Julie Anne Genter is the Green Party spokesperson for Transport, Infrastructure, Urban Development, State Owned Enterprises and Building and Construction.
OPINION
The infrastructure choices we make now will fundamentally shape our lives in the future. We cannot afford to waste any more time or resources on projectsthat prevent us from securing the liveable future we all want.
The science is clear, if we fail to reduce our emissions and phase out fossil fuels, society as we know it will struggle to sustain itself.
The great news is that there are huge opportunities to do things better than we have in the past. We can reduce pollution and emissions while delivering a better quality of life across the board.
We can have cleaner air, affordable and warmer homes, shorter and more enjoyable commutes, more connected communities, and live more in harmony with nature.
This can be easily achieved with a smarter approach to transport and urban planning, a better building code, reforming the electricity market, and transitioning to regenerative agriculture and forestry.
Not only can we afford a better approach, we can’t afford not to take it. Our transport system that relies so much on private vehicles costs the country a fortune. The amount we spend on roads is dwarfed by the amount we need to spend on cars and trucks to use them.
Currently we spend more than $20 billion a year on private vehicles and petrol/diesel to run them. This is more than our annual dairy exports.
Renewable, distributed electricity like solar and wind is the cheapest, cleanest and most resilient electricity, and electric rail and cars use far less energy than fossil fuel powered vehicles. Building more energy-efficient buildings lowers costs and improves health outcomes. Green stormwater and increased housing density means more affordable housing, better quality of life, more nature in our cities, and much lower horizonal infrastructure costs.
While we all stand to benefit, the process of change is not always easy. Institutions that govern transport and planning are used to doing things the old way, which has created more suburban sprawl and focus on private cars at the expense of more people-friendly and efficient design.
It is also important to acknowledge the powerful vested interests profiting from the status quo, like the fossil fuel industry. They have spent decades campaigning against change, often using think tanks and astroturf outfits to create fear and opposition to climate action. We need real political leadership to chart a course that put people and planet before the profits of the few.
The current Government is dragging us in completely the wrong direction and from where we need to be when it comes to infrastructure and climate.
In transport, for example, climate considerations have been removed from all investment planning. The Government Policy Statement on Land Transport has slashed the long-term budget for public transport infrastructure and sets out a pipeline of expensive highways. These projects have a huge opportunity cost and are in fact counterproductive to delivering the outcomes we want and need from our transport system: safety, efficiency, affordability and reducing harm to our climate.
Public Private Partnerships must also be approached with caution.
They are not a magical source of new money - overseas investors will want a return. The Crown is always going to be able to borrow at a lower interest rate than the private sector. Direct user charges for roads do not solve the funding problem. Direct charges will mean less demand for roads, and more demand for alternatives like rail, public transport, ferries. It makes more sense to bring in time-of-use road pricing first and invest in the more efficient alternatives that people will want and need in the future.
Minister Chris Bishop. Photo / Mark Mitchell
While National Party ministers like Chris Bishop have talked a big game about long-term infrastructure pipeline certainty, the Government has cancelled significant projects, including Kāinga Ora’s public housing build, Three Waters and the Cook Straight ferries.
New Zealand will pay the price in the long term with fewer homes built to a high standard, loss of capability and capacity in the construction sector, and potentially the long-term loss of rail freight connectivity between the North and South Island, which is critical to reducing emissions.
If we agree we need to meet our climate targets, it should be possible to agree to a long-term pipeline of infrastructure that gets us to that point. The coalition Government will say there are “different views” about how to get there. Not all views are equally valid. We would have made no progress in science and modern medicine if we didn’t take an evidence-based approach. Any infrastructure pipeline needs to have climate mitigation and adaptation at its core, and we must look to evidence about effectiveness, not slogans or last century’s priorities.
