Blog

Source: NZ Music Month takes to the streets

Opening

Good afternoon. I’m excited to be here at the KangaNews Debt Capital Markets Forum.

It’s a pleasure to be here with all of you – investors, financial institutions, and wholesale market participants who play a vital role in unlocking New Zealand’s economic future.

I’d like to thank ANZ for hosting this event and for inviting me to speak.

Debt capital markets are fundamental to the success of the Government’s plan to go for growth.

Capital is like water to a seed – it enables New Zealanders, businesses, government, and NGOs to action and grow their bright-ideas, ambitions, and aspirations.

The deeper our capital markets get, the more opportunities our country will have to thrive.

Today, I want to discuss how the Government is unlocking growth and overcoming funding and financing challenges in housing and infrastructure in a fiscally constrained environment.

I will also be announcing actions Cabinet has recently agreed to that will reduce debt financing barriers for Community Housing Providers.

Unlocking growth

New Zealanders have said that inflation and the economy are in the top three issues facing the country.

The only sustainable way to fix the cost-of-living crisis is to ensure wages grow faster than inflation.

That means growing the economy through more high-paying jobs, increased productivity, greater innovation, and more investment.

The best thing the Government can do to support this is:

• one ensuring systems, regulations, and laws are growth-enabling – like the Resource Management Act, and
• two getting interest rates lower.

Now, the Government doesn’t set the Official Cash Rate (OCR) – that’s the Reserve Bank’s job – but we can help support lower interest rates through responsible fiscal management, getting the government’s books back in order, and investing in productivity-enhancing infrastructure.

That’s what we have been doing, and since we came into Government the OCR has dropped 175 basis points.

In Budget 2024, we found $5.9 billion on average in annual operating savings and revenue, and $3.1 billion in capital savings and revenue over the forecast period. We reprioritised savings to fund tax relief and cost pressures in Health, and to support other growth-enabling initiatives.

For us, it’s about ensuring every public dollar goes to its best use. Greater value for money means we can provide more and higher quality services that people need.

Budget 2025 will be no different.

Without swerving too far into the Minister of Finance’s lane – I can say that Budget 2025 will focus on four areas:

1. Lifting economic growth through measures to tackle New Zealand’s long-term productivity challenges,
2. Using a social investment approach to improve life outcomes for people with high needs,
3. Keeping tight control of government spending, while funding high-priority commitments and cost pressures, and
4. Developing a pipeline of long-term infrastructure investments.

In terms of infrastructure, this Government has and will continue to invest a record amount. More than $68 billion in capital is forecast to be spent by central government on infrastructure over the next five years.

For comparison from 2019 to 2023, $50.8 billion in capital was spent on infrastructure.

Infrastructure Investment Summit

However, we know achieving economic growth is not all about government. We can’t unlock New Zealand’s potential without the private sector.

So, we are also focused on attracting long-term private capital, capacity, and capability into our economy.

To do this, earlier this month, the Prime Minister and I hosted the New Zealand Infrastructure Investment Summit in Auckland, which was attended by over 100 world-leading institutional investors, private investment firms, and construction companies.

It was a huge win for our country, and it was good to see some of you there.

During the Summit, we reaffirmed New Zealand’s position as being open for business, and as a safe and strong country to invest in.

Overall, we focused on three areas:

1. First, New Zealand’s infrastructure vision and upcoming public infrastructure opportunities,
2. Second, changes to policy, regulation, and legislation to make it easier to do business here, and
3. Third, other investment opportunities in growth sectors and the Māori economy.

I just want to briefly touch on the first area.

It was great to get investable and developable opportunities in public infrastructure to market, including Christchurch Men’s Prison PPP and the Northland RoNS PPP.

But as Minister for Infrastructure, I think showcasing our long-term infrastructure pipeline made the biggest impression.

This is what will give the private sector confidence to stay here and invest in people and equipment.

Firms just want to know: What’s next.

For example, the Italian tunnelling company Ghella was preparing to leave New Zealand after completing the 16.2-kilometre Central Interceptor tunnel in Auckland. But following presentations on the pipeline and the positivity of the Summit, Ghella have decided to keep their workers, expertise, and tens of millions of dollars of plant, equipment, and associated services here.

Similarly, Plenary, an infrastructure investment firm managing more than $100 billion in assets has also committed to opening an office in New Zealand and to bidding on at least five PPPs over the next five years due to the PPP pipeline.

Many global firms showed an interest in New Zealand.

When Guido Cacciaguerra of Webuild, a multinational construction and civil engineering firm, said “the Italians are coming back”, all I could think was – yes, that’s fantastic.

These guys helped us construct tunnels for the Tongariro hydro scheme in the 1960s.

It’s partnerships like these we need to help us close our infrastructure deficit, and we are committed to keep this momentum going.

Overcoming funding and financing challenges in infrastructure and housing

Now, let’s move onto overcoming funding and financing challenges in infrastructure and housing.

Public infrastructure in New Zealand has historically been primarily funded by taxpayers or ratepayers.

But our heavy reliance on this blunt approach is not serving us well and has led to perverse outcomes including congestion, run-down assets, and the unresponsive provision infrastructure – contributing to unaffordable housing.

The scale of New Zealand’s infrastructure challenge means we cannot continue the status quo – we need to leverage private capital and alternative funding and financing tools.

I want to outline several pieces of work that interact with debt capital markets, including:

• The establishment of the National Infrastructure Funding and Financing Ltd– or NIFFCo,
• Treasury’s new Funding and Financing Framework,
• The refresh of the Government’s PPP policies, and
• New funding and financing tools for infrastructure to support growth.

Establishment of NIFFCo

Let’s start with NIFFCo.

On 1 December 2024, we established NIFFCo to carry out three key functions:

• Its first function is to act as the Crown’s ‘shopfront’ to facilitate private sector investment and interest in infrastructure – this includes receiving and evaluating any Market Led Proposals, or Unsolicited Bids.
• Its second function is to partner with agencies, and in some cases, local government, to provide expertise on projects involving complex procurement, alternative funding mechanisms and private finance – including PPPs and IFF Act transactions.
• Its third function is to administer central government infrastructure funds.

When you decide to join us in transforming New Zealand’s infrastructure, you will likely work with NIFFCo.

Overall, I expect NIFFCo will help unlock access to capital for infrastructure and give the private sector a clear and knowledgeable Government-side partner to work with on projects and transactions.

So, if you want to put forward a project, are looking for an opportunity to invest in New Zealand infrastructure or want to partner with Government – NIFFCo is open for business.

NIFFCo will also lift the government’s commercial capability and help us be a better client of infrastructure. It will do this by deploying expertise into agencies that are working on projects involving private finance and alternative funding mechanisms.

This includes, but is not limited to, projects involving traditional loans, equity investments, PPPs, developer levies, beneficiary levies, concessions, or other value uplift mechanisms.

Funding and Financing Framework

Now, let’s talk about Treasury’s new Funding and Financing Framework.

Last year, Treasury released this Framework to broaden the funding base for Crown investments, and to utilise private capital where efficient.

It provides guidance to agencies that they should, in the first instance, seek user or beneficiary pays to fund new infrastructure projects rather than defaulting to taxpayer money.

I expect proposals from sectors like transport, water, energy, housing, and adaptation to demonstrate how user or beneficiary pays can contribute towards funding.

More utilisation of user- and beneficiary-pays will provide greater opportunities for the private sector, including debt capital markets, to participate in public investments.

We want to use the government’s balance sheet more strategically and apply good commercial disciplines when deciding how to financially support a proposal – essentially providing “just enough support” to make proposals feasible.

This will mean we can deliver more projects, and channel support to sectors where it is appropriate for the Crown to be the primary funder, like in health and education.

PPP Framework and other guidance

To match our more commercial Funding and Financing Framework – we also needed to modernise the Crown’s policies and contracts, particularly in the PPP space.

After extensive engagement, in November last year, we released a Blueprint outlining how the government will approach future PPPs.

There are several key elements in the refreshed Blueprint that will foster a more appealing market for all participants:

• A more practical approach to risk transfer,
• Guidance for agencies on bid cost recognition,
• Enhancing the Interactive Tender Process,
• Allowing reasonable price validation to occur during the procurement process,
• Improving the process for managing claims and dispute resolution, and
• Increasing the capability and resourcing of the Crown so that we can be a better client.

Our approach is to be smart about private capital and use it in a way that unlocks investment, enhances incentives for on-time on-budget delivery, and brings more maturity to the design, build, and maintenance of projects.

The new PPP Blueprint sits alongside new Strategic Leasing Guidance, and Guideline for Market Led Proposals.

New infrastructure funding and financing tools to get more houses built

Let’s move onto new infrastructure funding and financing tools to get more houses built.

As Minister of Housing, I am committed to – well, more accurately obsessed with – fixing our housing crisis.

We are not a small country by land mass, but our restrictive planning system, particularly restrictions on the supply of urban land, has created a scorching hot land and housing market driven by artificial scarcity.

We are changing that by allowing our cities to grow up and out. But this won’t be enough on its own. We also need to enable the timely provision of enabling infrastructure.

Put simply, you can’t have housing without water, transport, and community facilities.

However, under current settings councils, infrastructure providers, and developers face significant challenges to fund and finance enabling infrastructure for housing.

We want to move to a future state where funding and financing tools enable the responsive supply of infrastructure where it is commercially viable to build new houses.

This will shift market expectations of future scarcity, bring down the cost of land for new housing, and improve incentives to develop land sooner instead of land banking.

To achieve this future, our overarching approach is that growth pays for growth.

Last month, I announced five changes to our infrastructure funding and financing toolkit to support urban growth.

I won’t cover all of these. But the most relevant to you are changes to the Infrastructure Funding and Financing Act (IFF) Act.

The IFF Act allows the creation of a Special Purpose Vehicle to raise finance for projects, where the cost is repaid through a levy charged to properties that benefit from a project over a period of about 20 to 30 years.

We are making several remedial amendments to improve the effectiveness of the Act, particularly for developer-led projects, which will make the process simpler and cheaper.

We are also broadening the Act to enable levies to be charged for major transport projects – a gamechanger in New Zealand for funding city-shaping projects.

These changes will lead to the Act being more effective, efficient, and utilised more often.

I expect, private capital will have far more opportunity to support public infrastructure projects.

Reducing debt financing barriers for CHPs

Now, I would like to move onto actions the Government is taking to reduce debt financing barriers for Community Housing Providers, or CHPs.

As I noted earlier, we are fixing the housing crisis by getting the underlying market fundamentals right. This is the single best thing we can do to make housing more affordable.

At the same time, I recognise that these changes will take some time and that there will always be New Zealanders who need housing support.

This Government believes in social housing, and we believe the CHP sector and private capital have a greater role to play in this space.

Currently, CHPs account for 16% of our social homes – or around 13,000 houses.

My ambition for the social housing system is to create a level playing field between CHPs and Kāinga Ora.

I’m obsessed with building houses across the housing continuum for people who need them. But I am agnostic as to whether those houses are delivered by CHPs or by the government.

I call this competitive neutrality. In some areas and for some people, CHPs are the answer. In other areas, Kāinga Ora is the way to go.

However, we don’t have competitive neutrality right now.

As I am sure you are aware, Kāinga Ora can borrow at a small margin above the Crown’s cost of financing, while CHPs effectively get access to finance at commercial rates.

Update on last year’s announcement

In November last year, I outlined three actions we are taking to help CHPs access borrowing to deliver housing:

The first was making $70 million of Operating Supplement available upfront, unlocking equity CHPs need to raise debt.

The second was making changes to IRRS contracts that makes the revenue stream more attractive for financiers.

And the third was to review the use of leasing to provide social housing.

I’ll just give you a quick update on where those are at.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development are implementing updated criteria for providing Operating Supplement upfront to support delivery of the 1,500 CHP places committed through Budget 2024.

The updated criteria will focus on the basics – strategic alignment, value for money, deliverability, and whether upfront funding is really needed to unlock financing. We are also removing unhelpful eligibility requirements and allowing larger CHPs and projects in urban areas to access upfront funding, where appropriate.

On updates to the IRRS contracts, HUD are making the following changes that will be in place for the contracting of places from late May onwards:

• Additional compensation where the Termination for Convenience clause is exercised on Build to Lease projects,
• Limiting the ‘step-in’ period to six months, and
• Providing a Financier Direct Deed when requested on all Build to Own projects.

These changes will go some way to reducing real and perceived risk to financiers, although I acknowledge that there is more work to do.

On the use of leasing to provide social housing, HUD has moved to an ownership-agnostic approach.

Leasing could be useful where CHPs want to leverage their local expertise in managing social housing, while partnering with developers who could leverage their larger balance sheets to access finance that a small CHP could not.

CHP credit enhancement

Last year, I also announced that the Government would explore a credit enhancement intervention for CHPs, so that they can access suitable debt.

