Wow. Three days into the job and opposition leader Judith Collins has announced the biggest infrastructure spend in history, with $31 billion to be spent on infrastructure projects over the next decade.
Stuff reports:
National Party leader Judith Collins has announced plans for what she calls “the biggest infrastructure package” in New Zealand’s history.
If elected, a National government would spend $31 billion on transport projects during the next decade, about half of which would go towards construction of new roads in the upper North Island.
In a speech in Auckland on Friday, Collins said that as well as building a four-lane expressway linking Whangarei, Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga – transforming them into an “economic powerhouse”, National would scrap plans for light rail to Auckland airport and instead, build a heavy-rail line from Puhinui to the airport in 2026, which would later be extended to Onehunga.
Oh wow. Getting rid of the biggest and most expensive white elephant planned for decades – the Auckland light rail. We all said it was a useless waste of money; now National has scrapped it. Many Aucklanders will be cheering for that decision.
The party would abolish the Auckland regional fuel tax within 100 days of being elected, kick-off $300 million worth of “digger ready projects” in the city, such as filling potholes, and expand the ferry network to improve crossings for pedestrians and cyclists.
Reducing fuel taxes, which were earmarked for a project that has stalled into insignificance… this is National policy to its core. Voters are going to love it.
She said National was “sceptical” about the $360 million Skypath pedestrian and cycle path on the Harbour Bridge proposed by current Transport Minister Phil Twyford.
The package is part of the party’s “Plan to Get New Zealand Working” and is the first policy announced since Collins was elected leader on Tuesday.
No ‘pop-up’ footpaths, no extra cycleways, no forcing little old ladies onto bicycles, just roads. Music to a National supporter’s ears and a few Labour supporters who want to get to work on time as well.
Collins added the National Party would improve and extend Auckland’s commuter rail system to the north Waikato town of Pokeno from 2024.
“That will then allow the possibility of proper commuter rail to Hamilton to be considered,” she said.
“In the 2030s, we will look seriously at a new rail line from Avondale to Southdown, which would have major benefits for freight.”
After so much dithering about ‘shovel ready’ projects that are nothing of the sort, we now have a plan from a prospective government that can prove it can get infrastructure built. After all, most of Labour’s proposed projects to date – none of which have been started yet, as far as I know – were started or proposed under the last government. Labour, in spite of lots of overblown promises, has done next to nothing in infrastructure.
Collins said Auckland was in the midst of a “congestion crisis caused by decades of short-term thinking and expedience”.
“The crisis has been exacerbated by this Government’s utter incompetence on almost everything they have touched, whether it be KiwiBuild or light rail.
“My government will be different. It’s time for boldness and a long-term vision. Infrastructure takes time. In New Zealand, it takes far too much time.”
It is time for boldness, and projects definitely take too much time. She is going to solve that too.
The Resource Management Act, which is the main piece of legislation for managing the environment, would be repealed if the party got into power, with Collins claiming it is the “New Zealand’s biggest barrier to future development”.
It would be replaced by an Environmental Standards Act and an Urban Planning and Development Act, which would be introduced to Parliament by the end of 2021.
Collins said National’s package was about future-proofing infrastructure, as opposed to starting projects when they were needed.
“In practice, a ‘just-in-time’ approach to infrastructure means ‘too late’ – sometimes much too late.
“National’s approach to infrastructure is simple: Make decisions, get projects funded and commissioned, and then get them delivered, at least a couple of years before they are expected to be needed.”
Thank God for Judith. The National Party has finally found its natural leader. Let’s hope they haven’t left it too late.
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