Auckland Light Rail: Can governments find consensus after another failed infrastructure project - The Front Page

Artist's impression of light rail in Auckland. Photo / Supplied

The new Government has hammered the final bolt into the coffin of Auckland Light Rail, but can political parties be more collaborative with the future of infrastructure projects?

First tipped by Labour on the campaign trail in 2017, millions went into the now-defunct project, which went through multiple iterations but never quite got on track.

With the new Government’s promise to cull the project in its first 100 days, the scrapping came as no surprise, but questions remain over how the coalition’s approach to infrastructure will work.

Herald senior writer Simon Wilson tells The Front Page that New Zealand has a real problem with political parties being unable to agree enough on infrastructure projects.

“We’ve seen that across the Three Waters proposal, we’ve seen that in transport and we see it in other areas as well. That means that big, long-term and expensive projects are very hard to get off the ground.”

He said those that do get over the line tend to be roads, for example Transmission Gully, but the exception to the rule is Auckland’s City Rail Link.

In May 2023, National leader Christopher Luxon told The Front Page that infrastructure was one area where he would want to work with other parties to find consensus.

“What infrastructure will make the biggest amount of difference to the most people in the fastest amount of time? And let’s lock and load on what those three to five critical projects are for each region. Let’s agree on how we’re going to fund it between central and local government. Let’s lock it in and get on with it, because getting things done is critical.”

So far, Wilson said we have not seen which projects the National-led Government would prioritise, with a government policy statement currently underway on transport.

However, Wilson said that consensus is possible, but it is held up by governments wanting to “own things” and political differences on the kind of infrastructure the country needs.

He said Transport Minister Simeon Brown spoke recently about his belief that the rise of electric vehicles in New Zealand would solve the transport emissions question.

“The problem with that is that EVs don’t solve all the transport problems. They will put more cars on the road, which will worsen congestion, and if you build more capacity on the roads, that will encourage people to drive and that will worsen congestion again.”

Listen to the full episode to hear more from Simon Wilson about why successive Governments struggle to agree on infrastructure, what projects the coalition may prioritise, and some of the reasons why Light Rail in particular struggled.

The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. This episode was presented by Katie Harris, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in social issues reporting who joined the Herald in 2020.

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