Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Are the days of building big roads really over?

Yeah, I don't know what to make of Shane Jones's prediction last night that the days of building big roads are over. He was at this infrastructure debate in Wellington and he said, and I quote, I personally don't see ever another four-lane highway being built in New Zealand in my lifetime. The politicians are going to struggle to justify the cost.  

Now he can't be right. because Mill Road is supposed to be 4 lanes. Mill Road is incredibly necessary. This is the road that runs south of Auckland, basically runs parallel with the motorway. It's crucial to getting commuters in and out of the city if we want to help them get in and out of the city faster, especially given how much development is currently going on in the Franklin District and Pairata and Drury south of Auckland.  

That road is supposed to be being built right now. If he is right that no four-lane highways will be built in his lifetime, and he's about 66, I give him another 25 years or so, right? If he's right that no other four-lane highways are gonna be built in the next 25 years or so, it means we're gonna be disappointed, yet again, by Mill Road, like all the other roads of national significance, being downgraded into two lanes, which basically means one lane headed north, one lane heading south. Either that or it's not gonna be built at all.  

Four-lane highways, by the way, are not flash, They're not extravagant. We should be able to afford them. The fact that we have another politician who was supposed to be all about supporting infrastructure, giving up on roads again, says clearer than ever that we have a problem here. And the problem is not that four-lane highways are unaffordable, it's that we are spending too much money in the wrong places if we can't afford them.  

We spend way too much. I don't know if you realize this, we spend way too much on entitlements. Just giving money to beneficiaries, giving money to pensioners, giving childcare who are on 1/4 of $1,000,000 a year, giving money to rich pensioners who can heat up their houses and they just use it to run their spa pools over winter.  

We do not spend enough money on infrastructure. We don't need to give up on four lane highways like Shane Jones has. We just need to stop wasting the money that we should be spending on four lane highways. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ever do for sea out. Yeah. I don't know what
to make of Shane Jones's prediction last night that the
days of building big roads are over. He was at
this infrastructure debate in Wellington and he said, and I quote,
I personally don't see ever another four lane highway being
built in New Zealand in my lifetime. The politicians are
going to struggle to justify the cost. Now. He can't
be right because Mill Road is supposed to be four lanes.

(00:22):
Mill Road is incredibly necessary. This is the road that
runs south of Auckland, basically runs parallel with the motorway.
It's crucial to getting commuters in and out of the
city if we want to help them get in and
out of the city faster, especially given how much development
is currently going on in the Franklin district and Pietata
and Dreary south of Auckland, that road is supposed to
be being built right now. If he is right that

(00:43):
no four lane highways will be built in his lifetime,
and I give him another he's about sixty six. I
give him another twenty five years or so. Right. If
he's right that no other four lane highways are going
to be built in the next twenty five years or so.
It means we're going to be disappointed yet again by
Mill Road, like all all the other roads of national significance,
being downgraded into two lanes, which basically means one lane

(01:04):
headed north, one lane heading south. Either that or it's
not going to be built at all. Four lane highways,
by the way, are not flash ah, They're not extravagant.
We should be able to afford them. The fact that
we have another politician who was supposed to be all
about supporting infrastructure giving up on roads again says clearer
than ever that we have a problem here. And the
problem is not that four lane highways are unaffordable. It's

(01:27):
that we are spending too much money in the wrong
places if we can't afford them. We spend way too much.
I don't know if you realize this. We spend way
too much on entitlements, just giving money to beneficiaries, giving
money to pensioners, giving childcare money to families who are
on a quarter of a million dollars a year, giving
money to rich pensioners who can heat up their houses
and they just use it to run their sparpools over winter.

(01:47):
We do not spend enough money on infrastructure. We don't
need to give up on four lane highways like Shane
Jones has. We just need to stop wasting the money
that we should be spending on four lane highways. For
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