Minister responds to our infrastructure advocacy

We were pleased to see that the Minister clearly understood the seriousness of the lack of work in the infrastructure sector and the impact this is having on our workforce.

In response, he has asked the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi to consider how to bring packages of projects to the market quicker.

The Minister has also said he will raise the issues we outlined with his Ministerial colleagues. Additionally, he will encourage councils to use their budgets to prioritise spending on renewals and maintenance.

He noted, officials were also being asked to provide advice on how government could better measure actual and forecast project spend against the pipeline. This is something we advocated for. Actively measuring project spend against the infrastructure pipeline will support better understanding of the flow of money into the sector.

We welcome the actions the Minister outlined in his response to us, along with Government’s future work programme investing in infrastructure. However, we know that change is needed now to retain the skills we need for the future.  We will continue to urge the Government to move quickly to get infrastructure works started and funding flowing.

We have an ongoing strategy to continue to drive the change we need to see in this space. This will include providing the government with insights from our members about their experiences on the ground. We will continue to keep you updated.