Wilson and Trevett Come up Trumps

In a week where, on Wednesday, I have a day in hospital to hopefully get a fourth stent inserted, having had a triple bypass in 2016, the old heart needed a bit of an uplift. It got one, two even, from the most unlikely of people, namely Simon Wilson and Claire Trevett. Both had articles published in the Weekend Herald. To give credit where it’s due, both articles were objectively written minus the usual bias and personal opinions that can cause palpitations in the old ticker that I can do without.

The heading of Simon’s article was eye grabbing – “Plans of the ‘Infra Boys’”. There was a fairly large picture of Christopher Luxon and behind him were Chris Bishop, Shane Jones and Simeon Brown. It was an appropriate photo as, of all those in the Government, when it comes to getting things done, they are it. The article had an emphasis on discussing the need for a 30-year infrastructure plan involving cross-party support which is largely being driven by Bishop.

The opening paragraphs of Simon’s article are worth quoting as a scene set for what follows. “Wayne Brown wants a new harbour bridge, Winston Peters wants rail-embedded Cook Strait ferries, Simeon Brown wants 15 big new highways, Chloe Swarbrick wants domestic solar and Shane Jones wants to ‘drill baby drill’. Wellington wants water pipes that don’t leak, Auckland wants free-flowing traffic and Nicola Willis says there is no money.” A great lead in to the article.

The first part, a 30-year plan, is probably achievable, but the second part, cross-party support, maybe less so. Simon, in discussion with Bishop, constructively made the point. He found the fishhooks in Bishop’s plan. First, Bishop is quite rightly saying that everything National campaigned on in terms of infrastructure will happen, e.g., the Auckland to Whangārei four-lane highway. Personally I can’t see the Greens supporting that. Simon reported Julie Anne Genter as saying that things can’t happen at the expense of the environment.

There is more than a grain of commonsense to a long-term plan. As Simon points out, Sean Sweeney, former boss of the City Rail Link, shocked the industry last year with a graph showing New Zealand was the most expensive country in the world in which to build new infrastructure. With this in mind Bishop is beefing up Te Waihanga, the Infrastructure Commission (can someone please tell me why that organisation needs a Māori name).

It is an autonomous crown entity set up by the Labour-led Government (I think I’ve just answered my own question re the Māori name) in 2019. As Simon says, some cross-party collaboration right there. Its head, Geoff Cooper, told RNZ that New Zealand is among the biggest spenders on infrastructure in the OECD, but also among those with the least to show for it. We’re spending a lot and not building very much. Hence those working on the CRL are mostly off overseas and, when the next big project comes along, retraining has to begin again, adding to the overall cost.

In terms of cross-party collaboration it appears all might not be lost. James Shaw says it requires compromise from both sides. Hard-left Kieran McAnulty agreed. In a show of unexpected unity, Kieran says, “We’re up for that and I think Bishop’s up for it as well. But you’ve got to be able to meet in the middle. Otherwise what’s there to work with?” McAnulty said that, while he wouldn’t invite Bishop to his wedding, he thinks his heart is in the right place. What a magnanimous man! Who would’ve thought! But is he to be trusted? Time will tell.

Should this, in my view unlikely, cross-party support come to pass it will indeed be a watershed moment in our political history. It will be very interesting for those of us watching on to see what eventuates, if anything, out of Bishop’s lofty goals. A constructive plan is outlined in a very good article written by, to my surprise, Simon Wilson. This time what Simon says is worth a read. Well done Simon!

Over the page and I meet my sometimes nemesis Claire Trevett. “Willis, Seymour tackle evils of staying at home” is the headline for her article. Willis is tackling the workers, mainly civil servants, and Seymour is on the truancy trail. Most of us are familiar with the concerns in both areas so I won’t go into much of the specifics. Suffice it to say Willis thinks people are more productive in the workplace, where discussions can better take place and juniors provided with any necessary help they need. Businesses also benefit from having workers in the city.

Seymour wants schools to be keeping a daily attendance record and is threatening various stages of consequences for those who do not comply with the rules laid down. Teacher-only days will be required to be taken during school holidays and students taking part in such things as climate-change protests in school time will be marked absent. As the prime minister says, they have Saturday and Sunday to engage in such activities. Claire’s article puts both sides of these issues but, like Simon, in a constructive and non-biased way. My congratulations to both of them.

With reference to my opening paragraph, I am not expecting this to be my last article!