The IPSOS Global Infrastructure Index for 2024 reports that only 27% of New Zealanders are fairly or very satisfied with the nation’s infrastructure. However, only 17% consider we have a strong record of delivering infrastructure, putting us dead last with Hungary.

Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, stated that “everyone’s far too familiar with bursting water pipes and pot-holed roads, so these results come as no surprise. Central government has been distracted from the core investment that is vital to productivity and growth.”

“Chuck in a local government sector which can’t stop wasting resources on ‘nice-to-haves’ and the crisis only gets worse. Cost-control is just not in their lexicon, and where better sums that up than Wellington’s bike rack and town hall blowouts whilst half the CBD is submerged in sewage.”

“It’s no wonder we’re approaching the bottom 10% of OECD countries for the ‘bang for buck’ we get from infrastructure investment. Chucking more and more of the taxpayer’s money down the drain and hoping that fixes our infrastructure problems hasn’t worked.”

“There needs to be an urgent national conversation on developing metrics to measure the efficiency of infrastructure spending at both the local and national level. Without developing these, taxpayers and ratepayers will never know if their money is being well spent. You cannot manage what you do not measure.”

NOTES:

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is an independent and membership-driven activist group, dedicated to being the voice for Kiwi taxpayers in the corridors of power. Its mission, lower taxes, less waste, more accountability, is supported by 200,000 subscribed members and supporters.

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