Kerre Woodham: Our infrastructure problems weren't going to magically stop with a change of government

The ferry running aground. I suppose given the myriad issues that were going on with the Cook Strait ferries over the past few years, they were not going to go away.

They weren't going to magically stop with a change of government.

Stuff helpfully put together, it was in the Sunday Star Times, a brief history of the recent issues besetting the Cook Strait ferries. 1998, the Aratere was built in Spain. It cost $106 million at the time, which would have been a bargain if it had worked. But within a year of its delivery, the crew dubbed it El Lemon.

Mike's Minute: Our infrastructure is an embarrassment to the country

Here is the real problem with a ferry running aground.

It comes in the same week the plane didn’t work and the same week a transmission tower fell over.

It's pathetic. This country is on its knees and it's embarrassing.

Matthew Birchall: Deficit obsession ignore abysmal state of Kiwi infrastructure delivery

It is often said that New Zealand faces an infrastructure deficit. In an influential paper, economic consultancy Sense Partners estimated the cost of addressing this shortfall as over $200 billion. But is deficit the best way to frame New Zealand’s obvious infrastructure challenges?

There are two reasons why that narrative about New Zealand’s infrastructure needs is counterproductive.