It’s budget day and while we wait to find out what the government may or may not fund, we were asked by The Post for some policy ideas we’d like to see or not see in the budget in less than 200 words. Here’s what we provided:
More transport funding should be devolved to local government, especially Auckland, and immediately directed towards improving access, safety and transport choices.
For starters: immediately reset the “Roads of National Significance” programme. Stop pouring billions away on overscoped four-lane mega-highways like Warkworth to Te Hana (a $4b folly) and other zombie projects lurching towards us. Instead, invest in what’s nationally necessary: heaps of nimble, normal-sized safety and resilience improvements, like 2+1 roads, bypasses of towns, median barriers, safer intersections.
Skip the LNG terminal. Instead, empower New Zealanders by electrifying homes and businesses with subsidies for distributed solar and batteries. Invest in electric transport: buses, ferries, EVs and e-bikes.
Build the basics and give people fossil-fuel-free ways to get around. Deliver reliable world-class public transport for the 80% of us who live in cities: a bus or train every 10 minutes, all day, every route. Fast-track Auckland’s Northwest busway and other rapid transit like Dominion Rd light rail. Rapidly roll out full bike networks in every city for all-ages access. Revive intercity rail.
Lastly, don’t sink billions into costly car tunnels under the Waitematā! Get cracking on an iconic bridge that frees up the missing modes: walking, cycling, buses and rail.
For anyone who reads our posts regularly enough, most of this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise thought it’s hard to see any of it happening under this government.
As for what we might actually see in the budget – in recent years it’s become quite common for the government to announce some of their major policies ahead of the budget. For example, last year additional funding for rail upgrades, including funding specifically for the Auckland and Wellington metro networks was announced a few days ahead of the budget. There haven’t been any specific announcements related to transport but Prime Minister Chris Luxon has signalled that capital spending is increasing to $5.7 billion, up from a previously planned $3.5 billion.
We don’t know how much of that capital spending is transport related but in recent years governments of both stripes have increasingly been spending up large on transport. As you can see, funding for roading has increasingly been sourced from loans or grants from the government. Note the big jump in rail in 2025/26 is largely made up of asset transfers related to the CRL.
Last night Winston Peters also revealed that rail is getting a funding boost.
When asked this afternoon whether Thursday’s Budget was an election winner, Peters said his party was happy with it.
“Rail is going to look great, racing is going to look great and foreign affairs has been preserved.
“So three out of three ain’t bad.”
Nicola Willis was asked if it was the case that there was a significant investment in rail in the budget, which she confirmed.
“Yes, we’ve got a track record of investing in rail, and to see the nature of that investment, you’ll have to wait one more sleep.”
Peters confirmed to The Post rail was set to get capital and operational expenditure increases.
It seems that most likely, any funding for rail would be similar to what we’ve seen before, more funding to maintain and renew the existing network. But who knows, maybe they could surprise us and announce funding to progress the Marsden Point branch line or for electrifying the network between Auckland and Tauranga – both projects have been progressed in recent years with business cases.
Presumably we’ll also see more funding pumped in to prop up the Roads of National Significance. The most likely might be money towards the Warkworth to Te Hana project – which Connor’s OIA requests have helped to reveal that the government are looking to pump in money to help bring the PPP cost down.
What do you think we’ll see today from the budget?
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Header photo by VNP/Phil Smith
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Maybe it is a bit of a ‘the grass is greener’ situation, but when talking to my friends in Europe (France, Spain, Germany) I always come away feeling like our country doesn’t really invest much in its people. Living in NZ can come to feel like working for a company that calls ‘tea and coffee in the break room’ a staff benefit, as you look over at your friends working at companies that give 6 weeks holiday, free lunches on Fridays, and trips all over the place to attend conferences and upskill.
Yes companies have become very cheap here indeed. Even Friday drinks, work lunches, etc have disappeared in most instances.
The rail announcement could be interesting, but like you say it will probably be something boring. My hope is Avondale to Southdown with commuter trains from Onehunga to City.
If Winston is talking about it , its got to be the Marsden Point link. Unless they are going to twist ferry costs into rail somehow.