There's the basic state of some of our key infrastructure, the increasingly urgent need to improve it, and the need to deliver and use our key infrastructure more effectively and efficiently. There's the need to futureproof for emerging and sustainable technologies – investing in it at the eventual expense of current technology, which we need to maintain to enable transition until those new technologies gain enough consumer support.
At the same time, the key legislation that regulates how we conduct infrastructure projects – the phonebook-sized Resource Management Act – is subject to the biggest shake-up since it was enacted 30 years ago. Although legislative improvement has long been called for and is very much welcomed, reviewing such a hefty chunk of legislation is no easy task and the ease and certainty the review aims to provide is some time off yet.
Currently front and centre at a local level, our Three Waters infrastructure, vital to human health, is in pretty bad shape – a collective $50 billion asset that by one apparently conservative estimate will cost nearly four times as much to fix. The status quo won't solve that, but in the face of opposition to change, as yet there is no clear path ahead.
Local councils large and small around the country, collectively form a huge part of the infrastructure sector, and also face helping their communities adapt to the effects of climate change, with considerable efforts being made to identify vulnerable infrastructure that will require further investment.
Central Government, also a big player, could significantly streamline procurement processes and be easier to deal with. The appetite for public-private partnerships has for years been an ongoing conversation but an increasingly important one.
The bottom line adds up to a massive infrastructure deficit that needs to be funded somehow, and that's just to get us back in reasonable shape, with a reasonably resilient infrastructure network well-placed to meet whatever challenge comes next.
Meanwhile, the infrastructure sector, like many others, has been both significantly impacted and held back by Covid-19 lockdowns and border closures. While many big projects have been able to continue, even if at a restricted pace, the sector has struggled to recruit skilled staff from overseas with a closed border and the need to secure MIQ spaces.
Right now, it faces increasing costs and supply chain issues and significant challenges retaining the skills it does have, courtesy of significantly higher salaries being paid in Australia and further offshore.
We need more diversity – of thought and experience – and accept it, welcome it and learn from it. Infrastructure is just one sector where women are under-represented, to the point I'm sure my appointment to head Infrastructure New Zealand surprised more than a few.
We need to challenge that thinking, because we simply will not make the progress we need to if we employ people who think like – and maybe look like – most of us.
New Zealand has a strong history of innovation, right back to the pioneer days and the famous quote attributed to Lord Rutherford "we haven't got the money, so we'll have to think" absolutely rings true.
But there are plenty of recent examples that highlight what's possible with the sort of thinking we need. Companies like Allbirds, Rocket Lab, Animation Research and even the aptly-named Team New Zealand in the recent Americas Cup demonstrate the world-leading innovations New Zealanders can achieve. It's making those sorts of radical solutions possible and then world-beating that will make New Zealand a better place for us all, and what we need that in the infrastructure sector.
Companies are starting to get traction on sustainability, climate change initiatives and innovation, but the same old solutions will not get us where we need to be. The fork in the road is about following that lead – it's a call to action that embraces change and opportunity.
The bottom line is that our infrastructure is considerably behind where we should be and it's vital we choose the right path, the right ideas and the right travelling companions for the journey ahead.
We need not only to catch up but surge purposefully forwards.
• Claire Edmondson is general manager of Infrastructure New Zealand.