I am pleased to announce today that Cabinet has agreed to establish Crown lending facilities of up to $150 million for the Community Housing Funding Agency (CHFA) to cover:

• an interim lending facility to be provided in early April to support CHFA’s immediate financing needs, and
• a final liquidity facility.

In addition to this, the Minister of Finance intends to offer a loan guarantee scheme to banks to support their CHP lending.

Both of these interventions align with our market-led approach to fixing our housing crisis, and our transition to more efficient and effective Crown investment.

The liquidity facility and loan guarantee scheme will provide critical support whilst we get the system right.

Let’s start with CHFA –

CHFA was launched by Community Finance in 2024 and aggregates the finance requirements for CHPs around New Zealand, unlocking lower cost finance at scale to support the delivery of social housing.

The CHFA is largest lender to CHPs in New Zealand already indicating they are providing lending solutions highly valued by the sector.

A Crown liquidity facility and credit rating will allow CHFA to lend to more CHPs on a much larger scale.

This will lay the foundation for CHFA to borrow billions of dollars, supporting not just the delivery of social housing, but also CHPs’ broader affordable housing portfolios.

Housing Australia has a similar model – the Affordable Housing Bond Aggregator (AHBA).

Since its inception in 2018, Housing Australia has approved around $4.5 billion in AHBA loans to support the development of more than 18,800 social and affordable homes.

The AHBA loans have helped the sector save an estimated $800 million in interest and fees.

I want this for New Zealand too.

Finally, on the loan guarantee scheme, the Minister of Finance and I have endorsed key design criteria as a starting point for Government’s engagement with banks.

I don’t want to get into too much detail, I will leave that to officials –

But, at a high-level, I expect that this scheme will encourage participation among banks and enable them to pass on meaningfully reduced interest rates and other lending accommodations to CHPs.

Relatedly, last year, the Minister of Finance wrote to the Reserve Bank asking them to look further at the risk weights for lending to CHPs. The Bank intends to consult on potential changes in the middle of 2025. This process may also lead to a meaningful reduction in borrowing costs for CHPs.

Overall, I am really excited about how these changes will support the CHP sector – we heard you, and we hope these changes enable you to grow and do more good work.

Conclusion

Delivering on this Government’s vision for growth and higher living standards will require a strong partnership between government, investors, and the private sector.

Capital markets will play a pivotal role in financing New Zealand’s infrastructure future, and I encourage all of you to explore how your expertise and resources can contribute to this effort.

We are committed to creating a stable, predictable, and investable infrastructure and housing environment – one that supports economic growth, enhances productivity, and improves the quality of life for New Zealanders.

Together, through innovation and partnership, I am confident we can build a more prosperous New Zealand.

I look forward to your insights and collaboration.

Thank you.

Source: NZ Music Month takes to the streets

Good morning.

I’m excited to be here at the Residential Development Summit.

Thank you to the Property Council for hosting this event.

Residential developers, investors, and the broader property community will play a key role in fixing New Zealand’s housing crisis.

We need your knowledge, expertise, and big ideas to help New Zealand’s housing system grow. We need to go up, we need to go out, we need more housing choice, and we need more tenure types.

Today I’d like to give you an update on our Going for Housing Growth programme, and how changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) will make it simpler and easier to supply the housing that New Zealanders so desperately need.

I will also be announcing actions Government has agreed to that will enable more greenfield development – allowing our cities to grow out.

Letting our cities grow

I am, unapologetically, an urbanist – dare I say, an ‘urban nerd’ – and a proponent of growth.

I won’t dwell on our housing challenge. You’ve all heard me bang on about that before. Our housing crisis is holding New Zealand back socially and economically.

Report after report and inquiry after inquiry has found that our planning system, particularly restrictions on the supply of urban land, are at the heart of our housing affordability challenge.

I believe that fixing our planning system by making it more enabling and getting the fundamentals right in housing are the best things we can do to unleash New Zealand’s potential.

Getting this right will:

• lift economic growth and productivity,
• reduce the cost-of-living pressure from housing, and
• ensure New Zealanders can enjoy a higher standard of living.

As the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Minister of Housing, and now Minister of Transport, I get up every day determined to try and make a difference.

Update on Going for Housing Growth

Let me start with an update of our Going for Housing Growth programme.

It has three pillars:

• Pillar One: freeing up land for development and removing unnecessary planning barriers,
• Pillar Two: improving infrastructure funding and financing to support urban growth, and
• Pillar Three: providing incentives for communities and councils to support growth.
• Housing Growth Targets for Tier 1 and 2 councils to “live-zone” 30-years of housing demand,
• making it easier for cities to expand,
• strengthening the intensification provisions in the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD),
• putting in new rules requiring councils to enable mixed-used development, and
• abolishing minimum floor areas and balcony requirements.

Pillar One

We have made good progress on Pillar One which includes:

I announced these changes last year and officials have been working hard on the finer details.

The changes I announced last year build on the NPS-UD brought in by the previous government in 2020, but they obviously sit within the existing RMA structure.

As you’ll have seen on Monday, the Government is replacing the RMA entirely with two new laws.

This presents an obvious sequencing problem. We are committed to housing growth targets, strengthening density requirements, and so on.

This year we will consult on changes through Pillar One, as intended. You can expect that around May.

However, if we implemented them straight away in 2026, Councils would be forced to conduct expensive and lengthy plan changes – only to start all over again a year or so later once the new RMA comes into effect.

So, we’ve made the pragmatic decision to implement Pillar One of our Housing Growth changes as part of the replacement of the RMA.

This also allows us to think about housing growth targets in the context of standardised zones.

So, councils will implement Phase 3 of the Resource Management reforms through development of new plans, starting from 2027.

Rest assured, Pillar One will be ready to go for Councils’ 2027 Long Term Plan cycle.

Pillar Two

Now, let’s talk about Pillar Two – improving infrastructure funding and financing.

Pillar One is about upending the system by flooding the market with development opportunities and fundamentally making housing more affordable.

But, freeing up urban land is not enough on its own. We also need to ensure the timely provision of infrastructure.

Put simply, you can’t have housing without land, water, transport, and other community infrastructure.

But under the status quo, councils and developers face big challenges to fund and finance enabling infrastructure.

So, last month I announced five changes to our infrastructure funding and financing toolkit to get more houses built.

• The first is replacing Development Contributions (DCs) with a Development Levy System, where growth pays for growth,
• The second is establishing regulatory oversight of these Levies to ensure charges are fair and appropriate,
• The third is increasing the flexibility of targeted rates,
• The fourth is making changes to the Infrastructure Funding and Financing Act (IFF Act) that will make it more effective and simplify processes, and
• The fifth is broadening the IFF Act so that beneficiaries can help pay for major transportation projects.

I won’t go into too much detail here today.

But at a high-level, these changes will help create a flexible funding and financing system to match our flexible planning system.

These are some big changes, and it will take some time to get them right.

Our aim is to have legislation in the House by September this year, to come into effect next year.

Councils will be able to make the shift to development levies on the same timeline as the 2027 Long Term Plan cycle.

You can see, I hope, a lot of really good things coming together around 2027.

Pillar Three

On Pillar Three, officials are working away on this, and we will have more to say later this year.

Changes to RMA will support more housing

I want to quickly talk about how RMA reform will make it simpler and easier to supply the housing New Zealanders need.

For example, standardised zones will be a game changer.

I completely agree with urban economist Stuart Donovan – zoning is so balkanised that even large developers tend to stick to one or a few main centres as branching out requires reconfiguring to different planning rules.

Developers currently face a Gordian knot of these rules.

Maximum building heights of 9m in Kapiti versus 8m in Dunedin. Porirua requires an outdoor living space of at least 20m² for a medium-density residential unit – in the Manawatu it’s 36m². In Dunedin, maximum building site coverage can vary from 30% to 60% whereas in Taupō it varies from 2.5% to 55%.

Councils are even getting involved with things as niche as whether it is possible for someone to see the TV from the likely location of their couch – or whether doors should face out for “privacy” or in for “inclusion and community”.

I get email after email about this stuff. People stop me in the street to tell me about it. It is utterly out of control.

Councils should be focusing on engaging with communities, looking at capacity in the network, and making decisions on where growth is most appropriate.

And we need to grow both up and out.

For the remainder of this speech, I want to focus on what we are doing to enable more greenfield development.

Changes to the NPS-HPL

The National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land – or the NPS-HPL, was introduced by the last Government to protect New Zealand’s highly productive soils. This piece of national direction is intended to boost food security for both our domestic food supply and primary exports.

However, it is clear that it has gone too far. As currently drafted, the NPS-HPL protects a total of 15 percent of the country’s landmass. That’s nearly as large as the entire Canterbury region.

This protected land often surrounds our biggest and fastest growing cities where growth is busting to get out.

I have lost count of the number of developers who have come up to me since this has been introduced, frustrated that they are unable to secure land for greenfield housing to be developed.

There needs to be a balance between how we protect our most productive land with our need for more housing to tackle our housing crisis.

Right now, that balance is out of whack.

National campaigned on amending the NPS-HPL to remove the lowest classification of land protected, what is known as LUC-3.

This kind of land is not the golden soils we need in Pukekohe – instead, it’s much lower quality land that is good for housing.

Despite being a lower quality of soil, two thirds of land protected by the NPS-HPL is classified as LUC-3.

I am pleased to announce today that Cabinet has agreed to remove LUC-3 from the NPS-HPL this year, fulfilling our election promise.

Across the country, this will open up land for housing roughly equivalent to the size of the Waikato region.

Alongside this, we are going to consult on whether we should establish what we’ve called ‘special agriculture zones’ around key horticulture hubs like Horowhenua or Pukekohe. This would essentially protect LUC 1, 2 and 3 land when it is grouped together in a natural configuration.

We need more houses, and we need more greenfield development.

Removing these restrictions will allow us to have our vegetables and eat them too.

Changes to the NPS-HPL will be progressed as part of our National Direction changes in Phase 2 of our RMA reforms.

I will announce further details about the timing and shape of that package tomorrow but wanted to announce this change today to highlight our Government’s commitment to greenfield housing.

Greenfield Model

To further demonstrate this commitment, we are also taking action to get more greenfield houses built in the near term.

I am pleased to announce that the Government will provide finance to developers to ensure more medium-sized greenfield developments – think around 1,000 to 2,000 dwellings – are enabled through the Infrastructure Funding and Finance Act.

We are calling this the Greenfield Model.

The Government will support National Infrastructure Funding and Financing Ltd – or NIFFCo – in lending up to $100 million to developers for infrastructure needed to enable new greenfield housing.

This model is being funded using existing unallocated funding within NIFFCo.

Here is how it will work.

NIFFCo will lend to an IFF Act Special Purpose Vehicle at a very competitive interest rate during the development phase of a project.

Then, the debt will be refinanced to private markets once the development is complete, with the funding ultimately being repaid by future homeowners through an annual levy.

The development phase of a project is often the riskiest – and private financiers reflect this by charging higher interest rates.

NIFFCo’s loan will provide lower cost financing to developers over the development period by charging approximately what private financiers would charge for completed developments.

This is a big win for growth.

NIFFCo will also be able to recycle capital into new projects after the five- to seven-year development period.

We are putting the Greenfield Model in place as a targeted interim measure while our Going for Housing Growth policy and Local Government reforms bed-in from 2027 or so onwards.

To date, the IFF Act has not been used for greenfield housing developments.

The Act is complex, and levies are deemed too expensive. The higher than anticipated levies are also much less favourable than using DCs which are often artificially low, under-recover growth costs, and are cross subsidised by rates.

The economics of IFF Act levies just don’t make sense right now.

The changes we are making through Pillar Two, particularly around improvements to the IFF Act and our shift from DCs to Development Levies, will do the heavy lifting to fix incentives and put in place a more effective infrastructure funding and financing system where growth pays for growth.

But, as fast as we are going on this, it won’t happen overnight.

So, the Greenfield Model is a good short-term, cost-effective intervention as the lower interest rate provides benefits of around $10,000 per dwelling.

For comparison, the Infrastructure Acceleration Fund, which was set up to support new housing by the previous government, cost around $28,000 per house.

This model will support growth that otherwise wouldn’t have happened – or would have happened much later.

I am excited to just crack on.

Conclusion

Let me finish by saying that solving our housing crisis is one of this Government’s top priorities.

And to be honest, it is my number one priority.

I look forward to working with you to grow up and out, and to deliver more housing that New Zealanders need.

Thank you.

Source: NZ Music Month takes to the streets

I am very pleased to open the redeveloped George Forbes Building at Lincoln University.

The original building was opened by Governor-General Viscount Cobham on 11^th August 1960. He inherited Viscount Cobham from his father but his birth name was actually Charles Lyttelton, Lyttelton being named after his great grandfather.

The building has undergone significant changes since then that have made it a notable landmark in the area.

This latest development creates a vibrant new student hub, which will contribute to a world-class campus.

I know Lincoln has a strong focus on its students, both in terms of their campus experience but also a commitment to supporting their success in study and moving into employment.

