun-filled frolic flinging taxpayer dollars far and wide had nothing to show for its fancies except the bloated bank accounts of its consultants. And experts. And advisors, such as MinterEllisonRuddWatts, whose recent claims to fame include “Helping shape New Zealand’s Three Waters reform programme”, where their advice included “legislative reform, entity design and governance, economic regulation, public law and commercial contracts”. They were also “trusted” advisors of the Auckland Light Rail disaster:

ALR is a NZD$15 billion transformational infrastructure project which will connect the Auckland CBD with the Auckland international airport. ALR will be a key component of Auckland’s future transport network and, while it started life as a mass transit project, it has evolved into a project with a strong urban development focus and its scope now extends to the development and construction of urban regeneration along its route.

MinterEllison

And look where that all ended up. Nowhere. In return for the mind-boggling amount spent, we got…nothing.

The Labour Party in early 2023 expected cross-party support for the new harbour crossing in Auckland, but ACT and Greens (surprise, surprise) were against the proposal.

The message is: don’t come up with a policy and expect everyone to follow it. That is not how cross-party development works.

A country of this size cannot afford to have these zig-zag policy swings continue, let alone the fact that none of those people or policies have produced anything of value over the past six long years. The coalition Government is now dismantling the structures of their failed, spendthrift, ineffective and useless predecessors with yet more of our hard-earned tax dollars.

But it is not just the nightmare of the Ardern regime and the frivolous expenditure that will forever be part of her legacy that has brought the country to its arthritic knees. Successive governments and local bodies have let us down so that we now arrive at today’s situation where infrastructure has aged and given up – like many of the country’s citizenry.

An article by Simon Edwards on 26 July, 2023, under the heading Cross-Party Commitment Needed on Infrastructure Deficit, said precisely the points I am making.

Long-term, integrated planning and a bipartisan commitment to the agreed way forward is crucial if New Zealand is to make meaningful headway on our infrastructure deficit, Waka Kotahi Chief Executive Nicole Rosie says. […]

To get best bang for buck, and to encourage the major construction and development players to invest in equipment and systems, long-term integrated planning across modes (road, rail, coastal shipping) and needs (cities, rural, freight, ports) is needed.

This is what mature parts of Australia do… with regional plans. They prioritise and they have bipartisan commitment over the long term to those plans and sticking to them.

We don’t have that in New Zealand. We have a lot of change on what’s prioritised with political cycles both within local and central government.

There’s a high cost in stopping and starting projects, and in holding land while you make decisions. And there’s a high cost working projects through and getting community support for plans that are constantly changing.

FedNews

Infrastructure New Zealand, in a report prepared by Infometrics, has this to say under the title Estimating the Costs of an Uncertain Infrastructure Pipeline.

Aotearoa New Zealand must gear up and build more infrastructure to support a strong economy, social progress and transition to net zero.

Underinvestment in our crucial infrastructure is one of our greatest long-term economic challenges. New Zealand has around $100 billion worth of infrastructure projects planned and in its pipeline of upcoming work but this needs to more than double over the next 30 years to meet our current infrastructure deficit.” 

Infrastructure New Zealand

The uncertainty could be in part addressed by a radical re-think in the way we do or do not develop infrastructure policy.

The International Transport Forum says:

When it works well, strategic planning can set out a stable set of priorities for future investment with durable cross-party support. (Emphasis added)

Strategic Infrastructure Planning

The adoption of cross-party infrastructure strategic planning would be new for development in New Zealand but, until we reach an agreement to prioritise, plan, pay for and produce results for the entire country, we are doomed to die in potholes, forgo showers, be stuck at home in the absence of functioning public transport, etc. We simply cannot continue to apply the same so-called infrastructure planning process and expect a better result.

The National Party infrastructure planning takes the long view, but does not mention cross-party involvement:

1. A National Infrastructure Agency to coordinate government funding, connect domestic and offshore investors with New Zealand infrastructure, and improve funding, procurement and delivery.
2. Innovative funding and financing tools to boost investment in infrastructure, and create investment opportunities for ACC, the NZ Super Fund and KiwiSaver funds.
3. National, City and Regional Deals to partner with local Government to create long-term pipelines of regional projects.
4. A fast-track consents process to make it easier to build the infrastructure New Zealand needs for the future.
5. A 30-year infrastructure pipeline to deliver long-term certainty, enable more effective planning, and reduce project costs.

It is time to bring a mature approach to the table and implement a cross-party approach to infrastructure: a binding cross-party plan that would allow successive governments and local bodies to work collectively and effectively to bring about the desperately needed infrastructure to keep New Zealand developing and thriving. The existing situation sees us doing neither. We cannot afford yet another undoing of that done – or not done, as the case may be. The country is indeed in a fragile state.

KSK has a Master of Management degree from the University of Auckland. She has a business management background following many years in the medical field. She is a former business mentor with Business Mentors NZ. This article was first published HERE