Andrew Dickens: Infrastructure investment will be Grant Robertson's big test

Andrew Dickens Afternoons

Did Grant Robertson die and go to heaven? After a winter of discontent, a new spring has sprung for the Finance Minister.
Grumpy old ANZ, the bank that has always had the worst business confidence figures, has reported what they call a changing of the vibe in November.
"The improvement in the ANZ Business Outlook survey this month was broad and consistent," according to Sharon Zollner, their chief economist. She reckons the significant easing in both interest rates and the exchange rate is clearly working its way through the economy, and the remarkable resilience of New Zealand's commodity prices is providing an invaluable buffer to the world's woes.
No kidding. For the past two years people have been worried about what this Government might do rather than what they’ve actually done. Thankfully the mob in charge are very slack at actually doing anything.
Then there’s the fillip of the stabilisation of property prices in a positive way. Prices are still rising but not excessively so any doom merchants saying a crash is coming can stop chirruping their negativity.
This summer is forecast to be hot, employment is full, immigration is still strong at 50,000 people a year stimulating demand. If this is what an economy going to hell in a handcart looks like then why have we been so worried?
So combine all that with historic low interest rates, historically low debt, a succession of surpluses and the fact that all our stuff is either too old or too small, then finally it’s time for a period of infrastructure investment.
This is something apolitical people have been talking about for five years. The capacity constraints in transport, health and education infrastructure, freight, water reticulation and waste disposal have become infuriating for us all. But in the business of seeming prudent with the nation’s spending all political parties have avoided fixing the problems in front of our very eyes.
So now we have a government signalling they’re about to invest in New Zealand Inc. Next week in Grant Robertson’s acid test: what does he want to invest in?
His Achilles heel is roads. We all want roads. Especially to Northland, especially on State Highway 2 in the Bay of Plenty and especially through Mount Victoria in Wellington.
But if the Minister caves to the ideologues who believe we can survive without internal combustion he will have shown the weakness in infrastructure decision making that New Zealand has suffered from since Day One.
This is not about good politics. This must be about good business and, dare I say it, well-being.

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