Mike's Minute: Fast-track needs to get back to infrastructure, not housing

The prediction we made some weeks back over fast-track housing is starting to come true.

Fast-track in and of itself is working. The Tauranga Port has the green light after literally years of regulatory BS that had it tied up in court, going nowhere.

If you put RMA v fast-track, then fast-track wins hands down and our country will be better for it.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: New Zealand needs asset recycling to fund its infrastructure future

A fortnight ago, the government agreed a sale worth $702 million. Nicola Willis and Chris Bishop sold the loans the Crown made to Chorus to help build the ultrafast broadband network, for $60 million above book value.

The money, we were told, will go to the Cambridge to Piarere expressway, hospital upgrades and new classrooms.

Dr Benno Blaschke: Finance Freedom

New Zealand cannot build enough houses because councils cannot afford the pipes and roads that new suburbs need. That is the conclusion of a new report by The New Zealand Initiative.

In Finance Freedom, Research Fellow Dr Benno Blaschke explains how council finances drive the housing crisis and how to fix it.

Bob Edlin: KiwiRail directors have a track record with infrastructure....

KiwiRail directors have a track record with infrastructure – but what about safety?

Just over a year ago, announcing new appointments to the KiwiRail board, Rail Minister Winston Peters said they brought commercial, freight and rail experience and a ‘can do’ attitude.

But when it comes to safety issues, can they do it as urgently as recent incidents demand?

Roger Partridge: Renovating the nation

Anyone who has visited Sydney recently will have seen what asset recycling built. New metro lines that transformed commuter rail. Motorways that reshaped how the city moves. Modern hospitals in suburbs that had waited generations.

None of it was funded by raising taxes. None of it was funded by taking on more debt.

Mike's Minute: This is why the real issues get ignored

It was the fish that summed it up for me.

The Infrastructure Commission report was profound in its nature this week.

Chris Bishop was dead right on this programme when he talked of its importance and, yet, its dryness.

Peter Bassett: From Sewage to Sovereignty: How a Tidy Idea Picks Up Extra Luggage

When Wellington’s pipes start bursting in public and sewage plants break down big-time, it’s only a matter of time before someone reaches for a constitutional solution.

One such suggestion, made recently by a former mayor turned regular commentator, is to take Wellington out of local government entirely and rehouse it as a national capital district — Canberra-style, Washington-style, with central government holding the reins.

Mike's Minute: A reality check for the Government on climate hit areas

We end the week with a reality check.

I was a bit underwhelmed by the Government's response to the last couple of week's weather events.

$2 million is not a lot of money, which in a way is good because it indicates the damage isn't that bad.

The damage is that bad. It's just the big stuff, the roads and bridges and infrastructure, is being paid for out of contingency budgets in various Government's departments.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: From blueprints to building

After many difficult years, 2025 felt different. It was not easier. The economy remained stagnant and the reform agenda demanded hard choices. But attitudes shifted. New Zealand stopped merely diagnosing its problems and started taking practical steps to solve them.

Nick Clark: Towards a system that respects property rights - Tidy tweaks or real change?

After decades of planning gridlock, the government has promised to put property rights at the heart of New Zealand’s resource management system. But will its latest reforms deliver lasting change or just patch up the mess we already have?

The government is proposing sweeping changes across three packages covering infrastructure and development, the primary sector, and freshwater management. The direction is largely positive: streamlining infrastructure consenting, reducing housing barriers, easing regulatory burdens on farmers, and providing greater freshwater flexibility.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 21/10/24

Don’t forget the Paddle Ferns, while saluting Kiwi sports teams’ weekend triumphs – and please note Peters’ success in Thailand

Our sports teams did the country proud over the weekend.

Besides holding on to the America’s Cup and winning the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, our teams beat Aussie netballers (here in Wellington) and Indian cricketers on their home turf.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 1/10/24

New name – and a richer swill – for 20-year-old government fund to help clean up contaminated sites

Oinkers will be heartened to learn the Government has established something that looks like a new trough. Or rather, it has put more swill into an old trough and given it a new name.

Mind you, it’s not the most alluring of names. It’s the Contaminated Sites and Vulnerable Landfills Fund, a source of dosh intended to help councils and landowners clean up historic landfills and other contaminated sites that are vulnerable to the effects of severe weather.

Jeffrey McNeill: Why NZ needs to decide what it wants from local government...

Basic service provider or mini democracy? Why NZ needs to decide what it wants from local government

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s recent challenge to local government “to rein in the fantasies and to get back to delivering the basics brilliantly” was unsurprising, given his government’s focus on fiscal restraint.

It was in keeping with his announcement that councils’ legislative purpose of delivering their communities’ economic, social, environmental and cultural wellbeing are to be removed from the Local Government Act.

Jeffrey McNeill: Resource management is always political

Resource management is always political – the Fast-track Approvals Bill is just honest about it

The government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill has been widely criticised for potentially handing too much power to three cabinet ministers, and raising the risk of conflicts of interest and political interference in environmental management.

Ironically, the bill also helps demonstrate why the original Resource Management Act (RMA) was always doomed to fail – and what its replacement will have to get right.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 19/6/24

More money flows through the infrastructure pipeline – and Public Works Act changes aim to hasten the flow

Infrastructure is big deal in the Beehive news agenda today.

The government is making it easier to build infrastructure by modernising the Public Works Act.

And it is braying about the billions of dollars being pumped through something called the National Infrastructure Pipeline, which provides a national “view” of current or planned infrastructure projects, from roads, to water infrastructure, to schools

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 14/6/24

Favours announced to foster a flourishing forestry sector – and we get a measure of the axing of public service jobs

The Government continued the flow of good news to the country’s primary producers during a busy 24 hours for the Beehive press team.

It was the forestry sector’s turn to savour announcements intended to enable it to flourish.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 10/5/24

No, the govt will not be cutting back on every budget – and the Defence vote is among those to be given a funding boost

Reporting on defence spending late last year, RNZ said the coalition government will have to make some tough calls this term to help the force address staff shortages and ageing infrastructure.

Dr Eric Crampton: GST back to councils?

If a localist agenda involves punting more responsibility down to councils, then central government assistance in funding some of those responsibilities could make sense.

If councils were only responsible for core infrastructure, that can and should be covered by rates revenue and user charges on use of the infrastructure. If the resulting rates charges are unaffordable because of low income in the district, that's generally a problem for central government redistribution policy. Central government takes a lot of money from higher earning households and redistributes it to lower earning households, particularly lower income households with children.

Nick Clark: Boosting our cities and regions

New Zealand faces significant challenges in managing growth, delivering infrastructure, and improving the well-being of our communities. Our productivity performance has been dismal. Cities and regions are grappling with housing shortages, transport congestion, and skills gaps. The current model of mostly centralised decision-making and funding is struggling to keep pace with these complex, cross-cutting issues.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 15/4/24

Govt’s Wellington tunnel vision aims to ease the way to the airport (but zealous promoters of cycling will be riled)

A pet project and governmental tunnel vision jump out from the latest batch of ministerial announcements.

The government is keen to assure us of its concern for the wellbeing of our pets.