Political disagreements over big projects can be "a healthy thing" and those in infrastructure should focus on better planning rather than chasing the idea of a bipartisan project pipeline, a senior sector leader says.
The Infrastructure Commission's investment general manager Andy Hagan said differences over projects were often a natural reflection of public disagreement, and bipartisan commitments were not necessarily the way to resolve them.
"We need to recognise that consensus is easier in some areas than others, and differences of views at a political level, about infrastructure reflect you or I's difference in views about how we should move forward to the country.
"This is a healthy thing," he told a room of infrastructure sector leaders.
The notion of a consensus-led pipeline has gained currency in recent years as the last change in government led to projects such as Auckland's light rail or the Interislander ferries being see-sawed, scrapped, or stalled.
But, at a commission-hosted conference of sector leaders in Auckland on Tuesday, the officials closest to the problem said the idea had run its course.
Senior minister Chris Bishop announced sweeping changes at the event which would power up the Infrastructure Commission to take over many of Treasury's roles in overseeing major Crown-funded infrastructure projects.
The transfer will take effect on November 1.
Established in 2019, the commission – also known as Te Waihanga – has been the Government's independent advisory body on the sector and projects. It released a national infrastructure plan earlier this year.
Bishop told the conference the current system had let bad projects "gain momentum until it's too late", wasting tens or hundreds of millions of dollars on business cases and feasibility work for "phantom projects" that most knew should never have been funded.
The senior minister spoke to Q+A amid reports of discontent within the National Party. (Source: Q and A)
Under the changes, the Treasury will also introduce a standardised two-page "fitness assessment" for all business cases seeking Cabinet endorsement, giving ministers what the Government described as clearer, more actionable information on proposals.
Consensus-based pipeline 'step too far'
Speaking to conference-goers, Hagan cited quotes from sector leaders and both Bishop and Labour's infrastructure spokesperson Kieran McAnulty for more stable planning, saying they reflected a desire for "greater stability in our infrastructure landscape".
"I think it's fair to say that when the national infrastructure plan was being commissioned out and it was being thought about, one of the problems that people hoped it would solve would be this issue of instability."
But the commission had run into practical problems when it tried to work out how a bipartisan pipeline might be built into the Government's national infrastructure plan.
Commission says the only game in town is maintaining and operating existing frameworks. (Source: TVNZ)
"My colleagues at the commission are incredibly dedicated and hard-working professionals, but there are only 50 of us," Hagan said.
"It's not realistic for us to have the in-depth knowledge of all 17 of New Zealand's infrastructure sectors, to be able to do that detailed planning and build out what a project pipeline would look like for this country.
"If 50 people with full-time jobs working on infrastructure can't do this job, it's not realistic to expect the politicians to be able to do it," he said.
"The ability to plan out a bipartisan pipeline, for us as a country, is a step too far."
Hagan said the commission had concluded the work needed to be done by the agencies and organisations that run hospitals, schools, transport networks and water systems, because they understood their own assets and the pressures they faced.
Commission chief executive Geoff Cooper spoke to Q+A's Jack Tame following the release of the national infrastructure plan. (Source: Q and A)
He said some sectors had more room for bipartisan consensus and agreement.
"There should be some areas where consensus is easier to achieve – looking after what we have, rebuilding after major events, investing in our core health and education sectors — where things are more consistent, we think that there is opportunity to grow with this concept of an 'investment menu'.
"Create transparency about the choices we have as a country and where we might go with preferences today. This allows people to be more prepared for changes in direction when they come."
In 2024, the then-boss of the City Rail Link Sean Sweeney told Q+A in an exit interview that political spats were driving up the costs of infrastructure. The $5.5 billion Auckland rail link remains the country's biggest infrastructure project.
The stop-start pattern has played out repeatedly across changes of government.
On taking office in late 2023, Bishop's coalition scrapped or wound back a swathe of Labour-era projects and policies, including Auckland light rail, the iRex ferry replacements, the Three Waters reform programme, Lake Onslow scheme and the medium density residential standards that had allowed greater townhouse development.
Transport Minister Simeon Brown says Auckland Light Rail Ltd has been told to ‘immediately cease work’. (Source: 1News)
Best practice, not a bipartisan pipeline
Bishop, speaking later in the day, backed the commission's position.
"I've thought for a while we should move away from the idea of a bipartisan pipeline approaches and move towards a bipartisan consensus on using best practice to plan, select, fund, deliver and look after infrastructure," Bishop told the conference.
"Even before I became Infrastructure Minister, people said to me, we need a long term plan, and it needs to transcend political cycles. Lots of people say that about lots of different areas. It's sort of the easiest thing to say in politics."
The Government had offered all parliamentary parties commission briefings on the national infrastructure plan, Bishop said, and intended to engage opposition parties before finalising its formal response, due June 20.
The commission's director of data science and analytics Matthew Keir put the finest point on the argument when asked about bipartisan prospects. He said better backwards-looking data being developed should hold up a mirror to political instability.
"We should see the flip-flopping through the data, and then have an evidence base of how to deal with it," Keir said.
He said it should reveal the costs of stop-start planning driven by election cycles, giving the sector an evidence base to calculate what instability costs the country.
Auckland mayor wistful but cold on light rail revival
One much-cited project in criticism over the stop-start nature of schemes was Labour's metro or better known as light rail project in Auckland.
But earlier this year the Government's commission included the corridor the metro was intended to run down in a project prioritisation list as an infrastructure problem requiring a solution.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown, who also spoke at the conference, brought up the project unprompted as he spoke about the affordability of big projects.
Brown said the previous Labour government had "gone to the trouble of turning the words light rail into an F word" but a visit to the French city of Nice had shown him a tram-style light rail system that he suggested could've been built in Auckland.
"They had just opened a brand new surface light rail, like what [Auckland] wanted, and it cost $51 million New Zealand per kilometre, and we got up to $700 million," he said.
"At $51 million New Zealand per kilometre in a country where nobody does any work and the hourly rates are much higher, it showed that something was seriously wrong."
Labour's final proposal was up to $18 billion and a self-described metro project.
Asked whether he was now an advocate for a cheaper surface form of light rail, given he believed it could be delivered more cheaply, Brown was cautious.
"Well, in a certain time, but there are other things ahead of us," he said. "First of all, having built them the City Rail Link, we're now going to get people onto it."
Bishop previously said the light rail corridor was a "problem worth solving".
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