June 5, 2025 • 17 mins
It has been revealed that the Government considered using private company Bluebridge to replace the current Interislander fleet.
It’s just the latest in the saga that is the Cook Strait ferries, after years of negotiations, debate, and an axed contract.
But it’s hardly the first time we’ve had a major transport project face delays and changes.
All forms of transport are eyeing big investments, but how long before we actually get some movement?
Today on The Front Page, Newstalk ZB political reporter Azaria Howell is with us to dig into the politics behind the country’s transport networks.
Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.
Host: Chelsea Daniels
Sound Engineer/Producer: Richard Martin
Producer: Ethan Sills
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hilda.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page, a
daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
It's been revealed that the.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Government considered using private company Blue Bridge to replace the
current inter islander fleet. It's just the latest in the
saga that is the Cook Straight Ferries after years of negotiations, debate.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
And an axed contract.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
But it's hardly the first time we've had a major
transport project faced delays and changes. All forms of transporter
eyeing big investments. But how long before we actually get
some movement? Today on the Front Page, News Talk z
B political reporter Azaria Howell is with us to dig
into the politics behind the country's transport networks. So Azaria
(00:59):
reminds of the fairies saga.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Where are we at with it?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Yeah, So this is a long standing issue. This has
been going on for quite some time and it's likely
to go on for quite some time, meaning essentially through
till about the end of twenty twenty nine. That's when
we're going to see two new fairies be delivered. That's
what the new government is promising now. Documents from Treasury
(01:24):
show that the first fairy is proposed to come in
around February twenty twenty nine. The second around October twenty
twenty nine. Minister for Rail Winston Peters. He's recently been
crowned that new title. He has previously said we will
get new fairies before Christmas twenty twenty nine, so he
essentially took over responsibility of those fairies relatively recently. It
(01:47):
was a sort of a new portfolio for him that
was coming back, and it was essentially the previous government
had contracted to buy new megafairies. That project had to
be canceled due to numerous cost blowouts and essentially a
lot of concerns about the feasibility of a project like that.
(02:09):
There was also a few concerns about the port side
infrastructure cost as well. Specifically, so if we're getting bigger ships,
we need to sort of upgrade the places that they're
going to. So there was a big price tag with
that and the new government came in they were not happy.
I mean, they've been known as a government that has
been sort of trimming spending in certain areas to kind
of cut back and invest in what they call the
(02:31):
frontline and frontline services, and perhaps that's what we've seen
in terms of this as well.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Now, I believe that you've seen some documents around the
ideas floated about how to handle the cook Straight situation.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
What kind of ideas were thrown into the mix. Yeah,
so there's a lot of different options. It's worth saying
the government went to a market process for I think
about three and a half weeks. It kind of sounded
out the ideas of the market so shipbrokers and people
in that maritime sector as to what's next. And one
of the really interesting ones something that stood out to
(03:05):
me was the government considered contracting with Blue Bridge, which,
as you'll know, it's a private cook Straight ferry company
that essentially competes sort of with the inter Islander, which
is run by state owned enterprise Kiwi rou So the
government considered doing that essentially because the inter Islander fleet
is getting older. There there have been some very public
(03:26):
issues with those that you'll be aware of. Specifically, one
of the ships has lost power, another one running aground.
Major issues there, so that they're wanting to upgrade that infrastructure.
That how they'll actually go about doing that, it's not
one hundred percent certain, but they've kind of ticked it
down now to a shortlist of six shipbrokers and they'll
(03:49):
be looking at whether or not they can deliver value
for money, whether or not it will come in on time,
that Christmas twenty twenty nine date being essentially the final deadline,
or the preferred final deadline of the government there. It's
worth noting that they did not go with the blue
Bridge options, so it was more just an idea that
was being floated around. But it is interesting in the
(04:11):
Labor Party has thrown in quite a bit of criticism
on that as well, suggesting it it kind of makes
up for what could be privatization of that public cook
straight faery situation there, so there's been a little bit
of criticism about looking at that. There was also ideas
of a different commercial company to come in to compete
(04:32):
with blue Bridge. Treasury documents that I've seen say it
quote could be worth further consideration, but essentially they couldn't
do it because they had to get this business case
in by March twenty twenty five. And at the end
of March Winston Peters, who as I have said, as
the Minister for Rail, made this big announcement saying Christmas
twenty twenty nine, we will have these fairies in place.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Right, So you said that they're negotiating or checking out
at least six builders or p of these fairies.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
I mean, where do they hail from?
