Rolling maul of infrastructure rolls forward

“Today’s fast tracked list of public projects reflects the Government grabbing some low hanging fruit,” says Philip York, Federated Farmers economics and commerce spokesperson.

Federated Farmers is now looking forward to projects that the Government is planning to announce over the forthcoming months. The Federation wants the productive side of the economy to receive the tools it needs to export more. The Federation, over the last few months, has stressed the need to improve water storage, rural broadband and the quality of rural roads. It feels that in addition to reform of the RMA and other legislation, this would lift export productivity and help generate jobs.

“We are pleased to see the transport projects being fast tracked will remove some obvious bottlenecks. This not only benefits motorists but also the distribution and transport industry rural New Zealand depends upon to get goods to market. Crucially, the sums involved are modest in the scheme of Government spending.

“Spending on education is always welcome. Yet, we ask, what consideration is being given to where these young people will go after they complete their education? We need to look at how we are preparing our children for a competitive global economy based on the export of goods. Given agriculture contributes 65 percent of everything we export, it is time to promote agricultural careers given that farm workers earn on average $2,000 a year more than non-farm workers.

“If we have a suggestion to make to the Government it is in the area of animal identification. This is currently chewing through $2 million a year. Given it will cost tens of millions to implement with little apparent immediate benefit, the Government would be better off investing in border security or indeed, rural infrastructure,” Mr York concluded.