A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Opinion
Shane Jones has admitted it. The country has AIDS — an Accelerating Infrastructure Deficit Syndrome — or, in his own words: “An unprecedented infrastructure deficit.” What to do? Set up yet another so-called “independent” New Zealand Infrastructure Commission (Te Waihanga) — with another task-force of highly-paid advisers who will obligingly
delay any real progress until their report is lodged and discussed at length.
Those of us urging the restoration of Gisborne-Napier rail freight and passenger services ought to take heart from the new commission being charged with recommending policies for a “low emissions economy”.
Well, this is what the Rail Action Group has been urging for the past seven years, with only dismissive governmental responses. The millions about to be allocated to this commission could readily fund rail repairs. And there is the indisputable fact that our Reserve Bank is empowered to issue credits for that purpose.
Low emissions? Or more hot air from another team of talking heads?
Heather Marion Smith
