Where are we, and what now?

Last month I had the opportunity to travel in Europe and tick a few things off my bucket list. As a lifelong classic car enthusiast, there were a few must-do’s, the VW Bus festival in Hanover, the Le Mans Summer Classics, the Spa Summer Classic, and the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

It was interesting to see the development of fossil-free automotive fuels being used in classic and modern race cars at those events, and at Goodwood there was a display of around 25 makes and models of the newest EVs from affordable to stratospheric, both in price and performance.

In between I visited friends in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, and two fabulous museums, the magnificent Autoworld in Brussels, and Brooklands in the UK. I even climbed up to the top of the famous (and incredibly steep) banking.

In these days when countries struggle to afford or satisfactorily build infrastructure projects, it’s sobering to realise that the Brooklands circuit opened in 1907, was entirely built by hand, with hundreds of labourers, in less than a year!

It seems crazy that with all the advances in technology, today’s contractors often aren’t able to design and build infrastructure projects that are trouble free and affordable.

Perhaps one of the real issues is the demise of the Ministry of Works.

Yes, seriously!

If we look back at the projects designed, supervised and even directly built by Government agencies like the NZED, the MoW etc, almost all have proved reliable, durable and most were built within their projected cost boundaries.

There was a cohort of welltrained engineers to oversee construction and to advise the policymakers and ministers about the risks of ill-thought-through proposals.

Maybe that’s the clue as to why things have gone pear shaped in terms of roading over the last decade or more. Who would have advised the then Government that it was a bright idea to reduce roading maintenance funding, while at the same time enormously increasing the truck loadings on roads, by massive increases in truck weights (now greater than the trucks in Europe and the UK).

The big increase in truck movements, (partly due to a lack of investment in rail) has had a huge detrimental effect.

Playing catch-up

You’d have to feel sorry for recent Ministers trying to turn all this around, playing catch-up, even though billions more dollars have been poured into roading and all infrastructure areas.

We are not alone in these problems.

Friends in Britain and Europe are also concerned about the state of their road (and rail) infrastructure and campaigns on potholes seem to be universal!

Some major cities worldwide have declared huge insolvency problems due to aging and inadequate infrastructure, particularly now with the added effects of global climate change being clearly seen.

The challenge for Governments, both local and central, is how to plan for, and afford, not only the demands of increasing populations, but also the substantial restructure of thinking needed to address the growing concerns about providing for climate change.

How do we change lifelong habits? How do we encourage people to walk, bike or bus (tram or train if you have them) rather than hop in the car, as we’ve always done. For some it’s harder, those living and working in the country, or working at odd hours where public transport doesn’t go. As always, one size doesn’t fit all. Think about it though, the world’s long-term biggest-selling vehicle is a massive ute.

What now?

This is my last column before the election and I’ve been asked to speculate on what will happen. It’s not easy this time, even though I’ve been a former MP and a keen observer for most of my life.

No Government since WW2 has had to cope with so much in so few years; the mosque murders, the White Island tragedy, Covid-19 and the resulting financial crisis, the dramatic onset of climate change and no doubt a whole pile of things that aren’t top of mind right now. If the decision is based on policies and performance, by any international measure, the current Government has done a remarkable job.

At home, sometimes we are too close to “see the wood for the trees” and often we’ve seen New Zealanders swayed by unsustainable promises. Kiwis love a bargain. Some are taken in by glib speeches about efficiencies, “waste” and of course the usual “law and order” stuff. Always follow a good stirring speech with the question “Exactly, precisely, how will that be paid for?” We’re not hearing much in the way of specifics from any of the challengers, so shouldn’t that be a cause for concern? Remember Muldoon, he was going to fund superannuation by “efficiently running the economy” and did that work out? The current Government is showing signs of stress - given the last few years, that’s hardly any surprise. However, a week is a long time in politics…

Something to remember, it’s those who don’t get out to vote that change Governments. One last point to remember, at this stage in 2005 the Helen Clark Government was given no chance by the media, yet she remained PM until 2008.

I think it will still be a close race. The only certainty is what Mike Moore once said. “The voters are right, even when they’re bloody wrong.”