Barbara Edmonds: Halted projects – the urgent need for infrastructure action

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Labour’s Barbara Edmonds. Photo / Mark Mitchell
THREE KEY FACTS:
Barbara Edmonds is Labour’s Shadow Finance and Infrastructure Minister.
OPINION

Aotearoa has a long history of seeing infrastructure caught up in cycles of delay and indecision. We face challenges that are
as old as they are urgent.

Whether it be leaky pipes, creaking classrooms or ageing hospitals, we know that investments in infrastructure are investments in jobs, people and our future.
What our country needs right now is collective, future-focused strategies and action that will fix infrastructure of today and build for tomorrow. We can’t get there by chopping and changing as we always have – we need to develop greater cross-party consensus. As Labour’s spokesperson for infrastructure, I know that greater consensus isn’t just possible – it’s essential. Our history is rich with moments where bold decisions transformed our country, and now, we stand at a similar crossroads.
During Labour’s six years in government, we worked to tackle the infrastructure deficit head on by increasing investment levels significantly after years of underfunding. We built 2250 new classrooms, over 15,000 more public and transitional homes, and invested six times more into health capital than the previous National Government. By no means were we perfect, but we were clear with where we wanted to go, and we were on track to get there.
Since the election we have seen major projects stopped, paralysing parts of the infrastructure sector.
This Government has halted work on critical transport infrastructure, scrapped necessary school builds, and paused the public housing expansion, creating immense uncertainty for businesses and wasting significant resources.
Infrastructure New Zealand has emphasised that the Government must urgently address the country’s infrastructure challenges and leverage the expertise of the private sector. Yet the private sector’s morale is waning with business confidence hitting its lowest point in June since September 2023.
Allan Pollard, CE of Civil Contractors NZ, captured the mood saying, “Right now, unfortunately, our business is largely downsizing, downscaling, putting off staff and parking up equipment because they don’t have that confidence going forward.”
So how do we improve things?
To move forward, we must urgently create the right economic and procurement conditions to restore confidence and build greater consensus across parties around infrastructure investment. Otherwise, it will become increasingly tempting for businesses to pack up and head across the Tasman.
Since taking on the infrastructure portfolio, I have been clear that the challenges ahead cannot be solved by one party or a single government. I am pleased to see that the Minister for Infrastructure has acknowledged his willingness to work with us on developing this.
We recognise that the Labour Party will need to carefully consider which projects are under way and how they are structured so that we don’t repeat the same issues with this latest change in government.
Equally, the Government will need to show an openness to working with other parties and approaching infrastructure in a way that creates enduring solutions and greater consensus. As many in the sector know, time is money, and delays ultimately add costs for taxpayers and businesses.
We need to establish a clear population growth strategy.
Without knowing our future population size and the levels of service we need across our infrastructure networks, how can we determine where and how to invest? A key part of this strategy will involve reaching a consensus on immigration and regional planning. Labour is open to supporting regional and city deals because we recognise the importance of working with local authorities and communities on these matters, but the Government must be willing to support a sustainable long-term funding solution.
We also need to establish a shared set of values to guide our infrastructure decisions. For the Labour Party, these values must include climate adaptation and resilience, as well as some level of Government involvement in the ownership or control of assets. We’ve seen in the past that when significant assets are privatised, investment in maintenance can be deprioritised in favour of shareholder dividends. Additionally, the role of Māori is crucial — tangata whenua are not going anywhere and their perspectives must be included for our country to thrive.
Ultimately, the key issue will be funding. There won’t be a one-size-fits-all solution to our infrastructure challenges, but a mix of funding and financing options can set us up for success.
As Labour has demonstrated with projects like Transmission Gully, sometimes we need to work within existing agreements for the greater good, as certainty is most important.
A bipartisan agreement on infrastructure would be a positive step forward and I will continue to advocate for collaboration across all parties in Parliament to deliver the best outcomes for Aotearoa. This is what we were elected to do.
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