Infrastructure

Strategic Objective A secure and efficent core infrastructure to ensure the industry remains internationally competitive and commercially viable

This objective relates to initiatives undertaken in relation to infrastructure, including:
-  Energy
-  Climate Change
-  Transport
-  Water Allocation

Issues

To maintain world-class export industries, New Zealand needs to ensure it builds and maintains an appropriately robust and reliable core infrastructure.  A secure and affordable supply of energy and sufficient quantities of quality fresh water, for example, are essential to industry competitiveness and are outcomes that need to be supported through sound government policy.

However, for many years there has been a substantial underinvestment in infrastructure in New Zealand, and as a result we face a situation where ensuring we have a modern infrastructure has become a quite considerable challenge - and that will require major commitments to address.

New Zealand's domestic transport infrastructure provides a good example.  The Crown's effective subsidisation of road transport through the Crown's building of highways, combined with the fact that users of shipping are obliged to meet port charges in full, creates a distortion in favour of road and rail transport.  However, the strain increased road transport places on our highway systems, particularly when compared to more environmentally friendly options such as coastal shipping, raises questions as to whether it is logical to allow this distortion to continue.

Ensuring there is adequate investment in electricity transmission and generation, and at the same time endeavouring to meet New Zealand's climate change targets, will similarly pose substantial challenges over the next few years and beyond.

Key Priorities for 2007/2008

Develop an industry position on transport infrastructure, defining the infrastructure the industry needs to remain internationally competitive going forward, and how the government and industry could work toward building and maintaining that infrastructure.

Develop and represent the industry's position on government's Climate Change, energy strategies, and water allocation proposals to ensure that the sector's international competitiveness is enhanced.