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Yeah, so there's been there's been previous confirmation from the
Minister's Office of expressions of interest from South Korea and Finland,
the former being really the fascinating one there. South Korea
was going to be where the shipyard was that was
going to build the original Mega ferries.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
The Irex contract.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Yes, that's the one. So the Mega Fairies, the one
that's been seen as really expensive by this government was
going to be contracted to South Korea. So it is
interesting that they're looking at that now. It's not one
hundred percent clear if that means that it's the same company.
I believe it was Hyundai. It's not one hundred percent
clear if that is who the South Korean shipyard is.
(05:46):
So I suppose there's a bit a bit that we'll
have to wait and see for that one. Yeah, Treasury
underwent a market process for three and a half weeks
to kind of get alternative ideas for what that ferry
service could look like. Now this Treasury report as well,
it's confirmed that Treasury mat with fifteen parties in terms
of the maritime sector and got twenty five written submissions
(06:08):
from people all around the sector in terms of infrastructure,
maritime and things like that.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
And the latest One News variant pole we asked do
you think the government made the right or wrong decision
to cancel the replacement cook straight fairies? Twenty six percent
say it was the right decision. Well, fifty one percent
say it was the wrong decision. The rest didn't know.
Speaker 5 (06:31):
Well, I think that the poll asks the wrong question
because the government is replacing the fairies. If you had
asked New Zealanders should we replace the feries in the
way that is the best value for money, I think
you'll find most would say yes.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Moving on to Budget twenty twenty five, it's saw some
big commitments when it comes to transport.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Hey, what were some of the highlights for you?
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Yeah, So Budget twenty twenty five has been labeled as
the growth budget. Now this is a really big one.
That's as the government as putting on a greater focus
on economic growth and boosting the economy, lifting productivity and
things like that. So there is quite a bit of
investment there in terms of repairing local roads that have
(07:18):
been damaged by the likes of storms as well. There's
been investment in railways in the Wellington areas in Auckland
as well. Obviously that comes as there's a lot of
chatter as there always has been about City rail Link,
which is a very interesting one and I suppose transport
is a really big key priority area in terms of
(07:39):
in terms of that government budget. I mean we're seeing
millions of dollars there, we're seeing big commitment. Obviously it
comes after like the Roads of National Significance project and
things like that, so there is quite a bit going
on it. It also comes with a couple of government
policies in that transport space that have created quite a
bit of interest. So there's been this idea of raising
(08:00):
speed limits to get people to and from work quicker
and what the government says will speed up productivity. So
it's important to note that that has been another big
key part of the transport policy.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Now it's been a few months since Chris Bishop took
over the role of Transport Minister. Has there been a
change in tone with him in charge compared to Simeon Brown. Yes.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
I think the interesting thing with that is when Simon
Brown took over as Minister of Health from Shane Aderti,
and he put quite a bit of changes in that
sort of health space, putting in a commissioner in health
as well. Now, transport I feel like has been a
bit less of a maybe a hot topic or an
urgent topic as much as health. So I feel like
(08:51):
the transition from Simeon Brown to Chris Bishop has kind
of seen more focus towards Brown as Health Minister rather
than Bishop as Transport minister. But Bishop has always been
known as a big transport guy. He's been the MP
for the electorate in Lower Hut for quite some time
on and off. I believe he lost that seat with
(09:13):
the Labor wave and then won it back. He's been
speaking about the likes of the Meling Interchange in rail
infrastructure in his electorate in the Hut Valley for quite
some time. So yeah, it's been interesting to see him
take over that role. But I feel like there has
been quite a bit more focus on how is Simeon
Brown doing as Health minister versus how is Chris Bishop
(09:34):
doing in that transport space. There's been quite a bit
of interesting commentary in Chris Bishop's role with raising the
speed limits that is kind of taking place now. They're
changing the street signs, they're sort of digging them up
and making it go from one hundred two one hundred
and ten. Announcing these things as well. So that's been
kind of the big thing recently for Minister Bishop and
(09:55):
I'm sure there's more to come in terms of the
transport space.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Is the tone from this government pretty much still roads, roads,
roads and more roads because Winston Peters did get some
major wins for rail in the budget, right.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Yeah, So as mentioned before, Winston Peters the Minister for Rail,
that's that's really been something he's been trying to push for.
