Chris Bishop: Transport Minister on the investment into New Zealand's rail network

The Transport Minister says maintenance to keep the country's railways working is long overdue. 

Chris Bishop, alongside Rail Minister Winston Peters, announced $461 million for the rail freight network, and an additional $143 million for Auckland and Wellington's metropolitan trains. 

It's ahead of this week's Budget announcement. 

Bishop told Mike Hosking more will be needed in the future to keep Auckland and Wellington's trains running. 

He says successive governments have neglected rail maintenance. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
More money for rail. This is the budget six hundred
million dollars plus for upgrades and new infrastructure. For sixty
one for freight that transports thirteen percent of our national freight,
So for sixty one out of the six hundred for
that one hundred and forty three million for the metro
networks in Wellington and Auckland's a lot of money, isn't it.
Transport Minister Chris Bishop with us morning, Good morning. Six

(00:20):
hundred million dollars. Where on earth are you guys finding
all this?

Speaker 2 (00:26):
It's from the capital allowance. It's money for overdue renewals
in Auckland and Wellington, upgrading the reliability of the metropolitan
rail network very important, and also investment into rail around
the country for the freight network as well. So it's
all from the capital allowance for the most part, and
it's an important thing to do.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
So it's money you've already got that hasn't been spent.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
We allocate a capital amount of money and every budget
it's called the capital allowance and we draw it down
and obviously that's capital's but lumpy, so you allocate things
in previous years and the money actually spent in future years.
But it's such you're counting.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
But yes, so you've already announced this money, so you're
re announcing the same money.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
No, no, no, no, no, this is new money that's
comes out of this year's capital allowance. I'm just simply
making the point that sometimes things get allocated and the
money get spent later on. But this is new money
in this budget.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Okay, good, So we're not borrowing. My increasing concern around
all these announcements as regards the budget as somebody's borrowing money.
Tell me you're not borrowing yet more money.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
Well, the government is borrowing now.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
I know that, but more on what we already know
about this is my concern. All of the announcements you
guys have made so far equate to billions of dollars. Now,
either you've found fantastic savings, brilliant, well done, congratulations, or
you're borrowing more.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
We are borrowing, but we are. We are delivering significant
savings in the budget that you'll see on Thursday, and
you'll see a pathway back to fiscal sustainability. But it's
not going to happen immediately, and it won't happen overnight.
The books that were left us by life, where are
complete shambles and you can't do everything well at the
same time. So we are mapping out a pathway back

(02:06):
to fiscal reality.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
Good. I'm glad to hear that part, and we agree
with you on labor. But my concern is, given the
position we have currently in debt, we can't afford to
borrow more. Andy, you're telling me we're borrowing even more
than we already are.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
Well, we are going to continue to borrow in the budget.
You'll see the numbers and the forecast around debt to
GDP on Thursday. I'm not going to get ahead of them.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Are they worse than what I would understand them to
currently be.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Well, we have an issue with debt in this country
in the sense that labor blew the box by one
hundred and twenty billion bucks, and we've got to get
the debt to GDP level under control. Yes, but we
can't do that in one budget. That's going to take time.
But you'll see the plan on Thursday to get that
under control.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Yeah. I just don't want to getting worse in the meantime,
is what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Letter do why, And that's why we've got to go
for growth. Mike and that's why. That's why all the
things that the government's doing in the budget and around
RMA and fast track and you know, building a construction
set to all of those things are really important to
go for growth.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
Okay, four hundred and sixty one million dollars, how much
of a patch up job is that versus what if
you had all the money in the world, would it
be a billion dollars or are you patching the whole
lot up with four sixty one?

Speaker 2 (03:15):
Oh no, Look, we've got significant rail investment required, particularly
metropolitan network in the future years. So this provides two
more years of funding for the Metrookland and well into
metro networks. But to be honest, we are you know,
there's a significant funding investment required in the future years
to keep the lights on on those networks because successive governments,

(03:36):
this is unfortunate. Successive governments have neglected the basics and
the maintenance on the network and so there's an enormous
amount of renewal required and we're now having to grapple
with that problem. It's like many things this government is
dealing with. We've inherited it, we don't like it, but
we're just going to get on with it and deal
with it.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
All right, appreciate it. Chris Bishop, who's the Transport minister?
Do you share my same interest? I mean it's all
going to be unveiled on throughday obviously, but are you
bothered at all by the prospect of even more money?
Now it's important to differentiate and I'll come back to
his What I would argue is potential obfuscation around some
pretty simple questions around debt. There is no question this

(04:16):
government borrows money, and that's because we're running still a
deficit each and every year. We spend more than we make.
So we get that the numbers are out there, we
understand the position that we're in. What I do not
want to see on Thursday is that borrowing and some
and that's the critical part of this. Now I may
be alone with this. Maybe we're all so far down

(04:37):
the sinkhole nobody cares anymore, and we can borrow till
we're blue in the face. For more from the Mic
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