This space demonstrates your focus on your learners and their future, by providing a mix of areas for relaxation and recreation, as well as places to work and collaborate with others.

And collaboration is one of the hallmarks of the university.

We can see it today in your strong domestic and international partnerships in research and teaching.

An excellent example is Bioprotection Aotearoa, a Centre of Research Excellence that features a collaborative partnership of 11 universities and CRIs to train the next generation of bioprotection researchers. It also delivers pioneering, multi-disciplinary research to protect our productive and natural landscapes from pathogens, pests and weeds in a warming climate.

Scientists from Lincoln along with Plant & Food Research have contributed to the discovery of a new gene – the PAR gene – that will make it possible to produce seeds from crops that are genetically identical to the mother plant, without pollination. This was done with scientists in the Netherlands and Japan, and it is expected to lead to major innovations in plant breeding.

You also have a strong history in commercial collaboration. The New Zealand Agricultural Engineering Institute (NZAEI) established in 1965, now Lincoln Agritech, has a history of finding practical engineering solutions to agricultural issues, supporting sustainable production. That contributes social, environmental and economic benefits to the community but also to your researchers and helps maintain the university’s reputation as a partner in innovation.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that Lincoln has been making vital contributions to our country and to the wider world, in agriculture, horticulture and viticulture, for nearly 150 years. That’s quite an achievement and something to be proud of.

Your focus on the agricultural sector has positioned you well in our nation’s economy and helped build our reputation as an agricultural innovator, as well as a successful and reliable supplier of high-quality food and associated technologies.

These are some of the things that place this small university in the top 150 for agriculture and forestry, according to the QS World University Rankings.

It is also in the top 150 for hospitality and leisure, another significant industry for economic growth, and one that relies for much of its appeal on the quality of our rural environments and the products that are so important to this country’s economy.

I know that you have a long-term plan which is driving the shape of the campus, with both new and redeveloped facilities.

With Plant & Food Research and Landcare Research across the road, we have a hub of research excellence that is important to New Zealand’s agricultural future.

These combine to make Lincoln an attractive place to study. You have rapidly rebuilt your domestic and international student population, and achieved a position of financial sustainability while continuing to be recognised as a leader in research for the land-based sectors.

Keeping all of your achievements in mind, it gives me great pleasure to turn to the opening of this new development and the opportunities still to come.

I want to thank a great-grandson and namesake of George Forbes, who provided very helpful information on his history. I know he was invited today and I hope he is here.

The Right Honourable George William Forbes was MP for Hurunui from 1908 to 1943 and Prime Minister from 1930 to 1935. He was also the first leader of the National Party.

Before that he was farmer in Cheviot – on his farm called Crystal Brook – which he farmed until his death. He had a keen and enduring interest in the industry throughout his political career, and he regularly attended agricultural events here at Lincoln.

The George Forbes Memorial Library was developed in recognition of his advancement of the interests of Canterbury Agricultural College, as it was then, in the mid-1920s, when plans for Massey Agricultural College were underway.

The library has moved but the building retains his name. It is now the new entry point to the university.

For learners just starting their tertiary education journey, this will be a place of welcome and connection with each other and the studies that will support their success in years to come.

Many Lincoln alumni have gone on to play, and continue to play, prominent roles in New Zealand life. There is an impressive list of scientists, All Blacks and business leaders, as well as politicians and media personalities, who have passed through these halls. There are a few international leaders in there as well.

Lincoln was a key part of their leadership journey.

That’s as it should be. We expect our tertiary institutions to produce leaders in all areas – science, arts, public service, sports, community and commerce.

I believe George William Forbes would be proud and pleased with this place and the contribution Lincoln is continuing to make to New Zealand, as well as the continuing association of his name with the university.

Thank you Chancellor and Vice Chancellor for your continuing efforts, and congratulations to you and the university community on this occasion.

I now take great pride in officially declaring the George Forbes Building open.

Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

Source: NZ Music Month takes to the streets

Check against delivery.

Kia ora and thank you so much for inviting me here today. It’s great to be with you all.

Can I start by thanking Fran O’Sullivan for her hard work in organising and supporting this annual event and the also NZME for sponsoring the event as always. 

I’d also like to acknowledge our Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson, Councillor Richard Hills, and my colleague the Honourable Chris Bishop, the Minister of many things relevant to Auckland’s future and success – Transport, Housing, RMA Reform, Infrastructure – the list goes on. He is also, importantly, Leader of the House because you can’t change the law if he doesn’t let you change the law, so it’s very important to have the Leader of the House on site – great to see you here. 

Also, the opposition spokesperson for Auckland, Carmel Sepuloni, and Shanan Halbert – lovely to see you here today as well.

It’s always good to be with you all as leaders of our city – people who believe in Auckland’s future and are committed to its success.

This shared commitment mirrors our Government’s focus on Going for Growth – driving positive change for this city, and delivering real results.
 

Context
 

As a Government, we have set a clear, decisive plan to get New Zealand back on track.

There is no doubt that our country – and this city – faces significant challenges.

At the heart of those challenges are the economy, inflation, and interest rates, which have been tightening household budgets and stifled economic growth. 

The Government has spent the last 18 months focused on the basics – rebuilding our economy, restoring law and order, and delivering better public services, particularly in health and education.

By reducing wasteful spending, reining in inflation, and lowering interest rates, we are easing the pressure on families and mortgages and giving businesses the certainty they need to grow and invest.

We campaigned on this, and we are starting to see the green shoots of economic recovery.

Inflation is back within the one to three per cent band, and interest rates are falling. This is good news for Kiwi households and businesses and is critical to easing the cost-of-living pressures for New Zealanders.  

Just last week, it was confirmed that our economy has also started to turn the corner, with GDP growing by 0.7 percent in the three months to December – ahead of what the economists were projecting – welcome news after a long period of economic decline, which we inherited, leaving Kiwis feeling poorer. 

Under Christopher Luxon’s leadership, our Government is Going for Growth, and working tirelessly to sustain this momentum, because a stronger economy means more jobs, better incomes, and more opportunities for Kiwis to get ahead. 

Rebuilding our economy also requires discipline across every part of government, local and central – delivering the services and infrastructure that Kiwis need, while ensuring every dollar is spent wisely to produce tangible results. 

This disciplined approach is especially crucial for Auckland – home to 34 per cent of our population and generating 38 per cent of New Zealand’s GDP.

Rebuilding our economy means the Government can continue to invest in the priorities facing our city, whether that is better schools, more doctors and nurses in our hospitals, or the infrastructure needed for our fast-growing city.

As Minister for Auckland, my role is to champion this city’s interests and ensure it receives the attention and investment it rightfully deserves from central Government, and I am proud of what we have already achieved as a Government. 

Delivering for Auckland

Since entering government, we have moved quickly deliver on our promises and get Auckland back on track. 

We axed the Auckland Regional Fuel Tax, removing 11.5 cents per litre from the cost of fuel.

We delivered tax relief for hardworking Aucklanders, with average-income households receiving up to $102 a fortnight.

We have also prevented a 25.8 per cent increase in water rates through our Local Water Done Well plan, ensuring Aucklanders have access to affordable and sustainable water services.

This will save Aucklanders around $899 million in water and wastewater charges over four years through the Watercare Charter. 

I want to acknowledge the team from Watercare for the excellent work they’ve done, as well as Auckland Council who have partnered with the Government to enable this deal. 

The deal with Auckland Council to financially separate Watercare has also built huge confidence in the pipeline of water infrastructure in Auckland. 

A major sign of this confidence was the decision by tunnelling company, Ghella, who are building the Auckland Central Interceptor, to keep their tunnel boring machine in Auckland, following the completion of the central interceptor tunnels this Friday. They see the growing pipeline of water infrastructure projects that require delivering in our city. 

This is what real confidence in the infrastructure pipeline looks like and it’s a privilege to play a part in delivering that. 

We have also opened new state-of-the-art radiology equipment at Auckland City Hospital’s Regional Cancer and Blood Service.

We’ve deployed additional cops on the beat – raising beat cops to 51 in the CBD – strengthening law and order to improve safety in the inner city and across Auckland.

We scrapped Auckland Light Rail, halting a project that haemorrhaged over $228 million without delivering a single metre of track.

We have introduced legislation for Time of Use Schemes, which will support the Government’s and Auckland Council’s efforts to reduce congestion across the city and improve efficiency of our roading network. 

We set a clear direction for both roading and public transport projects across Auckland, including the Northland Corridor, Mill Road Stage 1, the North-West Alternative State Highway, the Northwestern Busway and the Airport to Botany Busway so Aucklanders can have a clear plan of future transport projects for the city – both roading and public transport connections that this city needs for the future. 

And we are restoring democratic accountability for transport decisions, ensuring Auckland ratepayers have a genuine say in shaping our city.

Our track record as a Government demonstrates our commitment to delivering real outcomes for Auckland and getting our city back on track.

What’s next for Auckland

But the question is what’s next for Auckland?

While we’ve achieved a lot in a short space of time, our work isn’t done. There is much more to do. Two key areas of work that will be underway over the next 12-18 months, which I think are critically to our city’s success, is capitalising on the benefits of the City Rail Link and developing an Auckland Regional Deal.

The next 12-18 months see significant change in Auckland as we look forward to the completion of the City Rail Link. 

This project, started under the last National Government, will be truly transformational for the city and unlock huge benefits for Aucklanders, including reduced travel times and increased opportunities for development along our rail corridor. 

Once complete, the City Rail Link will be truly city shaping, and will have a significant impact beyond just making transport more accessible for Aucklanders. 

Unlocking the benefits of the CRL is key to Auckland’s success. Both the Government and Auckland Council have invested billions of dollars into this project and we must make sure that we are getting the benefits from it. 

Whether it is the work Transport Minister Chris Bishop is delivering with Auckland Council to remove level crossings to keep traffic moving safely in our suburbs, or it is unlocking development around train stations across Auckland, we must make sure that the city maximises the benefits. 

The Government has also recently welcomed proposals around regional deals, and I welcome Auckland Council’s proposal which has been put forward as part of that process. 

I hope that maximising the City Rail Link benefits can be part of that deal because that is something we must jointly ensure happens for the city. 

Regional deals are an opportunity to bring Councils, Government, Business, Iwi and community together with a longer-term view than just the three-year political cycle, about what’s need to enable the key issues to be unlock, whether that economic growth, productivity, housing, or infrastructure. 

I’m looking forward to the opportunity we have before us to build on the work already underway with Auckland Council, and how a regional deal could support that. 

As Minister of Auckland, I will be advocating for Auckland to be the first cab off the rank for a regional deal so we can build on the strong progress we have already made for Auckland in the past 18 months. 

A regional deal will be a long-term plan for the city, outlining how both local and central government can work together to unlock economic growth in our city, build houses, and deliver the infrastructure needed for this city. 

It is also an opportunity to outline how central and local governments need to work together to solve problems and deliver tangible solutions. 

Taxpayers and Ratepayers are ultimately the same people – and they expect central and local governments to work together to deliver on their priorities over the long term. 

Regional deals are an opportunity to do just that and I will be working closely with Auckland Council on their plan to deliver a Regional Deal for Auckland. 

But, great infrastructure and economic reforms also need high-quality public services, particularly in health, that are efficient and put patients first.

Keeping Auckland healthy

That’s why we’re determined to ensure Aucklanders have timely, quality access to healthcare.

A lot has changed since I last spoke to you in March, when I was talking about potholes – but even Bernard Orsman managed to find a pothole at Greenlane Hospital carpark yesterday, and we got it fixed. 

Some might say I traded one challenge for an even bigger one. In a growing city like Auckland, we need a resilient health system, so that rising demand from a growing population doesn’t mean waitlists balloon out even more than they already have.

The Government is putting more money into health than ever before and we are focussing our health system on delivering the timely and quality healthcare for all New Zealanders. 

To achieve this – we have restored national health targets – which are key to delivering timely and quality healthcare. 

Unfortunately over the last 6 years, we’ve seen the results go backwards for patients, whether its Kiwis waiting longer in emergency departments or elective surgeries, which increased from 1000 people more than four months in 2017 to over 27,000 waiting more than four months in 2023.

It is unacceptable and New Zealanders deserve better. Health targets have been restored to deliver better outcomes for patients because what gets measured gets managed.

But performance also depends on infrastructure. Auckland’s population is growing, so we need modern hospitals to keep up.

For the expectant new mother needing maternity care.

For the elderly patient needing a hip replacement.

For the injured tradie needing urgent care after an accident on the job.

Health Infrastructure Plan

At the recent New Zealand Infrastructure Summit, I highlighted 67 health infrastructure projects – valued at $6.39 billion – which are in the pipeline across the country. 

$1.5 billion of that is in Auckland, including Manukau Health Park here in Auckland, large scale remediation programmes across our estate at Auckland Hospital and Greenlane Hospital.

But at current estimates, we cannot build capacity fast enough to meet the demands of a growing population. 