It's it's been the case in that ferry space and
it's been the case outside of the ferries as well.
So Winston Peter's before the budget and you may have
actually you may be familiar with this because this was
an announcement in Wellington in which he made an announcement
(10:31):
at the Wellington train station and got a bit of
a heckle back and forth from hime Omber of the public.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
I think I may have seen something about that.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
So ship bollocks load of pollismo, like well, it's gone
up in a mini Suntie you.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Look like like Bollock's mate Sunjoint even.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Donald that you're a topd you in that both.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Yes, so so, so that was the announcement. But in
terms of the numbers was four hundred and sixty four
million dollar capital, one hundred and forty one million dollar
operating allowance for rail maintenance that was in Auckland and Wellington,
so those metro areas, those ceties for commuters and for
freight as well. So it was a major announcement. But
(11:16):
I think that day may have been overshadowed by Winston
Peter's telling someone to nap off and him saying things
that he said that probably can't be repeated.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
So that was probably for the best day, definitely.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
So Chris Bishop actually spoke to the Front Page late
last year about using tolls as an additional mechanism.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
To help pay for roads.
Speaker 6 (11:38):
We're looking at using tolls as an additional mechanism to
help pay for the roads because they provide the revenue
stream to help the financing of some of these roads,
and so we made a commitment to do that as
a coalition government. And many of the Islanders will be
familiar with toll roads overseas. We've got toile roads in
Zealand right now. I've got the Northern Gateway north of Auckland,
got top of toll roads around Toronto. They had plenty,
(11:59):
so they are they do it the New Zealand right now,
we're just saying we want to make more use of them.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Has any further work been done around introducing more toll roads.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Chris Bishop has said tolling concessions could deliver roads sooner,
So that is a big sort of key piece and
it kind of highlights where things are at the government
does want to get infrastructure delivered relatively quickly and it
has been looking at the idea. It's also Chris Bishop's
also been looking overseas in terms of places that have
(12:30):
toll roads and further concessions to see how it's working.
I believe he traveled to Australia looking at toll roads
there and just seeing how that actual financing and the
funding is working. And Chris Bishop says the benefits of
that for Sydney motorists have been huge. So it's been
slashing travel times, which, as we've mentioned with the speed limits,
(12:52):
has been a big focus of this government. So it's
not one hundred percent certain we will put toll roads
in this, I suppose, but they've they've been looking at
what might be a next option going forward. So they've
been looking at roads that are currently have have tolls
on them and might go up, and then roads that
(13:13):
are due to open the much awaited outucky to north
of Levin as locals call it O two NL, things
like that, they are looking at it and as they say,
they say tolling concessions could deliver infrastructure sooner. So I
feel like they could be trying to sell the idea
to members of the public that they're going to say,
you know, you might have to pay a little bit extra,
you'll get this flash new road rolled out, maybe even
(13:37):
years before it was meant to. So yeah, it could
be a could be want to keep an eye on.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
I mean, when he announced that he was going over
to Sydney and having a chat with those guys. I mean,
my best friend used to live in Sydney and the
tolling situations in Sydney is actually insane. So it's all
run privately by private companies. Each car has a little
thing in their car, so it doesn't get your red
jo it sees this little thing in your car. I
was there in his car taking photos of it. I
(14:03):
was that fascinated. But they have to navigate different routes
to work every day if you live in a specific area,
because you could people try and avoid them. People try
and avoid them because you could from home to work
depending on where you live. In Sydney, for example, you
could be running through three toll roads on the way
to work three backs. So some people are actually spending
(14:25):
so much money, especially in Sydney at least, I think
they've put in a cap because it was getting so bad.
