Act policy for Highways NZ

The Act party says it will establish a new state-owned enterprise (SOE) called Highways NZ to own and operate the country’s state-highway network.

The proposal was outlined by Simon Court, Act’s transport spokesman, at an event in parliament’s grand hall on May 9. 

He explained the SOE will be incentivised to deliver projects promptly and affordably while also being easy to maintain.

Act’s policy paper sets out how replacing road taxes with road pricing would provide sustainable funding for road building and operations, cut congestion and save lives.

Court, pictured, said Highways NZ would be regulated by the Commerce Commission in a similar way how Chorus and Transpower are currently.

Part of Act’s policy will be to hold officials to account for their work “because any cost over-runs, delays or loss of availability would affect executive compensation”, he added. “That’s right, the roading managers would have their pay docked if the roads aren’t up to scratch.

“Road pricing would pay for policing and ACC. Road owners, Highways NZ and local councils would be subject to fines from a re-established LTSA [Land Transport Safety Authority] for any loss of life or serious injury on their roads. That’s taking safety seriously.”

Structural reform was needed to return discipline and efficiency to decision-making around infrastructure, Court emphasised.

“We have seen how bad policy led to the road network being run down through a penny-pinching approach to road maintenance under successive governments – the symptoms being potholes everywhere and damaged vehicles. 

“Let’s be clear. The government’s roads shouldn’t be wrecking steering suspension and windscreens. Kiwi drivers can do that without government assistance, right?

“Large-scale roading projects intended to relieve congestion and save lives [have been] put on hold or cancelled altogether only to be resurrected when it became clear they were necessary all along.”

In this space, Court highlighted – as examples – the SH2 Takitimu North Link in the Bay of Plenty and Penlink. The aim of the latter is to create a more direct and quicker route between the Whangaparaoa peninsula and central Auckland. It has now been “resurrected but with half the capacity and at twice the price”.

“But still for anyone doing business around south-east Auckland, there’s still no east-west link, and no chance of extending the expressway south of Hamilton or north of Warkworth under this current government.

“New Zealand spends its infrastructure budget poorly compared to other similar countries. Projects are announced and cancelled by successive governments. Road users and society as a whole suffer from lost economic opportunity, crimped productivity, and unnecessary deaths and injuries.

‘High-quality paper’

Court spoke about Act’s paper on establishing Highways NZ and policies on our roading infrastructure at an event hosted by the Motor Trade Association (MTA) in Wellington on May 9.

It saw the launch of the association’s call to action to the next government. It’s a 44-page document titled “Driving New Zealand forward – future proofing the automotive industry”.

The publication has been praised by Court, who said: “It is wonderful to see the story told by the MTA in the Driving NZ forward paper about the importance of the motor industry for New Zealand past present and – most importantly – in the future. 

“This is a high-quality paper worthy of any think tank and the MTA and its members should be proud of this. It reinforces the importance of the industry to the economy, to the transportation network, to connecting communities to work and opportunity.

“High-quality information like this produces the best public policy. Probably for this industry and New Zealand as whole, good policy making has been lacking in New Zealand for quite a while now.

“Despite what environmental activists have been claiming since the 1970s – that too many vehicles will destroy the planet and we will run out of energy to run them – it turns out people who work in the motor industry can solve these problems.

“Act is happy to collaborate with the MTA on policy proposals in Driving NZ Forward. There is much work to do and it’s my pleasure to work on your behalf for better public policy.”