Today, I am providing an update on the Health Infrastructure Plan that Cabinet is developing. This plan will set a direction for the next 10 to 20 years to ensure that as a country, we build the right things in the right places at the right size and scale.

While each project will require its own business case, the plan will set a long-term view of health infrastructure needs across the country and gives Health New Zealand a clear plan to work upon. 

We know that hospitals across the Auckland region are experiencing pronounced bed shortages, which are expected to increase as the population grows.

South Auckland in particular is one of our fastest-growing communities, with significant health challenges. 

This community experiences higher rates of infectious conditions and long term conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and chronic respiratory disease. 

The health needs of South Auckland are compounding, and this impacts the whole region, with both Middlemore and Auckland City Hospital under pressure to service the south Auckland population – and this pressure will only continue to grow.

A new site in South Auckland has long been acknowledged by the region’s health planning as necessary to meet the growing demand. 

Today, I’m confirming that as part of the Health Infrastructure Plan, a new major hospital in South Auckland is being explored. 

The next steps involve detailed planning by Health New Zealand and securing land to accelerate development.

This hospital would work alongside Middlemore, adding more beds, modern surgical theatres, and expanded emergency services – easing pressure on the system and improving outcomes for Aucklanders. 

Kiwis deserve better than long waits in overcrowded emergency departments and long waits for surgery. Patients come first, and investing in infrastructure is key to delivering that.

The Health Infrastructure Plan has been considered by Cabinet and will be published in the coming weeks 

Conclusion

We have a clear growth agenda for Auckland. We’ve taken decisive action to ease the cost of living, restore law and order, and keep our city moving.

Auckland must be a city that works for its people – where businesses thrive, families can afford to live, people can travel quickly and safely, and everyone has access to timely, quality healthcare.

That’s my focus.

Thanks very much for having me here.

Thank you, and I look forward to continuing this work alongside you all.

Source: NZ Music Month takes to the streets

Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks, Murray, for that introduction.

It’s a pleasure to be speaking with you here in New Zealand’s capital city of growth, at this launch of the Project Auckland report.

Can I start by acknowledging my parliamentary colleague Hon Simeon Brown. He is unquestionably the biggest advocate for Auckland I know – and is a staunch advocate for you all around the Cabinet table.

I also want to acknowledge Project Auckland Editor Fran O’Sullivan, Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson, and my former parliamentary colleague and boss Simon Bridges.

While I am a boy from Lower Hutt, I want to reassure you that I know and love this city, having lived here for two years, having many friends who live here, and am at the moment almost a weekly visitor.

Auckland is critical to New Zealand’s future. We are not going to be successful in growing our economy if we don’t think carefully about how we enable Auckland, as our largest and most important city, to grow and thrive.

That’s why government is investing heavily into transport in Auckland, through new Roads of National Significance, new busways, and commuter rail.

Without question, the largest of these planned investments is a second harbour crossing.

In fact, it will be one of the most expensive infrastructure investments in New Zealand history.

Our existing bridge is old, and even with the clip-on lanes, it’s expected to struggle with forecast increases in demand.

Despite the daunting cost, and the other challenges that come with the project, advancing an additional harbour crossing is a priority for this Government.

Right now, there is a barge in the harbour undertaking geotechnical, environmental, and utilities investigations of the Harbour floor – the first-time studies of this kind have been done.

NTZA are about to kick off early market soundings on this project, largely to help us make the decision every Aucklander is waiting for: bridge or tunnel. We expect to make that decision mid-2026.

Being realistic, this project won’t be built for a while yet – but Auckland doesn’t need to wait that long to experience a transformational transport project.

Everyone in this room knows the potential City Rail Link has to enable the growth Auckland needs.

Once open next year, CRL will double Auckland’s rail capacity and reduce congestion across the city, enabling Aucklanders to get to where they want to go faster.

It is critical for the city’s future that we take advantage of CRL and ensure that the maximum benefits are felt by Aucklanders.

We must focus high density, mixed-use developments around CRL stations – with as many jobs, houses, services and amenities within walking distance as possible.

This approach is known as transit-oriented development, and has been adopted by the world’s best and most liveable cities – think Stockholm, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Singapore.

Cities that embrace transit orientated development consistently outperform those that don’t across multiple metrics: they experience increases in productivity, lower unemployment, higher population growth, increased availability of homes, and more stable rents.

And with CRL, we have a once in a generation chance to embrace this in Auckland.

Consent decline

This is why I was so frustrated last week to see a resource consent application to build a $100m office building on K Road – within walking distance of the new CRL station – was denied by commissioners.

Frankly, this decision made me feel physically ill.

How can it possibly be that an 11-story building, which includes retail spaces and food and beverage stores, alongside office and commercial spaces for more than 400 people, is turned down in the centre of New Zealand’s biggest city?

The site it is currently planned to be on is a gravel pit. You heard that correctly. Our current planning laws are so fundamentally broken that a gravel pit in the CBD of Auckland is unable to be developed into a new office building.

The commissioners’ report said “The principal concern for the board is the scale of the development.”

Which might be more understandable if that was said about a development in a small regional town, but is astounding when there is a 20 story building within 100 metres.

Putting it simply, and excuse the RMA language, the commissioners when declining this application concluded that the adverse effects related to built form and appearance, streetscape, and historic heritage had not been sufficiently avoided such that the effects on the environment were considered ‘more than minor’.

This is precisely why we are scrapping the RMA, and replacing it with a radically more enabling system predicated on property rights. As you will have hopefully seen, I announced the architecture for our new system earlier this week.

A number of the changes we are progressing would have likely led to this K-Road development being approved rather than declined.

Our planned standardised zoning approach will help us move away from considering matters such as built form and appearance, or streetscape.

It will be clear what you can build and where, with fewer restrictions encouraging increased creativity in our built form – likely improving the look of our cities.

What I want to see in our new planning system is that development like this, due to its proximity to rapid transit and the central city, would be able to proceed without the need to gain approval at all – instead proceeding as a permitted activity through a standardised zone.

The other, more technical change we are proposing to make is the removal of what is known as non-complying activity status. The RMA states that a consent can only be granted for a non-complying activity if the adverse effects of the activity are minor, or the activity will not be contrary to objectives and policies of a plan.

In layman’s terms, this creates a barrier to some of these larger projects, with a much higher bar for approval, which sometimes is insurmountable.

This K-Road development was one of these non-complying activities. Remember that McDonalds in Wanaka that was declined a few weeks ago? Also a non-complying activity. That Southland windfarm that was declined last week? You guessed it: non-complying activity.

8-10% of all resource consent applications every year are for non-complying activities – and therefore face this sometimes impossibly high-bar.

By removing non-complying activities in our new system, alongside narrowing the effects considered in the planning system, we will making it substantially easier for these big projects to get approval.

PC 78

Moving on from K-Road – another issue that has been causing significant uncertainty for Auckland Council, as well as Aucklanders, has been the ongoing saga with it’s current plan change process, known as PC 78.

Auckland Council has been progressing PC 78 since mid-2022. This was the vehicle that was intended to implement the National Policy Statement on Urban Development – more commonly known as the NPS-UD, and the Medium Density Residential Standards – more commonly known as the MDRS. Apologies for the acronym soup.

The idea was that the MDRS, which enabled more density in the suburbs, and the NPS-UD, which enabled more density around CBDs and rapid transit, were both meant to be adopted by councils quickly – and the last Government gave them new planning tools to achieve this.

This, however, did not quite pan out. Fast forward to today, years after these were introduced, Auckland Council are still going through their plan change process to implement them.

In fairness to them, there have been significant challenges along the way. Cyclone Gabrielle and flooding events, and the change in Government has now made the progress of PC 78 tricky, to say the least.

I think Mayor Brown put it best when he called the current situation “a bit like RMA gymnastics”.

Following the floods, Auckland Council has seen the need to address a number of new natural hazard areas prone to flooding.

Unfortunately, and frankly, annoyingly, the plan change process they had to use for PC 78, does not allow downzoning. It wasn’t envisaged at the time that councils would need to do anything other than upzoning using this process, and now they are stuck.

The other issue is the light rail corridor. Auckland Council left this blank in PC 78, anticipating new station location announcements, which obviously did not come, as we won the election, and scrapped this wasteful project as promised.

We also have also communicated changes to the rules around the MDRS, as we campaigned on, therefore changing Auckland Council’s approach to PC 78 yet again.

These things have left Auckland Council in a very confusing situation not entirely of their own making – although I do want to say, that if they had they delivered this plan change on the timeframes originally required of them, a number of these issues would be much easier to manage now.

With us about to introduce a new RMA system, and this having dragged on for frankly far too long already, we want Auckland Council to bank some quick-wins for density and development now. Aucklanders have waited for too long.

That’s why I can confirm today that I have changed my legal “direction”, made under the RMA, on Auckland Council on the timing and sequencing of decisions on PC 78.

This change will bring forward decisions on the city centre, by ten months from the previously required date of March 2026 to May 2025.

This will almost immediately support the enablement of thousands of dwellings and significant development potential in the heart of Auckland – where basically everyone accepts this kind of growth is critical.

We are able to do this because the city centre parts of PC 78 are discrete from the rest of the changes and have been through submissions and hearings already.

Locking in this part of the plan change as soon as possible is a massive win for our biggest city, and a massive win for economic growth.

For the time being, the remainder of PC 78 will still need to be completed by March 2026 as per the law.

I note that Auckland Council, in their submission on the Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Bill, which is currently before the Environment Select Committee, have asked for changes to enable the immediate withdrawal of the remaining parts of PC 78.

As this Bill is currently before Select Committee, and due to come back to Parliament later in the year, I am unable to provide comment on whether these suggestions will be incorporated.

However, I can confirm this is something that is being considered as part of the Committee’s process, and I’ll have more to say on this in due course.

I am grateful to the work of Mayor Brown and his council in advancing housing and urban outcomes for our great city of Auckland.

In my experience, Mayor Brown has been steadfast in his support for sensible density in the city centre, in Auckland’s metro-centres, and near key transport connections. I want to thank him for his leadership, and for bringing sense back into the density debate in Auckland.

This situation has without a doubt been the most complex I have had to deal with as a Minister. If anything, it underscores the urgent need for our replacement planning system.

Aucklanders shouldn’t need a PhD in planning or a team of lawyers to understand the progress of a major zoning change going on in their backyards. Our new system will have plans that are much more streamlined and simple, clearly communicating what Kiwis can do on their own property, without the years and years of backwards and forwards.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I want to repeat what I have said in my column in the Project Auckland report we are all here to launch today:

Auckland has a bright future. Whenever I visit Auckland, I get a palpable sense of opportunity knocking. Auckland isn’t waiting, it’s getting on with the mission of growth. It is bursting at the seams with opportunities — now, it is the responsibility of all of us to help make it happen.

Thank you – I will now take your questions.

Source: NZ Music Month takes to the streets

[Comments following the bilateral meeting with United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio; United States State Department, Washington D.C.]

* We’re very pleased with our meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio this afternoon.

* We came here to listen to the new Administration and to be clear about what is important to New Zealand. Today, we enjoyed substantive and productive discussions with Secretary Rubio across a broad range of issues.

* There’s a lot happening in the Indo-Pacific, and indeed our world. It’s a seriously valuable time to be here in Washington DC.

* Secretary Rubio has had a long career in foreign policy and it was helpful to re-connect with him and hear his insights into what is going on.

* This has been a very successful visit to Washington DC, meeting with a wide range of representatives of the Trump Administration.

* We agreed that we should continue to work together for a free, open and prosperous Indo-Pacific. And we talked about all the areas where New Zealand and the United States have interests in common. These include the prosperity and stability of the Pacific Islands, space and technology, as well as Antarctica where our cooperation has been deep and longstanding.

* This visit has provided the starting point for considering what constructive cooperation between New Zealand and the United States might look like in the months and years ahead.

* This is just the first step. We will now go back to New Zealand to discuss with Cabinet colleagues what we have learned here in Washington DC.

* With Secretary Rubio, we have agreed to remain in close contact in the months ahead. We will no doubt see each other again later this year, whether at a regional meeting or back here in DC.

Source: NZ Music Month takes to the streets

Namaskar, Sat Sri Akal, kia ora and good afternoon everyone.

What an honour it is to stand on this stage – to inaugurate this august Dialogue – with none other than the Honourable Narendra Modi.

My good friend, thank you for so generously welcoming me to India and for our warm discussions this morning.

I am a great admirer of your extraordinary achievements as Prime Minister.

In the almost 11 years that you’ve occupied the Prime Minister’s office, you have weathered the COVID crisis and still managed to expand India’s economy by 50%.

You have lifted 250 million of your countrymen out of poverty and eliminated extreme poverty.

Today, India is at the leading edge of technology with massive innovative potential.

You were the first country to land on the moon’s South Pole.  In the process drawing the world’s attention to India’s extraordinary technological prowess.

And Prime Minister, during your tenure, the Men in Blue have been the most dominant side in cricket’s white ball competitions, most recently winning the Champions Trophy last week against my Men in Black and breaking many New Zealanders hearts – including mine – in the process!