People were spending like hundreds of dollars a week. It
was insane.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Yeah, well that's that's like definitely interesting. And I wonder
when the minister was in Australia if that kind of
issue was brought up. Hey, don't go too far with it,
you know, you might need to put on some restrictions
and some limits. Yeah, that's that's really interesting.
Speaker 6 (14:51):
Well.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
He also wrote a piece in The Herald that we
need more transit oriented development, with cities such as Auckland
seeing development clustered around mass transit. Given he is Infrastructure
and Housing Minister, is he basically in charge of sorting
out all areas of our lives now well I wouldn't
say all areas.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
We did have that health chat before, but definitely quite
a lot going on there in terms of the housing
space and how it works with infrastructure. Chris Bishop has
been a big fan of zoning, of sort of upscaling
developments and things like that that's been going on in
Wellington and he has been a big fan of it,
notably on x which used to be called Twitter. Chris
(15:32):
Bishop often comes to fight for housing developments and things
like that that are taking place that some residents might oppose,
essentially saying we need housing growth, we need to support
more infrastructure, more housing, sustainability, sustainable developments and things like that.
So it has been it has been quite a big
thing that he's been supporting. I also know city councils
(15:54):
are coming up with their own zoning plans and they're
sort of working with and having conversations about how that works.
I know Wellington had to sort that I want to
say last year, maybe late the year before. So there
are lots of questions in terms of how much can
you upzone by a train station and things like that.
There are questions that need to be answered, but it
(16:15):
does seem like we could be in for more zoning,
bigger housing developments and things like that.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Thanks for joining us, Azariah.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Thanks so much, it's been great.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
That's it for this episode of the Front Page. You
can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage
at enzdherld dot co dot nz. The Front Page is
produced by Ethan Sills and Richard Martin, who is also
our sound engineer. I'm Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to the Front
Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts, and
(16:50):
tune in on Monday for another look behind the headlines.
Hilda.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page, a
daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
It's been revealed that the.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Government considered using private company Blue Bridge to replace the
current inter islander fleet. It's just the latest in the
saga that is the Cook Straight Ferries after years of negotiations, debate.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
And an axed contract.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
But it's hardly the first time we've had a major
transport project faced delays and changes. All forms of transporter
eyeing big investments. But how long before we actually get
some movement? Today on the Front Page, News Talk z
B political reporter Azaria Howell is with us to dig
into the politics behind the country's transport networks. So Azaria
(00:59):
reminds of the fairies saga.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Where are we at with it?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Yeah, So this is a long standing issue. This has
been going on for quite some time and it's likely
to go on for quite some time, meaning essentially through
till about the end of twenty twenty nine. That's when
we're going to see two new fairies be delivered. That's
what the new government is promising now. Documents from Treasury
(01:24):
show that the first fairy is proposed to come in
around February twenty twenty nine. The second around October twenty
twenty nine. Minister for Rail Winston Peters. He's recently been
crowned that new title. He has previously said we will
get new fairies before Christmas twenty twenty nine, so he
essentially took over responsibility of those fairies relatively recently. It
(01:47):
was a sort of a new portfolio for him that
was coming back, and it was essentially the previous government
had contracted to buy new megafairies. That project had to
be canceled due to numerous cost blowouts and essentially a
lot of concerns about the feasibility of a project like that.
(02:09):
There was also a few concerns about the port side
infrastructure cost as well. Specifically, so if we're getting bigger ships,
we need to sort of upgrade the places that they're
going to. So there was a big price tag with
that and the new government came in they were not happy.
