Roll up, oinkers – Shane Jones is calling hogs to a new trough, not as rich as the PGF, true, but a $1.2bn swill must be tempting
When it has been filled with a swill funded by taxpayers and invitations have been issued to various organisations to come and slurp, it’s fair to suppose it is a trough. This likelihood is increased significantly when we learn the invitation to come and slurp is issued by Shane Jones.
As Minister of Regional Development, Jones has invited councils, iwi, businesses and community organisations with infrastructure projects that support regional priorities to apply for funding from the Regional Infrastructure Fund, which opened today.
In Budget 2024, Jones announced the first projects to be funded through the RIF would be an initial $200 million for flood resilience infrastructure.
Up to $101.1m of this, along with co-investment from recipients, is committed to 42 flood resilience projects close to being started.
The projects have been identified by local authorities in the Before the Deluge 2.0 report and are within the RIF criteria.
More information about the RIF, including details about eligibility criteria and the application process can also be found on the Grow Regions website from today.
Jones’ invitation to apply for a place around the trough was among the latest press statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website.
In Budget 2024, Jones announced the first projects to be funded through the RIF would be an initial $200 million for flood resilience infrastructure.
Up to $101.1m of this, along with co-investment from recipients, is committed to 42 flood resilience projects close to being started.
The projects have been identified by local authorities in the Before the Deluge 2.0 report and are within the RIF criteria.
More information about the RIF, including details about eligibility criteria and the application process can also be found on the Grow Regions website from today.
Jones’ invitation to apply for a place around the trough was among the latest press statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website.
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Giving Jones control of another rich swill was an outcome of the coalition negotiations between National and New Zealand First.
The effect was to re-establish the Provincial Growth Fund as the Regional Infrastructure Fund.
The Provincial Growth Fund is was established in 2018 with the allocation of $3 billion to Kānoa – Regional Economic Development & Investment Unit to invest in the economies of our regions.
During the establishment of the 2017 coalition government, New Zealand First had negotiated the fund for regional development projects.
It was managed by NZ First MP Shane Jones until his party was kicked out of Parliament in the 2020 election.
When he was in opposition, National’s Chris Bishop called it “Labour’s reward to NZ First for supporting the coalition”, a “a slush fund that lacks transparency”, and accused NZ First of using it as a “campaign chest” for the 2020 election.
He also called it a “giant waste of money”, accused Shane Jones of “spending cash without making sure business cases stack up”, and implied it was better at creating roles for well-paid bureaucrats in Wellington than jobs in the regions.
In May 2020, $640 million was repurposed from the fund to help regional New Zealand recover from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But it did not pass muster with the Office of the Auditor Office, who advised Parliament not enough attention was being paid to whether Provincial Growth Fund investments were worthwhile.
In a report to Parliament’s economic development committee, deputy controller and auditor-general Andrew McConnell noted the reset had been designed and implemented at speed in an uncertain environment, when MBIE’s Kānoa regional economic development and investment unit (RDU) – in charge of administering the fund – was dealing with significant staffing challenges.
“Given these factors, we did not expect to find a perfect process, but we did expect to see one that was fit for purpose given that over $600 million of public money was involved.”
Some of Kānoa’s work met expectations, McConnell said, but the office could not be sure its investments represented value for money, due to deficiencies in a number of areas.
There was not enough evidence that risks had been proactively identified, assessed and managed, while funding applications were assessed inconsistently against a “complex” project framework.
“We also did not see enough evidence of how Kānoa-RDU appropriately scrutinised applicants’ claims of their projects’ benefits, such as the number of jobs that would be created.”
McConnell said there did not appear to be clear reporting on or regular monitoring of how well the provincial growth fund reset was meeting its objectives, and there was incomplete record keeping of some processes.
But we had an election last year, and Labour was replaced by the National-ACT-New Zealand First coalition.
And that makes this very different – don’t you agree?
Jones said:
“The Coalition Government is focused on growing the economy. We are doing everything we can to enable an export-led recovery, regional prosperity and jobs.”
The Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF) will drive regional productivity, prosperity and resilience by focusing on two key investment categories, he said:
- Resilience infrastructure to improve regions’ ability to absorb, adapt and respond to stresses and shocks, and
- Enabling infrastructure to support growth by ensuring regions are well-connected and productive.
“We want to invest where it counts. That’s why RIF investments will align with these regional priorities, ensure there is regional co-investment and, where possible, leverage existing regional development investments.”
The Regional Infrastructure Fund is primarily a capital fund. Funding support will be provided through a mix of loan and equity investments; grants will be available in only very limited cases.
Point of Order notes that Chris Bishop, who now serves as minister for infrastructure, has promised the new Provincial Growth Fund will not be a “slush fund” for New Zealand First pet projects.
Bishop will work with Jones on the Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF), worth $1.2 billion,
“There were definitely issues with the former Provincial Growth Fund and I think minister Jones would accept that as well,” Bishop told Morning Report on Thursday.
“I don’t want to speak for him, but I think he would accept that as well.”
The PGF was useful in that it spent “capital money in the regions on projects that would otherwise have missed out on funding”, Bishop said.
He said the RIF would “be different” , set up “up in a way that is ministered well and diligently”.
With himself riding shotgun alongside Jones, presumably.
Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
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