Congratulations!

Among this catalogue of achievements is the reason we gather today: the Raisina Dialogue.  A forum that provides a moment every year for thought-leaders from across the world to focus their collective minds on the contemporary strategic challenges being navigated right here in the Indian Ocean.

I applaud Dr Jaishankar and Samir Saran for the intellectual leadership they have shown driving this Dialogue over the past 10 years. 

It has grown into a hugely influential forum.  Look no further than the luminaries you attract: 6 former Heads of Government and Ministers from over thirty countries.

I hope my remarks today, add to the debate in some small way.

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s more than 200 years since Indians and New Zealanders first began living side-by-side.

At the beginning of the 19^th century – well before we became a nation – Indian sailors jumped ship in New Zealand, with some meeting locals and marrying into our indigenous Māori tribes.  A few years later, Māori traders began travelling to Kolkata to sell tree trunks used in sailing ships.

An exchange that echoes down the ages.

Just as they were 200 years ago, Kiwi-Indians today are fully integrated into our multicultural society.  New Zealanders of Indian heritage comprise 11% of the people living in Auckland, our biggest city.

I’ve brought with me to New Delhi a selection of Kiwi-Indian community leaders. Members of Parliament, captains of industry, professional cricketers and even an online influencer who has revolutionised investment for women the world over.  In short, a selection of Kiwi-Indians who get up every single morning to make New Zealand a better place to live.

And our trade has diversified considerably from wood thanks to the increased sophistication of your economy.  India today is a critical source of pharmaceuticals and machinery for us. While we are a great tourism and education destination for you.

India has become an ever more significant feature of our society.

And yet, while there has been much that has developed and changed, there has been something missing at the core of our relationship.

With a country as consequential as India, we need rich political interaction, engaged militaries, strong economic architecture, and connections that support a diaspora that bridges between our two great nations.

Prime Minister Modi and I sat down today and charted out the future of our two countries’ relationship.

A future that builds from where we have been.  One that is wholly more ambitious about what we will do together in the future. 

• We agreed to our Defence Forces building greater strategic trust with one another, while deploying together and training together more.
• We want our scientists collaborating on global challenges like climate change and on commercial opportunities like space.
• We are supporting our businesses to improve air links and build primary sector cooperation.
• We will facilitate students, young professionals and tourists to move between our countries.
• And we’ve instructed our trade negotiators to get on and negotiate a free trade agreement between our two great nations.

A comprehensive agenda to underpin a comprehensive relationship. As we look to the future, the opportunity for both our governments is to sustain that momentum.

Not only to follow through on the commitments we have made to one another. But to proactively build on that platform, by exploring new opportunities and creating new architecture.

To ensure that we are creating strategic trust and commercial connection between two countries at the bookends of our wide Indo-Pacific region.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is to the Indo-Pacific that I now turn.  There are many reasons to be excited about our region.  I want to single out the two biggest opportunities.

First, India and New Zealand are fortunate enough to live in the world’s most economically dynamic region.

The Indo-Pacific will represent two-thirds of global economic growth over the coming years.  By 2030, it will be home to two-thirds of the world’s middle-class consumers.

And India itself lies at the heart of this exciting economic future.  It’s easy to focus on the troubles the world faces, but its worth reflecting for a moment on what economic development at this scale means at a human level.

Here in India, you’ve gone from only the very few in rural areas having a water or power connection to almost everyone. It means people with better health and education outcomes.  And that creates hope and optimism about the future for individuals and their families.

Replicated across literally hundreds of millions of people, that process of development generates dynamic economies.  Growth that offers massive opportunities for every country in the Indo-Pacific, and families and individuals within them.

The second big opportunity is technological change.  We are on the cusp of a transformation of our economies and societies in a way that we can barely now imagine.

I’m talking about artificial intelligence, which is within reach of achieving the cognitive powers of a human being.  But I’m also thinking of a range of other technologies – quantum, biotech, advanced manufacturing – that are going to have profound impacts on our economies.

It has felt like this technological transformation has been long-heralded, but never quite arrived. Well, it seems to me that a series of innovations – the always online world, big data, powerful computing, machine learning – are cumulating in ways that are going to tip over into a dislocation that is new and altogether different. 

The game is about to change.  We are on the cusp of an explosion in the application of AI, a technology that will have an impact across the whole economy, not just in one or two sectors. A technology that will transform the way we work, study and entertain ourselves.  A technology that will force governments to think in entirely different ways about how they deliver public services and secure their nations.

Certainly, this presents risks that will need to be managed.  For example, militaries are already using AI, which means the international community is going to need to develop new norms about how this is done in a way that ensures compliance with the rules of war and ensures human responsibility in conflict.

But my message is that, while we need manage change, we cannot allow ourselves to be paralysed by the risks.  For those who believe they can outcompete through this period of technological dislocation, the opportunities are there.  The citizens, the companies, and the countries that embrace the coming change will be the ones that reap the dividends. 

Yet, there’s also no doubt that there are fundamental trend lines in the Indo-Pacific that present geo-strategic risks to growth and prosperity.

These have long-term drivers that are not going away, and have been amplified by recent events.

Past assumptions – that underpinned the previous generation’s geopolitical calculations – are being upended.

A fortnight ago, the Singaporean Foreign Minister, Vivian Balakrishnan, put this change eloquently when he said: “the world is now shifting from unipolarity to multipolarity, from free trade to protectionism, from multilateralism to unilateralism, from globalisation to hyper-nationalism, from openness to xenophobia, from optimism to anxiety”.

This is a global change, not isolated to one region. Certainly, though, we live today in an Indo-Pacific navigating contest and rivalry, with a period of strategic uncertainty.  I would highlight three big shifts that make for challenging times ahead.

First, we are seeing rules giving way to power. 

Previously, we could count on countries respecting the UN Charter, the Law of the Sea and world trade rules.  That sadly cannot be assumed in an age of sharper competition.

Instead, we risk dangerous miscalculation at flashpoints. These range from the militarisation of disputed reefs to dangerous air movements.  From land border incursions to breakout nuclear capabilities.

Of course, it is not just flashpoints, but a slow shift in Indo-Pacific realities that change calculations.  Recent demonstrations of naval force near New Zealand’s maritime surrounds, for example, sent a signal that alarmed many of my fellow citizens.

Second, we are witnessing a shift from economics to security. 

After the Cold War, the dominant paradigm in relations between Indo-Pacific countries was a sustained effort to raise material living standards by tending to our economies.

Make no mistake, “bread and butter” issues still loom very large, and are a priority for governments all around the region.  Indeed, economic growth is my Government’s highest priority.

But across the Indo-Pacific, we also see Governments dedicating increased attention and resource to military modernisation. Military build-ups reflect a need to prepare against uncertainty and insecurity.  Some military build-ups, however, are underway without the reassurance that transparency brings.

National security demands are expanding.  Governments need to protect their people and assets against foreign interference, cyberattacks, and terrorism.

In the last few months, a new threat has emerged, with damage to critical infrastructure, like sub-sea cables. You can’t have prosperity without security, not least when the tools of commerce themselves require protection.

The third geo-economic shift is from efficiency to resilience. 

Where previously, Indo-Pacific economies saw ever deeper interdependence as a dynamo for growth, that can no longer be assumed in an age of decoupling.

Onshoring, protectionism and trade wars are displacing best price, open markets, and integrated supply chains.

And so we find ourselves in a world that is growing more difficult and more complex, especially for smaller states.

However, we must engage with the world as it is, not as we wish it to be. So, like most countries across the region, New Zealand’s strategic policy is being shaped by our assessment of these trends.

We have agency to shape the Indo-Pacific that we want, but we must do so with energy and with urgency.

Ladies and gentlemen, as New Zealand looks to protect and advance our interests in the Indo-Pacific, we can only do so alongside partners.  Partners like India that have a significant role to play in the Indo-Pacific.

In an increasingly multipolar world, India’s size and geo-strategic heft gives you autonomy.  At the same time, your democratic partners in the Indo-Pacific offer you a force multiplier for our convergent interests. 

For at a time when democracy is in decline with less than half the world’s adults electing their leaders, it is an inspiration that 650 million Indians turned out to vote last year in the largest election in history.

Your national election is a triumph of logistics and a triumph of legitimacy.  An election that means your leaders serve their people, rather than your people serving their leaders.

Now, I don’t advocate arbitrary divisions between democracies and autocracies. And just because we are democracies, we won’t always see eye-to-eye. 

Nonetheless, there’s truth in the fact that our democratic governance means we share a belief in the freedom to choose, giving everyone a voice and respect for the rules.  Our interests increasingly converge around seeing these three ideas as an aligned set of organising principles for our Indo-Pacific region.

First, we want to live in an Indo-Pacific where countries are free to choose their own path free from interference.

A region where no one country comes to dominate.

It is a sign of the times that I stand here defending respect for sovereignty. Yet, New Zealand’s approach is increasingly shaped around that objective.

Just on Saturday, I joined a call led by Prime Minister Starmer focused on what more those contributing to Ukraine’s defence can do to support a just and lasting peace.  To help a country whose sovereignty and territorial integrity has been so flagrantly attacked.

In my home region, our fellow Pacific neighbours are navigating geo-strategic dynamics that are their sharpest in nearly 80 years.

In a deeply contested world, Pacific partners are being asked to make choices that may undermine their national sovereignty.  They risk falling into over-indebtedness, they must make choices about dual-use infrastructure, and they face pressure to enter new security arrangements.

New Zealand invests in working alongside Pacific countries to boost their capacity to make independent choices free from interference. 

Yet, size alone cannot inoculate a country from these dynamics.  Building strong and diversified relationships is the key to mitigating the risks of dependence on a few.

That is why my Government is investing in our key relationships, from traditional partners to thickening and deepening our relationships across Southeast Asia, and in a serious way with India, too. 

And we have a responsibility to invest in our own security as a downpayment on our future ability to choose our own path.  That is why New Zealand will be scaling up and doing more to support our own defence.

We plan to better resource and equip our Defence Force to ensure we can continue to defend our interests.  Whether in our near region, in our alliance with Australia, or in support of collective security efforts with partners like India.

Alongside this investment in capability, we are making tangible contributions across the Indo-Pacific.  When I was in Japan last year, I saw firsthand the work our aviators do to detect and deter North Korea’s sanctions-busting activities.

The New Zealand Navy is leading Combined Task Force 150 responsible for multinational activities to protect trade routes and counter smuggling, piracy and terrorism in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden. We are fortunate indeed that India has agreed to take up the Deputy Command.  Underlining these naval connections, one of our frigates, HMNZS Te Kaha, is in Mumbai later this week.

As we seek an Indo-Pacific in which countries are free to choose their own path, I’m determined New Zealand plays its role.  Whether through our work with Pacific Islands partners, our relationships in the Indo-Pacific, or through our defence efforts.

A second principle both India and New Zealand subscribe to is the criticality of Indo-Pacific regional institutions, even as these evolve.

Regional architecture scaffolds our region’s security and its prosperity.

ASEAN continues to promote regional peace and economic development. Through its convening power and its centrality, it also provides a place for the region’s players to come together to discuss strategic issues.

ASEAN sits at the centre of the East Asia Summit, which for twenty years now has enabled political dialogue across the region, a forum that builds understanding, reduces the risk of miscalculation and contributes to strategic trust.

Yet, the Indo-Pacific architecture is not static as it adapts to new realities.  Mini-lateral groupings are important new pieces of the puzzle.

The Quad has emerged as an important vehicle promoting an open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.  India’s contribution to that evolution has of course been vital.  While New Zealand has no pretensions to Quad membership, we stand ready to work with you to advance Quad initiatives.

We ourselves are strengthening our work with Japan and the Republic of Korea, as well as Australia.  Last year, I convened the Indo-Pacific Four to discuss Ukraine and North Korea. 

And with serious headwinds buffeting the global trade system, New Zealand is seriously invested in Indo-Pacific trade and economic integration groupings.

From CPTPP, the gold standard of FTAs internationally, to RCEP, perhaps the world’s most inclusive.

And we welcome India’s engagement in the regional economic architecture, with our work together in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), important in an era in which we seek to build one another’s resilience.

The third Indo-Pacific principle we align around is a region in which respect for the rules is foundational.

Globally, rules are being undermined: whether those around territorial integrity, freedom of navigation, or laws of war.  Yet, these are the very rules that preserve an Indo-Pacific order that is not “might is right” alone. 

And, as I have said before, there is no prosperity without security. The rules that underpin our security also allow our businesses to operate with certainty. Those rules deliver daily in meaningful ways for our people.

For example, one in four jobs in New Zealand rely on exports and our exporting businesses being able to depend on the predictability that those rules deliver. And in a miracle, that’s only possible thanks to globally-accepted aviation standards, 120,000 flights carry 12 million passengers and operate safely between their destinations every day.