I mean, they've been known as a government that has
been sort of trimming spending in certain areas to kind
of cut back and invest in what they call the
(02:31):
frontline and frontline services, and perhaps that's what we've seen
in terms of this as well.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Now, I believe that you've seen some documents around the
ideas floated about how to handle the cook Straight situation.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
What kind of ideas were thrown into the mix. Yeah,
so there's a lot of different options. It's worth saying
the government went to a market process for I think
about three and a half weeks. It kind of sounded
out the ideas of the market so shipbrokers and people
in that maritime sector as to what's next. And one
of the really interesting ones something that stood out to
(03:05):
me was the government considered contracting with Blue Bridge, which,
as you'll know, it's a private cook Straight ferry company
that essentially competes sort of with the inter Islander, which
is run by state owned enterprise Kiwi rou So the
government considered doing that essentially because the inter Islander fleet
is getting older. There there have been some very public
(03:26):
issues with those that you'll be aware of. Specifically, one
of the ships has lost power, another one running aground.
Major issues there, so that they're wanting to upgrade that infrastructure.
That how they'll actually go about doing that, it's not
one hundred percent certain, but they've kind of ticked it
down now to a shortlist of six shipbrokers and they'll
(03:49):
be looking at whether or not they can deliver value
for money, whether or not it will come in on time,
that Christmas twenty twenty nine date being essentially the final deadline,
or the preferred final deadline of the government there. It's
worth noting that they did not go with the blue
Bridge options, so it was more just an idea that
was being floated around. But it is interesting in the
(04:11):
Labor Party has thrown in quite a bit of criticism
on that as well, suggesting it it kind of makes
up for what could be privatization of that public cook
straight faery situation there, so there's been a little bit
of criticism about looking at that. There was also ideas
of a different commercial company to come in to compete
(04:32):
with blue Bridge. Treasury documents that I've seen say it
quote could be worth further consideration, but essentially they couldn't
do it because they had to get this business case
in by March twenty twenty five. And at the end
of March Winston Peters, who as I have said, as
the Minister for Rail, made this big announcement saying Christmas
twenty twenty nine, we will have these fairies in place.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Right, So you said that they're negotiating or checking out
at least six builders or p of these fairies.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
I mean, where do they hail from?
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Yeah, so there's been there's been previous confirmation from the
Minister's Office of expressions of interest from South Korea and Finland,
the former being really the fascinating one there. South Korea
was going to be where the shipyard was that was
going to build the original Mega ferries.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
The Irex contract.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Yes, that's the one. So the Mega Fairies, the one
that's been seen as really expensive by this government was
going to be contracted to South Korea. So it is
interesting that they're looking at that now. It's not one
hundred percent clear if that means that it's the same company.
I believe it was Hyundai. It's not one hundred percent
clear if that is who the South Korean shipyard is.
(05:46):
So I suppose there's a bit a bit that we'll
have to wait and see for that one. Yeah, Treasury
underwent a market process for three and a half weeks
to kind of get alternative ideas for what that ferry
service could look like. Now this Treasury report as well,
it's confirmed that Treasury mat with fifteen parties in terms
of the maritime sector and got twenty five written submissions
(06:08):
from people all around the sector in terms of infrastructure,
maritime and things like that.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
And the latest One News variant pole we asked do
you think the government made the right or wrong decision
to cancel the replacement cook straight fairies? Twenty six percent
say it was the right decision. Well, fifty one percent
say it was the wrong decision. The rest didn't know.
Speaker 5 (06:31):
Well, I think that the poll asks the wrong question
because the government is replacing the fairies. If you had
asked New Zealanders should we replace the feries in the
way that is the best value for money, I think
you'll find most would say yes.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Moving on to Budget twenty twenty five, it's saw some
big commitments when it comes to transport.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Hey, what were some of the highlights for you?
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Yeah, So Budget twenty twenty five has been labeled as
the growth budget. Now this is a really big one.
