Nick Leggett: Infrastructure New Zealand Chief Executive on the Infrastructure Commission's draft plan

New Zealand isn't good at maintaining its infrastructure.

The Infrastructure Commission's released a 30-year draft plan revealing its first look at how New Zealand needs to invest in our future builds and upgrades to roads, hospitals, and buildings.

Infrastructure New Zealand Chief Executive Nick Leggett told Ryan Bridge big parts of government don't have a record of what they own, and therefore no plan on how to maintain it. 

He says we're good at building things but not maintaining them.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're not getting bang for our buck when it comes
to spending on infrastructure. I mean, tell us something we
don't know. This is according to the Infrastructure Commission's first
draft for the first National Infrastructure Plan. It reckons we're
spending and the spending we are doing at the moment
puts US in the top ten percent of developed countries,
but what we're getting for it puts US in the

(00:21):
bottom ten percent. Nick Leggett is Infrastructure New Zealand CEO
with us this morning. Hey Nick, Hi, Ryan, are you
getting sick of hearing reports and list of things we
need to be doing? I mean, why don't we just
do something?

Speaker 2 (00:33):
I think that is a bloody good point, Brian. Look,
this is a good report. There's a lot in here
and what we've got to do is act on it,
as you say, because if plans and reports were the answer,
New Zealand would have solved all its problems. Right, we
have to as a as a nation, I think, grab

(00:53):
the ball by the horns. You know, we don't look
after what we've got and you know we will often
talk about infrastructure New Zealand infrastructure deficit. Not this report
plainly points out is that the majority of that deficit
is actually with the assets that we have that we
already own and that we don't look after, and we
don't invest in their maintenance and renewals. And you know,

(01:14):
I think New Zealanders know that because they fell in
roads and rail and water and schools and hospitals. The
plan also notes quite prominently that big parts of government
don't actually even have a record of what they own,
and therefore they don't have a plan about how they're
going to maintain it. So we build stuff, we're very

(01:36):
good at that, and then we don't fix up. And
then then then you go to the questions, well what
do you do about all this? To be conscious?

Speaker 1 (01:44):
Do we not build stuff?

Speaker 3 (01:45):
Then?

Speaker 1 (01:45):
I mean, do we just stick with what we've got
and fix it up?

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Well, that's a big there's a big part. That's a
big part of it. I think it's we're always onto
the next thing, right, which is not bad, but if
you want to get the best value out of what
you build, maintaining it is a good start. So we're
not good at that. And part of it is because
we just lack of focus and we move on to

(02:10):
the next thing. So we've got to change that and
we've got to get into asset management planning, which is
a term that obviously those people that do assets are
interested in. Most of us don't know what that means,
but it is about knowing what you own, investing in it,
and then putting the money aside and not spending the
money because it is what we do. We raid the

(02:30):
piggy bank every time something comes along it's more exciting,
and we spend it on that. We don't spend it
back on the assets that you often can't see. A
big part of what the country's got to do is
get beyond political cycles and build the system that supports infrastructure,
you know, planning it, making the decisions, sticking to the decision.

(02:52):
What we do very well is, you know, there's an election,
there's a change of government, and everything stops or gets canceled.
But the money that we spend on stuff that never
happens costs us dearly. You talk about that bottom we
get the bottom ten percent of value in the OECD.
A big part of it, not all of it, is
because we don't stick to things, and so we do

(03:12):
have to build more cross party support for the system
and the plan into the future. About what we've got
to stick.

Speaker 3 (03:19):
To that, and we've been saying honestly, like I appreciate
what you're saying and for you coming on the show,
but honestly, I feel like I've heard this a thousand times.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
You know, Yeah, but you know where the change A
thousand times?

Speaker 2 (03:34):
I know? But do you know? But Ryan, you know
where the change is. It's not with politicians, although they
do have to change. It's us as members of the
public citizens demanding that politicians behave differently and that we
build a proper system and we take a much more
long term view about what we own and what we
need to build and how we get how we get.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
There, Nick, appreciate your time this morning. Thank you for
coming on. Nick Leggett. Infrastructure New Zealand Chief Executive be Moore.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
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