These rules shape the character of our region.  We remain committed to this rules-based system, even while acknowledging its shortcomings.  It is a truism that the world of 2025 is vastly different from 1945, and yet global institutions sadly have been slow to adapt.

We are not talking about “starting over” by remaking the global order. Instead, I tend to agree with Dr Jaishankar when he says we want an order in which change is evolutionary – at a pace that is comfortable and steady.

That’s why New Zealand supports reforming global governance frameworks to better reflect today’s realities.  Rather than casting them aside, they should give greater voice to the developing world and under-represented regions.

Countries like India – that play such a central role in the global community – should have a seat at the table. We’ve therefore long supported India having a permanent seat on a reformed UN Security Council.

Distinguished guests, ladies, and gentlemen.

It has been a privilege to speak to you today, at this important forum for global dialogue.

The geostrategic picture I’ve painted is stark.  Rules are giving way to power; economics to security; and efficiency to resilience.

The tectonic shifts unfolding highlight that we – working alongside partners and friends – must navigate disruption, uncertainty, and sharpening pressure on our national interests.

Yet, we will not be overwhelmed by complexity and challenge. We must go forward with confidence.

We live at the heart of the world’s most exciting and dynamic region – the Indo-Pacific.

We live in an era of technological transformation that offers outsized opportunities.

We are countries with solid underlying democratic institutions, which will underpin our societies’ future success.

India and New Zealand have extraordinarily talented people. 

Both our countries have a clear plan that reflects and reinforces the connections between our security and prosperity. 

We cannot afford to be thrown by the rapid pace of change – we must grapple with shifting realities and capitalise on these for all our peoples’ benefit.

We will create and seize opportunities. Invest in our capabilities.

This is our region. Its future will be shaped by the choices we make—together.

Thank you, ngā mihi nui, and dhanyavaad .

Source: NZ Music Month takes to the streets

Good morning, everyone.

I’m Todd McCay, Minster of Agriculture, Forestry, Trade, the first minister for Investment – or Foreign Direct Investment, as well as associate minister for Foreign Affairs — responsible with the Deputy PM for: Latin America, Gulf States, Northen Asia, and Africa.

New Zealand is an ambitious, innovative country. We’re globally connected, rich with opportunity, and open for business. If you’re looking for a place to invest, to build, or to grow—New Zealand is the place to be.

Our location in the Asia-Pacific, a stable political environment, a highly skilled workforce, and significant network of trade and investment agreements makes us an obvious choice for global businesses.

As Trade and Investment Minister, I often talk to investors who see the immense potential New Zealand offers. They tell me they want to do more here, and my message to them, and to you, is clear: we will back you.

If you want to grow, to expand, or to innovate in New Zealand, we will help make it happen.

The Government, and New Zealanders, know that Foreign Direct Investment is crucial to grow the economy. It fuels innovation, creates jobs, and ensures we can compete on the world stage. That’s why we’re making it easier than ever for investors like you to seize the opportunities that we have to offer.

We have important trade architecture through trade and investment agreements with most parts of the world, 20 of them in fact, from the UK and EU to the CPTPP including Japan, countries from North America, South America, South East Asia, Australia, China, Singapore and of course two newly concluded last year in record time, the UAE and GCC including Saudi Arabia.

We have a network of investment treaties and agreements with more than 40 countries – 84% of New Zealand’s FDI is covered by these agreements worth $133 billion. And we have more than 40 double tax agreements and we respect tax rules and law.

Today, I am pleased to announce that we will roll out the welcome mat, by establishing a new agency – Invest New Zealand — a dedicated, standalone group focused solely on attracting foreign investment, whose job it is to make it easier for you. I also want to introduce you to our key growth sectors, where we see huge potential, and tell you about the changes we’re making to ensure New Zealand is a top-tier destination for your investment.

Invest NZ has a bold new vision

We’re taking investment attraction to the next level.

To scale up our efforts, we will stand up Invest New Zealandby 1 July this year.

The world has responded positively to our announcement that we are open to investment — and we don’t want them to have to wait for our service.

Invest NZ will be a one-stop-shop, a problem solver, cutting through bureaucracy and proactively ensuring that investment propositions get through the system quickly. Its job will be to work with you get the right decisions from central and local government smoothly, get your consent or permission effortlessly. We want to derisk your decision to invest in our country.

Through Invest NZ, we will:

• Target high-impact investments in key sectors like technology, agritech, renewable energy, fintech, finances, manufacturing, advanced manufacturing and of course the production and processing of high-quality, safe food.
• Remove unnecessary barriers so investing here is easy, efficient, and predictable.
• Proactively engage with global investors and multinationals, showcasing the unique advantages of doing business in New Zealand.
• Support high-growth Kiwi businesses to become investment-ready, so they can scale up and expand internationally.

While Invest NZ won’t lead on infrastructure investment – that remains with National Infrastructure Funding and Financing Limited – it will connect global investors with the right agencies to get deals done. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to do business here.

Invest NZ is a tool available to investors get deals through the system quickly and efficiently, and to give you the certainty that the Government stands with you.

By leveraging our strengths: our talent, innovative excellence, and commitment to high-quality production – Invest NZ will unlock tens of billions of dollars in global investment and position New Zealand as one of the most attractive places to invest in the Asia-Pacific.

We have set an ambition target to double exports by value within ten years, Invest NZ will ensure New Zealand attracts the capital needed to help achieve this. We will also compare FDI stock as a percentage of GDP against other nations to better measure our success in attracting investment.

If you want to do more in New Zealand, we back you and Invest NZ will help make it happen.

Investing in High-Growth Sectors

There’s no shortage of world-class investment opportunities in New Zealand – you heard about a few of them yesterday from the Prime Minister and my colleagues. Across multiple industries, businesses are scaling, innovating, and looking for global partners to help them grow. We believe some of the biggest untapped opportunities lie in the following sectors:

Fintech & Finance

New Zealand’s fintech sector is booming.

• $2.6 billion in revenue in 2023, with 24% compound annual growth since 2018.
• Now New Zealand’s largest tech sector, establishing a critical mass of larger export firms like Xero.
• Fintech firms with $5m+ in revenue have tripled in a decade.
• The sector employs 4,200 people in New Zealand, with another 4,650 offshore.
• The Government is introducing open banking legislation to drive competition and innovation in financial services, creating new opportunities for investment. There are opportunities for more banks in New Zealand.

Renewable Energy

New Zealand is leading the global shift to net-zero carbon.

• 88% of our electricity is generated from renewables—but just 30% of our industry and transport runs on clean energy, meaning massive untapped potential.
• Strong government backing and natural resources make this a prime sector for investment.
• Opportunities exist in green hydrogen, battery storage, renewable energy exports, data storageand AI processing.

Advanced Transportation

New Zealand is a testbed for cutting-edge transport technology.

• Ranked third in the world for rocket launches.
• A forward-thinking regulatory environment allows innovation to scale fast.
• Investors can plug into a fast-growing ecosystem spanning aerospace, EVs, and autonomous transport.

Aquaculture

Aquaculture is New Zealand’s fastest-growing food production sector.

• The global market is expanding at 5.4% compound annual growth rate.
• New Zealand has one of the largest exclusive economic zones in the world (4.1 million sq km).
• The industry is targeting $3 billion in annual value by 2035.

Cleantech

New Zealand is a global leader in sustainable innovation.

• The cleantech market is projected to hit $1 trillion by 2030.
• We have a highly skilled tech workforce and strong R&D capability.
• A growing pipeline of scalable cleantech ventures needs capital to accelerate growth.

Minerals & Resources

New Zealand’s mineral sector is primed for growth.

• The sector aims to double exports to $3 billion and grow jobs from 5,290 to 7,000+ by 2035.
• Expansion of gold, coking coal, mineral sands, critical minerals and rare earth minerals will drive this growth.
• New Fast Track Approvals legislation is clearing the path for investment.

We Back You

There are world-leading businesses across all these sectors ready for investment. Many of them need not just capital, but global expertise, networks, and partners who can help them scale.

So, my message to you is clear: If you’re ready to invest, we’re ready to help. We can drive growth together and turn opportunity into profit.

I encourage you to get in touch with the team at Invest New Zealand if you’re interested in learning more about opportunities in the sectors included in the following showcase or in any other sectors.

Conclusion

It is now a privilege to hand over to my colleagues who will take you through the specific sector opportunities I’ve highlighted:

• Minister Jones: recourses and aquiculture
• Minister Collins: Advanced Transportation
• Minister Watts: renewable and clean energy

It has been a pleasure speaking with you. I look forward to seeing many of you take the next step and grow sectors in New Zealand.

As New Zealand’s newly appointed, and first Minister responsible for Foreign Direct Investment, I want to leave you all with one clear message – we are open for business, and we will be saying yes to investment.

Thank you.

Source: NZ Music Month takes to the streets

Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone.

It’s a pleasure to be here today, to feel your energy and the sense of possibility and opportunity in this room. Whether you’ve travelled from the other side of the world, or took on Auckland traffic to be here, your presence matters.

I’m here today as a proud New Zealander, one of a team of Government Ministers determined to make much more of the enormous potential of this incredible country. To:

• improve the quality of peoples’ lives
• deliver better public services and
• create great jobs for our kids;

That last point is especially important for me, on a personal level: I’m a mother of four children aged 9, 12, 13 and 15. In this world of abundant choices for them, in terms of where they take their skills, where they take their lives, I want them – and all young Kiwis – to see this as a country of aspiration, and a place they should choose to make their home. I entered politics with a very strong conviction that strong leadership and good policy are needed to make this a place that the world’s talent will continue to make their home.

I serve our Prime Minister as both our Finance Minister and our Minister for Economic Growth.

As Finance Minister, I take responsibility for managing our Government’s books. So yes, I am the bean-counter, and I am always on a perpetual mission to drive more value from the spending we do and the investments we make. I am the Ministerial colleague who takes pride in scrutinising the dollars, in reading through the business cases, and having the courage to say ‘no’ when proposals don’t stack up, and in saying ‘yes’ to innovations and partnerships that enhance the financial discipline and reliable delivery of vital public infrastructure.

I also have the privilege of being our Minister for Economic Growth, helping lead our Government’s growth agenda. Growth is central to our mission and purpose: not only is it our most powerful tool for strengthening our public finances and flattering those books of mine, it’s also the means by which we will create better choices, higher living standards and more financial security for our people.

Why should you invest in New Zealand?

New Zealand is incredibly well positioned for growth. We are an undervalued stock. We have a stable democracy, with strong institutions and enduring respect for the rule of law, that has survived over successive changes of government. We have safe borders, extraordinary natural resources, a temperate climate, strong trading relationships, an open, innovative culture – and you’ll see that open culture on display these next two days, and expect to have some candid and frank conversations – that’s how we roll. We have talented people.

Let me paint that picture for you.

Our stable democracy

We ranked first on the World Bank’s ease of doing business index the last time the bank issued the index in 2019.

We rank second on the Economist Group’s Democracy Index and according to Transparency International we are the fourth least corrupt country in the world. This is a good, reliable place to do business.

We have safe borders, good international relations and extensive trading networks.

Of course, it is somewhat simpler to have safe borders when you are surrounded by ocean, as we are. Our nearest big neighbour is 1500km away. We have worked hard, over many decades, to establish diplomatic relations with a large number of countries in all regions of the world.

In 2024 we exported more than $101 billion worth of goods and services.

Our largest export markets are China, the US and Australia, but we export to 230 nations in total.

Across successive governments, we have weaved a constellation of close trading and economic relationships that give our exporters access to a broad range of markets on competitive terms.

Our main good exports are dairy products, tourism, meat, wool and forestry, but our exports extend to world-beating digital services, advanced manufacturing and exciting creative industries.

We have strong institutional settings

It should give you confidence that while elections may change things, many things will remain.

Over successive decades and Governments, we have worked hard to put in place best-practice institutional frameworks: an independent central bank with a remit for low and stable inflation – the first inflation-targeting regime in the world – and a floating exchange rate.

Our legal system, based on the British model, upholds the rule of law with an independent judiciary.

Our government accounts are prepared according to high international standards and are released in a timely fashion.

Stability is our middle name.

We have sound government accounts

Our Public Finance Act requires the government of the day to be transparent about both its short- and long-term fiscal objectives and to maintain prudent debt levels and report against these measures.

We have relatively low levels of government debt compared to other countries, with the IMF’s most recent Fiscal Monitor ranking us having relatively the 26^th lowest level of public debt when compared to the 33 advanced countries they assess.

The Government is working hard to put net core Crown debt on a downward trajectory, balancing the need to ensure are resilient to and future economic shocks that may come our way while making room for the prudent investments needed to drive future productivity.

Labour market flexibility

We have a flexible labour market.

OECD comparisons rank us highly in terms of flexibility for hiring temporary workers, and for settings that allow high labour flows between jobs and industries.

Between 2000 and 2017 about one fifth of New Zealand workers switched jobs each year and about half of those job switches involved a change of industry.