That's as the government as putting on a greater focus
on economic growth and boosting the economy, lifting productivity and
things like that. So there is quite a bit of
investment there in terms of repairing local roads that have
(07:18):
been damaged by the likes of storms as well. There's
been investment in railways in the Wellington areas in Auckland
as well. Obviously that comes as there's a lot of
chatter as there always has been about City rail Link,
which is a very interesting one and I suppose transport
is a really big key priority area in terms of
(07:39):
in terms of that government budget. I mean we're seeing
millions of dollars there, we're seeing big commitment. Obviously it
comes after like the Roads of National Significance project and
things like that, so there is quite a bit going
on it. It also comes with a couple of government
policies in that transport space that have created quite a
bit of interest. So there's been this idea of raising
(08:00):
speed limits to get people to and from work quicker
and what the government says will speed up productivity. So
it's important to note that that has been another big
key part of the transport policy.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Now it's been a few months since Chris Bishop took
over the role of Transport Minister. Has there been a
change in tone with him in charge compared to Simeon Brown. Yes.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
I think the interesting thing with that is when Simon
Brown took over as Minister of Health from Shane Aderti,
and he put quite a bit of changes in that
sort of health space, putting in a commissioner in health
as well. Now, transport I feel like has been a
bit less of a maybe a hot topic or an
urgent topic as much as health. So I feel like
(08:51):
the transition from Simeon Brown to Chris Bishop has kind
of seen more focus towards Brown as Health Minister rather
than Bishop as Transport minister. But Bishop has always been
known as a big transport guy. He's been the MP
for the electorate in Lower Hut for quite some time
on and off. I believe he lost that seat with
(09:13):
the Labor wave and then won it back. He's been
speaking about the likes of the Meling Interchange in rail
infrastructure in his electorate in the Hut Valley for quite
some time. So yeah, it's been interesting to see him
take over that role. But I feel like there has
been quite a bit more focus on how is Simeon
Brown doing as Health minister versus how is Chris Bishop
(09:34):
doing in that transport space. There's been quite a bit
of interesting commentary in Chris Bishop's role with raising the
speed limits that is kind of taking place now. They're
changing the street signs, they're sort of digging them up
and making it go from one hundred two one hundred
and ten. Announcing these things as well. So that's been
kind of the big thing recently for Minister Bishop and
(09:55):
I'm sure there's more to come in terms of the
transport space.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Is the tone from this government pretty much still roads, roads,
roads and more roads because Winston Peters did get some
major wins for rail in the budget, right.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Yeah, So as mentioned before, Winston Peters the Minister for Rail,
that's that's really been something he's been trying to push for.
It's it's been the case in that ferry space and
it's been the case outside of the ferries as well.
So Winston Peter's before the budget and you may have
actually you may be familiar with this because this was
an announcement in Wellington in which he made an announcement
(10:31):
at the Wellington train station and got a bit of
a heckle back and forth from hime Omber of the public.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
I think I may have seen something about that.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
So ship bollocks load of pollismo, like well, it's gone
up in a mini Suntie you.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Look like like Bollock's mate Sunjoint even.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Donald that you're a topd you in that both.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Yes, so so, so that was the announcement. But in
terms of the numbers was four hundred and sixty four
million dollar capital, one hundred and forty one million dollar
operating allowance for rail maintenance that was in Auckland and Wellington,
so those metro areas, those ceties for commuters and for
freight as well. So it was a major announcement. But
(11:16):
I think that day may have been overshadowed by Winston
Peter's telling someone to nap off and him saying things
that he said that probably can't be repeated.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
So that was probably for the best day, definitely.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
So Chris Bishop actually spoke to the Front Page late
last year about using tolls as an additional mechanism.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
To help pay for roads.
