We are over halfway through the year already and it seems like the pace is picking up with various government programmes visibly gaining traction now. We saw the completion of the second three month period and Government action plan on 30 June with all but one of the action items completed. We also saw the launch of another list of actions for Q3, and while the media was on largely focused the actions dealing with law and order, the lion’s share of the initiatives were actually infrastructure related as the Government seeks to rebuild the economy. You can read more in our notable announcements section.
In June, INZ hosted our second international delegation of the year with a group of 26 senior leaders visiting the United Kingdom. The tour was themed Place-based Solutions: Learnings from the UK. With a focus on city and regional deals, and water infrastructure funding the delegation group visited London, Manchester, and Cardiff. You can read more about our two international delegations in this InfraRead issue. We are really looking forward to sharing our delegation key findings at three member events being held in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch in August. We will also publish our reports on our website in due course.
The other significant piece of work over the past few months has been preparing a report focussed on developing and refining the Public Private Partnership model and other infrastructure financing tools in New Zealand. INZ’s Funding and Financing Working Group’s has been refining the PPP model for large scale projects, and also developing an alternative financing models that can be to bundle smaller ($25m-100m) infrastructure projects for private investment. This work has now been finalised and will soon be released.
We have continued to submit on various government legislation and policy documents over the last few months. At the end of May we submitted to the Climate Change Commission (CCC) on its tranche of advice regarding the review of the Emissions Reduction Targets, the Emissions Budget Four and Whether International Aviation and Shipping Emissions should be included in the 2050 targets. We recommended that a balance between emissions reduction ambition and the pace of change needed to reflect the realities of New Zealand’s location at the bottom of the world, policy settings around transport emissions reduction and the key role certainty has to play in driving decarbonisation. You can read our submission here. The Ministry for the Environment has released its consultation document on the Second Emissions Reduction Plan. Submissions close on 21 August. INZ will look to make a submission on this and encourages members to contact us with their feedback on these documents.
Martina Moroney, our Strategy and Advocacy Lead, recently presented our submission to the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee on its Inquiry into Climate Adaptation. This has continued the inquiry work commenced by the previous government and is due to report back in early September. Given the size of the challenges we face, it is pleasing to see a bipartisan approach being taken to the Inquiry and we look forward to reading their findings.
The Resource Management Act reform work continues with a couple of amendment bills being introduced in recent months. INZ submitted on the Resource Management (Freshwater and Other Matters) Amendment Bill introduced. We commented on the streamlining of the National Direction process and the Te mana o te Wai hierarchy. You can read our submission here. While the Fast-track Approval Bill and these other amendments are designed to improve the efficiency of the resource management process and support infrastructure planning and development, we are keen to see some progress on the overall reform of the RMA.
We look forward to the next tranche of RMA amendments and particularly the work on the National Policy Statements and National Environmental Standards which hopefully will pick up on the significant work undertaken as part of the RMA reforms under the previous government.
INZ also welcomes the review of the Public Works Act and the recent appointment of the expert panel who have been tasked with providing practical recommendations for modernising the Act so that it is clearer, more efficient, and more effective. INZ will be meeting with the panel and is keen to share members’ experience with the PWA and identify areas for improvements. We really welcome members’ input. Please contact Michelle.McCormick@infrastructure.org.nz if you would like to discuss this further or provide input.
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