This flexibility helps labour productivity by making it easier for workers to move from less productive to more productive firms, or to jobs that better match their skills.

We are well poised to adapt our workforce to the new industries and new challenges that are right upon us as a world, and that will continue to arise in the coming decades.

Similarly, our rates of long-term unemployment are low, and while we did not escape the post-Covid downturn in economic activity experienced throughout the world, our unemployment levels remain below historic averages.

We have flexible and responsive regulatory systems. We are small, and we are nimble. Our small size and our can-do attitude has translated to has translated to an ability to respond quickly to emerging opportunities.

A key example is that of space company Rocket Lab, which the Prime Minister referred to. It announced in late 2014, through its leader Peter Beck, that it wanted to launch rockets from a remote peninsula on the East Coast of the North Island.

Less than a year later, seized by that possibility and opportunity, the Government agreed to a new regulatory regime – a world-leading regulatory regime – to enable those rockets to launch.

That regime came into law in 2017 with the first launch by Rocket Lab taking place that same year.

We have done it before, and we are prepared to do it for emerging industries again.

Unlike some countries in the world, beset by large size and complexity, we have a parliament that allows these things to happen quickly.

We also have some of the best, most efficient and most sustainable farmers in the world, who take pride in making the most of our abundant natural resources.

We have a long history of not subsidising our farmers but instead having them face competitively into world markets.

Fonterra is the sixth largest global dairy producer and our sheep and beef farmers are internationally renowned. We feed tens of millions of people around the world, delivering products that meet exacting safety standards.

New Zealand’s exclusive economic zone is over 14 million square kilometres, the ninth largest in the world, and aquaculture is New Zealand’s fastest-growing food production sector.

We have abundant renewable energy. Eighty-eight per cent of our electricity comes from hydro, geothermal, wind, solar and other sources of renewable energy. We have no lack of land or desire or capacity for far far more renewable energy.

We are blessed with minerals and resources, and have huge capacity to make more of these. Legislative changes are paving the way for increased investment in the mining of gold, coking coal, mineral sands and critical minerals.

We have an entrepreneurial and innovative DNA

We pride ourselves – as the Prime Minister said – on what we call our number eight wire mentality – our ability to innovate.

New Zealand is, by and large, a country of small businesses, led by innovative people with a can-do attitude, some of whom make it very big.

Examples include cloud-based accounting software company Xero, Wētā Digital famous for its groundbreaking visual effects and Fisher&Paykel Healthcare, globally recognised for its work providing innovative healthcare solutions for more than 50 years.

We have a proud and accomplished indigenous population, with our Māori economy becoming an increasingly significant player in the New Zealand economy and contributing hugely to New Zealand’s unique national identity.

Over the five years to 2023 the Māori asset base increased from $69 billion to $126 billion. That was a faster rate of asset growth than for the economy as a whole – testament to the success iwi and Māori entities are having in making smart and long-term investment choices, underpinned by strong commercial discipline.

Over the same period the Māori economic contribution to gross domestic product increased from $17 billion to $32 billion. Mark my words, that growth is set to continue.

Changing attitudes

And we’ve been trading successfully internationally since the first contact between Europeans and Māori in the latter part of the 18th century.

We have some strong traditions. But I also think that New Zealand is at a moment of change. Some of that change isn’t things you can see, but it is a change in attitude.

Where once New Zealanders primarily were concerned about preserving what we already had, and our way of life as it has been, increasingly, New Zealanders have growing recognition of the need to embrace change if we want to provide opportunities for our children and fund high quality health, education and other public services.

That desire to change, that sense of ambition and possibility, is reflected in the Government’s reform agenda.

Let me give you some examples.

1.Overseas investment

We recognize that the world doesn’t owe us a living and that every country in the world must compete for its share of the world’s wealth.

NZ’s foreign direct investment levels currently sits at around 40% of GDP compared to the OECD average of 53% as at 2023. There is untapped potential for more investment in this economy.

We are reforming our overseas investment settings to ensure more of the world’s capital can flow here and is encouraged to flow here. We are determined not to allow red tape or uncertain settings to disrupt investment and growth.

The impulse driving this reform is strong.

Over the past 10 years, New Zealand’s labour productivity growth has only averaged about 0.3 per cent a year.

Low capital intensity has been identified as one of the major causes of that low productivity.

In order to increase our productivity, we need more capital investment. And David Seymour has been changing the rules to ensure we can.

Therefore, we’re changing the rules to:

• Better reflect the benefits investment can provide to New Zealand’s economy
• make consenting decisions in just 15 days for all investments aside from residential land, farmland and fishing quota
• strengthen the Government’s ability to intervene on the rare occasions that a transaction is not in the national interest; and

Our goal is to increase New Zealand’s attractiveness as a destination for your investment.

2. Fast-track consenting

We’re acutely aware of the challenges and frustrations for the need for effective, timely and affordable approval processes for new projects.

We’re reforming our resource consenting rules, and fast-tracking the consenting process for projects of national and regional importance.

They include:

• renewable energy projects
• aquaculture businesses
  • mining projects; and
  • housing developments

3. Gearing up for a more stable and predictable infrastructure pipeline with more Public Private Partnerships

Our democracy is robust, and the contest of ideas in our Parliament is very lively, but we have found common ground, across parties, on the need for a more bipartisan approach to infrastructure planning and delivery. The presence of three opposition Parliamentarians here today is testament to that shared aspiration, and that sense of what is good for New Zealand over the long term.

The simply reality is that overcoming New Zealand’s infrastructure deficit demands an approach that can look through elections and any change of Government.

We do intend to be here for many, many years to come – but in the event that there is a change, we recognise the benefits that come from sequencing a clear pipeline of upcoming investments and have made institutional reforms to support this. Across all areas of public infrastructure we are working to logically identify, prioritise, and sequence the investments needed over the coming decade and beyond. You will hear a lot more detail about these plans from our Ministers over the course of this summit.

We are excited, also, by the opportunity for adoption of modern funding, financing and partnership approaches for the delivery of these public infrastructure projects.

The New Zealand Government has done eight public private partnerships so far. They include schools, roads and corrections facilities. We have learned from these, and we want to do more.

Of course, we’ll only do PPPs when they are in New Zealand’s best interests.

When negotiating PPPs our focus is on the enhanced delivery of public services not just cost.

We are interested in incentivising and allowing innovation, locating risk with those best-placed to address it, focusing decision-makers on whole-of-life outcomes and unlocking new funding sources.

We recognise that the people in this room bring not only capital but also skill, and experience that will allow us to deliver better infrastructure faster.

The outlook

Our Government has a clear mandate to drive growth-enhancing reforms across a broad range of public policy.

As I stand here today, I can be clear with you that there is a Government that wants to make this an even better place to do business. Whether it’s:

• Changing work visa to make it easier for employers to get the workers they need and to better facilitate foreign direct investment
• Reviewing competition rules with a view to increasing competition, we see huge possibility for new entrants in our grocery, and banking sectors, among others and we’re ensuring that our regulatory frameworks encourage innovation and disruption.
• Launching a minerals strategy
• We have also been working on a number of reforms across government to increase our education standards to ensure access to a skilled workforce,
• We have been reorienting the science and innovation system to focus more on commercialisation, and to make the most of new gene technologies.

Across all of these reforms, whether it is regional growth initiatives, whether it is macroeconomic reform, whether it is microeconomic reform, our focus is on making the most of what we have.

Conclusion

Like a lot of countries, New Zealand has been through a challenging few years.

But what I would put to you as I stand here today is that if I could choose to be any country in this particular moment in time, this moment of some uncertainty, of rapid change and of more concerns about security than I have seen in my generation, in a world in which people are worried about security – I would choose New Zealand.

In a world in which people are worried about food supply and the effect of extreme climatic events, I would choose New Zealand.

We have safe, secure borders, a temperate climate. We have abundant resources, robust institutions, strong cultural foundations and the best people. Our best years are ahead of us, and we are grateful to you for coming with us on this journey.

There are huge opportunities for you to generate value. There are huge opportunities for us to grow together. Let’s make New Zealand an even better place.

Thank you.

Source: NZ Music Month takes to the streets

Good morning,

I would like to join the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in extending a warm welcome to you all.

And I’d like to say a big thank you for being here.

This Summit is about showing you that New Zealand is open for business, we are going for growth, and we are a safe and strong country to invest in.

Over the next two days, we will be showcasing our infrastructure pipeline, our exciting growth sectors, and the Māori economy.

I have the great privilege of being the Minister for Infrastructure alongside a few other roles.

And this morning, I want to talk to you about the New Zealand Government’s vision for infrastructure.

We were elected to be a government of infrastructure.

We know that we have a big infrastructure deficit and addressing it is critical to boosting growth and improving our productivity.

Over the past 15 months, we have been laying the groundwork to create a highly performing infrastructure sector.

We’ve laid out ambitious plans to remove red tape, improve funding and financing, and to make sure the government is a much better client.

Role of private capital

We are also determined to attract more private capital, capacity, and capability into our infrastructure system.

Because we can’t unlock our potential without the private sector.

Private construction firms build our infrastructure. This is well understood by the public.

What is less visible is the important role private capital plays in public infrastructure.

Under the right contractual and regulatory frameworks, private capital is hugely beneficial for our system and, therefore, beneficial for New Zealanders.

Private capital in public infrastructure can:

• introduce competitive tension,
• encourage efficiency, innovation, and disciplined project management,
• boost local capability and capacity,
• incentivise on-time, on-budget delivery,
• incentivise good asset maintenance and consistent level of service, and
• lift accountability.

We only have to look at the Ultrafast Broadband rollout – where New Zealand is among the top countries in the world for fibre coverage – and the Puhoi to Warkworth State Highway to know that private capital can deliver great outcomes for Kiwis.

To achieve more of these outcomes more often, our objective is to broaden the funding base for projects and utilise private capital, where efficient.

This, along with other changes to the infrastructure system, will help get New Zealand ahead so that we can grow our economy, create jobs and opportunities, and raise our standard of living.

Infrastructure is a key enabler for growth and lifting our standard of living

New Zealand has incredible potential, and I believe that we can be so much wealthier and more productive than we are today.

Infrastructure is critical for the wellbeing of people and the prosperity of nations.

Infrastructure also represents some of our longest-lived assets. In fact, some bridges in our highway network have been around since the 1800s.

New Zealand has more than 2,500 public schools, 40 public hospitals, and more than 96,000 kilometres of road.

In 2022, our infrastructure assets, excluding land, were worth about $287 billion.

We can thank past generations for their sustained investment in infrastructure.

We want our grandchildren, and their grandchildren to thank us too. That’s why delivering infrastructure for the future is a key part of this Government’s plan.

New Zealand has a proud history of building for the future

Before I outline the changes we are making to New Zealand’s infrastructure system, I want to share two stories from our past.

Our geography, small size, and isolation have long presented challenges, but we have always been up for the task of finding innovative and ambitious ways to deliver the infrastructure our country needs.

High Voltage Direct Current Cable – Cook Strait Cable

Let me start with the Cook Strait Cable.

In the 1960s, New Zealand had a problem. The need for electricity in the North Island was growing, but most of the generation opportunities were in the South Island.

We needed a cable to connect the two.

Instead of letting something as small as the Cook Strait stop us, we used world leading engineering and built a High Voltage Direct Current, or HVDC link between Benmore, and Lower Hutt – the city I am proud to represent as a Member of Parliament.

That’s 610 kilometres of cable.

When it was built in 1965, our HVDC submarine cable was the world’s largest and longest of its kind.

This project was ahead of its time and allowed New Zealand to:

• better optimise the national grid,
• provide security of electricity supply, and
• make early use of renewable energy – something we are very lucky to have an abundance of here.

Transpower, New Zealand’s National Grid owner and System Operator, is planning to replace the Cook Strait Cables at the end of the decade and has secured global cable supplier Prysmian to do this.

For 60 years now the Cable has helped power New Zealand, and it remains a true example of Kiwi ingenuity and ambition.

Auckland Harbour Bridge

The second story I would like to share is about the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

66 years ago, the North Shore – about 10 kilometres north from where we are sitting right now – was a sleepy area with a population of around 50,000 and was only accessible from Auckland via a 50-kilometre drive, or by ferry.

This all changed with the construction of the Auckland Harbour Bridge, which began in 1955.

Hundreds of workers were needed, including many brought over from England.

In 1959 the Bridge opened, with toll booths to help recoup the cost.

Demand was massive and population on the North Shore boomed. It is now home to over 240,000 people.

Only a decade after the bridge was built, we added huge steel extensions, or clip-ons, onto the wide concrete piers.

The clip-ons were built in Japan, shipped to New Zealand, and attached to the bridge – doubling the number of lanes from four to eight, which remain in use today.

Even though this bridge was built 66 years ago, there are still lessons we can learn from it:

• first, people who benefit from infrastructure should help pay the cost of it,
• second, investment in infrastructure can unlock significant growth, and
• third, it’s wise to build infrastructure that is future-proofed and that can adapt to change.

