It’s been a few months since our last advocacy and engagement update. Since Building Nations there have been quite a number of big government announcements, including the issuing of another three-month action plan for the final quarter of the year. Unsurprisingly infrastructure, and the major system settings to support its planning and funding, feature at the top of the list. It is great to see this sustained focus on the critical building blocks for our sector.
The legislative programme will be extremely busy as we head towards the end of the year.
We are seeing the huge effort that is going into the Resource Management Act (RMA) reform work (all three phases) by government officials. There are a lot of moving pieces and processes that all need to work together. Engagement with stakeholders to understand the current context and issues has been welcomed. Everyone agrees that there are major issues with the RMA and all stakeholders want to ensure that the reforms result in significant improvements, both in enabling the development New Zealand needs but also achieving better environmental and social outcomes.
The Fast-track Approvals Bill was reported back to the House by the Environment Select Committee this month. Earlier in the month the Government also released the list of the 149 projects that will be included in the now renamed Schedule 2 of the Act. There has long been a call for more transparency around the nomination and consideration of potential fast track approval projects. The Bill is expected to be passed into law before the end of the year. You can read more about the Fast-track Approvals process and projects in Michelle’s column and in the Noteworthy Announcements section.
Phase two of the RMA reforms will see the introduction of an amendment bill before the end of 2024, with the aim to pass it into law by mid-2025.
We are also pleased to see that the second RMA Amendment Bill is focused on Infrastructure and Energy, Housing, Emergency response and natural hazards. A package of National Direction, including amendments to 14 current National Policy Statements and National Environmental Standards, as well as seven new national direction instruments are under development, with the expectation they will be consulted on in early 2025.
Infrastructure New Zealand is particularly supportive of the development of a new NPS-Infrastructure, which will provide clear direction and standing for infrastructure development and operation within the wider planning context.
The Public Works Act 1981 (PWA) is another piece of legislation that many public infrastructure projects need to navigate when they need to acquire private property as part of the development process. Process under the RMA and the PWA can sometimes be duplicated, and often result in time delays which can add significant costs to projects as construction seasons are missed.
Following the Government’s announcement of a review of this legislation, an expert panel was established and tasked with providing practical recommendations for modernising the Act so that it is clearer, more efficient, and more effective. As part of a targeted engagement process, Infrastructure New Zealand took the opportunity in early August to meet with the expert panel, along with other infrastructure stakeholders to share insights and suggestions for process improvements. The general consensus was that there are opportunities for reducing duplication and ensuring a fairer and more timely acquisition process. We look forward to the report from the expert panel and seeing their recommendations feed into legislative amendments, which are expected to be introduced in mid-2025. You can read more about the Government’s review of the Public Works Act in the Noteworthy Announcements section.
Infrastructure New Zealand welcomes input from its members as we head into a sustained period of consultation on the shaping of our future planning context – please get in touch with the Policy and Advocacy team at office@infrastructure.org.nz.
We continue to make submissions on various government consultation processes. At the end of August, we submitted on the draft second emissions Reduction Plan. We also submitted to the Ministry of Education’s Vocational Education and Training consultation, in support of the submissions by Waihanga Ara Rau and NZ Civil Contractors. In October we made a brief submission to MBIE in support of the Draft Critical Minerals List.
In September, Infrastructure New Zealand presented to the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee on the recommendations of the Auditor General’s report Making Infrastructure Investment Decisions Quickly based on feedback that was submitted back in April. There was some good discussion with committee members on our recommendations especially around the infrastructure projects selected for funding as economic stimulus during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The current work by the Infrastructure Commission to establish an infrastructure priorities programme should ensure we have a robust pipeline of projects that can be readily called on in future if we are even faced with a similar situation.
During November we are looking forward to partnering with the Infrastructure Commission Te Waihanga as they hold a number of workshops around the country in advance of developing the National Infrastructure Plan, including the infrastructure priorities programme and the infrastructure needs analysis. This will be a fantastic opportunity for the sector to gain an in-depth understanding and contribute its knowledge to this work.
Infrastructure New Zealand has been invited to participate in the Auckland Transport Time of Use Charging Stakeholder Reference Group. We welcome the work by Auckland Transport which builds on the previous excellent reports prepared as part of The Congestion Question and the more recent Select Committee Inquiry into Congestion Pricing.
We also recently submitted on the tolling consultation for Te Ahu a Turanga: Manawatū Tararua Highway. We support the tolling of new road infrastructure that meet the legislative criteria. While it is unfortunate that the possibility of tolling this route, which is a replacement for the old SH3 Manawatū Gorge route wasn’t raised with the community earlier, we now have a clear direction via the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport 2024 (GPS).
The GPS introduces a new expectation for the NZTA to consider tolling to support construction, maintenance of all new roads, including the Roads of National Significance. Given the constraints on the National Land Transport Fund and the need to expand its revenue sources, tolling for road use must be more readily applied.
Infrastructure New Zealand has issued a number of media statements and had opinion pieces published on a variety of topics including congestion charging, tolling, political consensus, the National Infrastructure Agency, Fast-track Approvals Bill, an infrastructure vision for New Zealand, private capital and the social infrastructure challenge, and attracting overseas investment to supercharge infrastructure. These are available to read on our website.
In the coming months, we are looking at adding to our suite of policy positions and ensure they reflect our three key strategy themes: People, Productivity and Planet. In November we are also holding events in Auckland and Wellington which will be a chance to initiate some discussion on asset recycling.
Infrastructure New Zealand has worked with Aurecon to prepare a report which explores the opportunities to tap into existing capital and deliver on the new infrastructure that our country and communities need. More on this important opportunity to widen our capital funding toolkit will be released in the coming weeks.
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