Maureen Pugh, National List MP
The recent severe weather events, that still have the Karamea Highway on three escorted access trips each day, highlight a problem which ratepayers everywhere need to be aware of.
The Karamea Highway is one of forty or so Special Purpose Roads throughout New Zealand – Haast to Jackson Bay, Pupu Springs Road in Tasman District or even the Auckland Harbour Bridge are other examples of roads which are maintained by local councils but 100 per cent funded by NZ Transport Agency because of the road’s significant “national good”.
In basic terms, roads that must be kept open.
There is a NZTA proposal to shift part of the funding of these roads back on to local councils in mid-2024. I strongly believe that there remains a significant “national good” in NZTA funding these special purpose roads and that we don’t need a more bureaucratic application process for funding when these roads usually need to be put right urgently.
I am urging mayors in my area to put pressure on the Government to leave the current funding model for Special Purpose Roads in place because the financial burden on ratepayers, usually after severe weather events, will be unsustainable.
The Government is proposing to ban live animal exports in the future and this will have huge consequences for our dairy sector and I believe it is a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction to an isolated maritime incident, and was certainly not an animal welfare issue.
The whole export market opportunity is at risk of a law change by an out-of-touch, reactive Government. The proposal is to cease all live cattle exports in two years. In 2020 this market was worth $350m and if this law is passed then it will lead to the early deaths of up to 150,000 animals a year.
The major issue facing us in 2022 will be rampant inflation. At the supermarket, hardware store or petrol station, New Zealand families are being hurt by rising prices of everyday goods and services.
Wage growth is only at 2.4 per cent, but inflation is nearing 6 per cent so Kiwis are actually going backwards.
Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson cannot continue to blame ‘international factors’ or Covid because economists and commentators are identifying a significantly domestic-fuelled aspect to the current inflation which Westpac Bank has predicted will remain strong for some time. Farmers have seen fertiliser increase 200 per cent and diesel 40 per cent in the past year and no easing is in sight.
The additional 10,000 civil servants since 2017 is contributing to this domestic-fuelled inflation. My question is ‘are these extra people really adding value?’ Approaching the half way point in this Parliamentary term, I think we already know the answer.