These two stories remind me that New Zealand has built some world-leading, innovative, and growth-enabling infrastructure.

We have built tunnels through mountains, cables across the sea, and dams that power hundreds of thousands of homes.

And we will build on this legacy.

Future challenges

But, today, New Zealand, like many other countries, faces new challenges like a growing and aging population, congestion, more frequent hazard and extreme weather events, a backlog of asset maintenance, and project cost blow-outs.

By 2050, If we keep doing things how we are now, New Zealand is expected to have an infrastructure deficit of around $210b.

We cannot tackle these challenges by continuing the status quo – so, once again, New Zealand has to innovate.

And we are still up for the job.

This Government is not here to make tweaks around the edges. We are ambitious, and we are here to fundamentally shift the way we plan, select, fund and finance, build, and look after our infrastructure.

That’s why we are here with you today – to showcase our more enabling system, and to learn from and partner with you to deliver the infrastructure New Zealand needs.

My priorities as Minister for Infrastructure

Last year, I mapped out what I want from the infrastructure system.

I want the private sector to invest here, because they are confident in the pipeline and are enabled to get on with it by an efficient and fair consenting system.

And I want the public to enjoy infrastructure that is safe, reliable, accessible, and good value for money.

To achieve this, I’m focused on six priorities as Infrastructure Minister:

1. Establishing National Infrastructure Funding and Financing Ltd – which we did in December last year.
2. Developing a 30-year National Infrastructure Plan.
3. Improving infrastructure funding and financing.
4. Improving the consenting framework.
5. Improving education and health infrastructure.
6. Strengthening asset management.

These priorities are in response to what the coalition Government has heard from industry and infrastructure experts, both in New Zealand and overseas.

National Infrastructure Funding and Financing Ltd

Let’s start with National Infrastructure Funding and Financing Ltd, or NIFFCo.

On 1 December 2024, we established NIFFCo – a Crown-owned company. When you decide to join us in transforming New Zealand’s infrastructure, these are the people you will work with.

Allow me to introduce you to the Chair, Mark Binns, and the Chief Executive Officer, Graham Mitchell. They are here for the next two days and are keen to chat to you about what they do.

But, at a high-level, NIFFCo that has three functions:

• Its first function is to act as the Crown’s ‘shopfront’ to facilitate private sector investment and interest in infrastructure – this includes receiving and evaluating any Market Led Proposals, or Unsolicited Bids.
• NIFFCo’s second function is to partner with agencies, and in some cases, local government, on projects involving complex procurement, alternative funding mechanisms and private finance – including Public Private Partnerships (PPPs).
• Its third function is to administer central government infrastructure funds.

NIFFCo will help unlock access to more capital for infrastructure and give the private sector a clear and knowledgeable Government-side partner to work with on projects and transactions.

So, if you want to put forward a project, are looking for an opportunity to invest in New Zealand infrastructure or want to partner with Government – NIFFCo is open for business.

NIFFCo will also lift the government’s commercial capability and help us be a better client of infrastructure. It will do this by deploying expertise into agencies that are working on projects involving private finance and alternative funding mechanisms.

This includes, but is not limited to, projects involving traditional loans, equity investments, PPPs, developer levies, beneficiary levies, concessions, or other value uplift mechanisms.

When we established NIFFCo, we also clarified roles and responsibilities of other entities in the Crown’s Infrastructure system. So, broadly:

• The Infrastructure Commission is focused on long-term strategy and planning and is the Government’s independent advisor on infrastructure matters.
• Alongside its economic and fiscal responsibilities, in the infrastructure space, the Treasury is primary adviser to me as Minister for Infrastructure, and the steward of the government’s Investment Management System.
• Crown Infrastructure Delivery is mandated to deliver infrastructure on behalf of government agencies that don’t deliver infrastructure as their “Business as Usual”, or for agencies who would like to use centralised delivery capability.

On top of this, we are establishing, Invest New Zealand, who will work with NIFFCo and others to support our economic growth objectives. Invest New Zealand’s role will include attracting Foreign Direct Investment by marketing New Zealand overseas as an ideal location for business and innovation.

The Minister for Trade and Investment, Todd McClay will talk to you more about this tomorrow.

Developing a 30-year National Infrastructure Plan

Now, let’s move to my second priority, the 30-year National Infrastructure Plan.

The industry has asked for a long-term plan and pipeline so that they can invest in people and equipment.

We have heard them, it’s the right thing to do, and we are doing it.

The New Zealand Infrastructure Commission has been tasked with developing the independent plan by the end of 2025.

It will outline New Zealand’s infrastructure needs over the next 30 years, planned investments over the next 10 years, and recommendations on priority projects and reforms that can fill the gap between what we have and what need.

I want the Plan to mirror what happens in Australia, where the government leverages independent agencies to help them make the right long-term choices, while making sure there is strong capability within government to deliver.

There are four key components of the Plan.

The first is the Infrastructure Needs Assessment. The Needs Assessment will compare the long-run drivers of infrastructure demand – like population growth, aging assets, and natural hazards – against what we have now to identify our needs.

But we also have to be realistic about willingness to pay, because we can’t afford to do everything –

So, our plan is to select the package of projects that delivers the most benefits within our budget constraints.

The second component is strengthening the existing National Infrastructure Pipeline. The Pipeline will outline New Zealand’s infrastructure investments intentions over the next 10 years – in the public and private sector.

The Commission’s Pipeline already has 108 contributing organisations and includes over 7,500 projects, that combined, represents over $204 billion in value.

The third component is the Infrastructure Priorities Programme or the IPP, which is a structured, independent review of unfunded infrastructure projects and problems.

I’m really excited about the Priorities Programme. The IPP is modelled off the Infrastructure Priority List in Australia, which has helped them build political consensus on an enduring pipeline of major projects – and that is what I want for New Zealand as well.

Proposals that pass the test will be identified as priorities for New Zealand. This does not guarantee funding – but it does provide decision makers with a menu of credible proposals which could inform investment decisions.

The fourth component of the National Infrastructure Plan is priority reforms, which will outline non-investment interventions to improve the way we select, invest in, deliver, and look after infrastructure.

To summarise, this Government and future governments can use the National Infrastructure Plan to create a legacy that we can all be proud of.

All political parties have been offered a briefing, and I am confident that the Plan will be a solid step towards bipartisanship for infrastructure.

The Plan will be provided to me and published in December 2025, and the Government will then respond to it in 2026.

Improving infrastructure funding and financing

Now, let’s talk about my third priority, Improving infrastructure funding and financing.

Public infrastructure in New Zealand has historically been primarily funded by taxpayers or ratepayers.

But our heavy reliance on this blunt approach is not serving New Zealand well and has led to perverse outcomes including congestion, run-down assets, and the unresponsive provision of enabling infrastructure – contributing to unaffordable housing.

Infrastructure Funding and Financing Framework

In December last year, Treasury released its new Funding and Financing Framework.

This Framework provides guidance to agencies that they should, in the first instance, seek user or beneficiary pays to fund new infrastructure projects rather than defaulting to taxpayer money.

I expect proposals from sectors such as transport, water, energy, housing, and adaptation to demonstrate how user or beneficiary pays can contribute towards funding requirements.

Greater utilisation of user-pays will provide greater opportunities for the private sector to participate in Crown’s investments.

We want to use the government’s Balance Sheet more strategically and apply good commercial disciplines when deciding how to financially support a proposal – essentially providing “just enough support” to make proposals feasible.

This will mean we can deliver more projects, and channel more support to sectors where it is appropriate for the Crown to be the primary funder, like in health and education.

This Framework sits alongside wider work we have done to broaden and enhance funding and financing tools available to the Crown and councils.

New funding and financing tools

Just two weeks ago, I announced five changes to New Zealand’s funding and financing toolkit for infrastructure – I won’t cover all of these.

But the most relevant to people here, is that we are enabling ‘beneficiary and development levies’ through the Infrastructure Funding and Financing (IFF) Act to be used for major transport projects, such as those delivered by the New Zealand Transport Authority.

The IFF Act allows the creation of a Special Purpose Vehicle to raise finance for projects, where the cost is repaid through a levy charged to properties that benefit from a project over a period of about 20 to 30 years – a common model overseas.

This change has the potential to kickstart our embrace of Transit Oriented Development and will unlock a new funding stream for city-shaping projects.

Refreshed Public Private Partnership (PPP) Policy

To match our more commercial Funding and Financing Framework, and enhanced toolkit – we also knew we would need to modernise the Crown’s policies and contracting models, particularly in the PPP space.

So, after extensive engagement, in November last year, we released a Blueprint to the market outlining how the government will approach future PPPs.

I am very pleased that Labour Spokesperson for Finance, Hon Barbara Edmonds, who is here for the summit, wrote a foreword for the document.

There are several key elements in the refreshed Blueprint for PPPs:

• A more practical approach to risk transfer
• Guidance for agencies on bid cost recognition
• Enhancing the Interactive Tender Process
• Allowing reasonable price validation to occur during the procurement process
• Improving the process for managing claims and dispute resolution, and
• Increasing the capability and resourcing of the Crown so that we can be a better client.

Our approach is to be smart about private capital and use it in a way that unlocks investment and brings more maturity to the design, build, and maintenance of projects.

The new PPP Blueprint sits alongside new Strategic Leasing Guidance, and Guideline for Market Led Proposals.

Improving the consenting framework

Now, let’s move onto my fourth priority, improving the consenting framework.

Currently, our consenting landscape is an incredibly expensive handbrake on growth.

New Zealand’s resource management system governs how we interact with the environment. And for many years, it has been considered broken.

It achieves the worst of both worlds: it stifles development and fails to protect the environment. In many ways, our currently planning system is one of the root causes of our infrastructure deficit.

So finally, we are taking action.

We are undertaking a large reform programme: banking some quick wins now so that some significant projects can benefit from a more enabling system immediately, as well as replacing the entire system, which we plan to have introduced to Parliament mid-this year.

Our new system will be effects based and embrace standardisation, meaning fewer and faster consents.

The driving force behind these reforms is practical enablement of development. It is absolutely possible and necessary to build the infrastructure New Zealand needs and protect the environment at the same time.

To get things moving in the meantime, last year we introduced the Fast-track Approvals Act – which officially opened last month.

This regime allows infrastructure with significant regional and national benefits to access a quicker and easier pathway to get approval to build.

It is a one-stop-shop to access approvals, resource consents, and permits across nine different Acts, all in the one process.

We expect the process to take as quick as six months, depending on the complexity of the project.

It is a game changer for economic growth, and interest has been high.

The Government listed 149 projects in the Act itself, fast-tracking them in the fast-track process. More projects can be referred into the process too.

These 149 projects represent up to 55,000 new homes; 180 kilometres of new road, rail, and public transport routes; three gigawatts in additional generation capacity; and multiple mining and aquaculture projects.

Alongside our Resource Management Act, the Public Works Act will also be overhauled – and I will talk a bit more about this during my Transport speech tomorrow.

Development opportunities in New Zealand are abundant – we just need to unlock them.

Improving education and health infrastructure

I won’t go into too much detail of my, fifth priority, improving education and health infrastructure.

My colleagues – the Minister for Education, Erica Stanford, and the Minister for Health, Simeon Brown, will speak to you later today on the great work they are doing in their respective areas.

I will just quickly say that this government is moving towards:

• More standardised, repeatable designs,
• More modular and staged builds, and
• More strategic procurement – including by using a panel of contractors and partners for large programmes or packages of work.

Strengthening asset management

My sixth, and final priority is strengthening asset management.

Last year, I was shocked to hear that New Zealand is ranked fourth to last in the OECD for asset management, and dead last for the metric on Accountability and Professionalism.

One of the biggest challenges facing New Zealand’s infrastructure is the cost and resources we need to repair and replace assets that are wearing out.

The Infrastructure Commission tells me that 60 cents of every dollar spent on infrastructure should be going towards asset maintenance and renewals.

I’m determined to improve asset management.

So, to drive change, shortly, I’ll be exploring options around long term capital planning, asset management plans, mandatory reporting on standardised metrics, upskilling opportunities, accountability for poor performance, minimum standards, and stronger regulatory scrutiny and monitoring for government agencies.

Everything is on the table.

Conclusion

Let me conclude by thanking you again for being here.

New Zealand is open for business, we are going for growth, and we are worth investing in – particularly in infrastructure.

If you can’t tell, I am passionate about getting the underlying system settings right.

Our Government’s vision for infrastructure is simple: Enable the provision of infrastructure that will get New Zealand ahead so that we can grow our economy, create jobs and opportunities, increase productivity, and raise the standard of living for all Kiwis.

As I said at the start, New Zealand has built some world-leading, innovative, and growth-enabling infrastructure.

We can thank past generations for their sustained investment in infrastructure.

I want to build on this legacy, and I want our grandchildren, and their grandchildren to thank us too.

I look forward to talking to many of you over the next two days about achieving New Zealand’s infrastructure vision.

Thank you.