Speaker 6 (11:38):
We're looking at using tolls as an additional mechanism to
help pay for the roads because they provide the revenue
stream to help the financing of some of these roads,
and so we made a commitment to do that as
a coalition government. And many of the Islanders will be
familiar with toll roads overseas. We've got toile roads in
Zealand right now. I've got the Northern Gateway north of Auckland,
got top of toll roads around Toronto. They had plenty,
(11:59):
so they are they do it the New Zealand right now,
we're just saying we want to make more use of them.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Has any further work been done around introducing more toll roads.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Chris Bishop has said tolling concessions could deliver roads sooner,
So that is a big sort of key piece and
it kind of highlights where things are at the government
does want to get infrastructure delivered relatively quickly and it
has been looking at the idea. It's also Chris Bishop's
also been looking overseas in terms of places that have
(12:30):
toll roads and further concessions to see how it's working.
I believe he traveled to Australia looking at toll roads
there and just seeing how that actual financing and the
funding is working. And Chris Bishop says the benefits of
that for Sydney motorists have been huge. So it's been
slashing travel times, which, as we've mentioned with the speed limits,
(12:52):
has been a big focus of this government. So it's
not one hundred percent certain we will put toll roads
in this, I suppose, but they've they've been looking at
what might be a next option going forward. So they've
been looking at roads that are currently have have tolls
on them and might go up, and then roads that
(13:13):
are due to open the much awaited outucky to north
of Levin as locals call it O two NL, things
like that, they are looking at it and as they say,
they say tolling concessions could deliver infrastructure sooner. So I
feel like they could be trying to sell the idea
to members of the public that they're going to say,
you know, you might have to pay a little bit extra,
you'll get this flash new road rolled out, maybe even
(13:37):
years before it was meant to. So yeah, it could
be a could be want to keep an eye on.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
I mean, when he announced that he was going over
to Sydney and having a chat with those guys. I mean,
my best friend used to live in Sydney and the
tolling situations in Sydney is actually insane. So it's all
run privately by private companies. Each car has a little
thing in their car, so it doesn't get your red
jo it sees this little thing in your car. I
was there in his car taking photos of it. I
(14:03):
was that fascinated. But they have to navigate different routes
to work every day if you live in a specific area,
because you could people try and avoid them. People try
and avoid them because you could from home to work
depending on where you live. In Sydney, for example, you
could be running through three toll roads on the way
to work three backs. So some people are actually spending
(14:25):
so much money, especially in Sydney at least, I think
they've put in a cap because it was getting so bad.
People were spending like hundreds of dollars a week. It
was insane.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Yeah, well that's that's like definitely interesting. And I wonder
when the minister was in Australia if that kind of
issue was brought up. Hey, don't go too far with it,
you know, you might need to put on some restrictions
and some limits. Yeah, that's that's really interesting.
Speaker 6 (14:51):
Well.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
He also wrote a piece in The Herald that we
need more transit oriented development, with cities such as Auckland
seeing development clustered around mass transit. Given he is Infrastructure
and Housing Minister, is he basically in charge of sorting
out all areas of our lives now well I wouldn't
say all areas.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
We did have that health chat before, but definitely quite
a lot going on there in terms of the housing
space and how it works with infrastructure. Chris Bishop has
been a big fan of zoning, of sort of upscaling
developments and things like that that's been going on in
Wellington and he has been a big fan of it,
notably on x which used to be called Twitter. Chris
(15:32):
Bishop often comes to fight for housing developments and things
like that that are taking place that some residents might oppose,
essentially saying we need housing growth, we need to support
more infrastructure, more housing, sustainability, sustainable developments and things like that.
So it has been it has been quite a big
thing that he's been supporting. I also know city councils
(15:54):
are coming up with their own zoning plans and they're
sort of working with and having conversations about how that works.
I know Wellington had to sort that I want to
say last year, maybe late the year before. So there
are lots of questions in terms of how much can
you upzone by a train station and things like that.
There are questions that need to be answered, but it
(16:15):
does seem like we could be in for more zoning,
bigger housing developments and things like that.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Thanks for joining us, Azariah.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Thanks so much, it's been great.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
That's it for this episode of the Front Page. You
can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage
at enzdherld dot co dot nz. The Front Page is
produced by Ethan Sills and Richard Martin, who is also
our sound engineer. I'm Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to the Front
Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts, and
(16:50):
tune in on Monday for another look behind the headlines.
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