Todd Talks With Todd Muller National MP

One of the more common complaints I hear in the Bay of Plenty electorate is about our city's lack of infrastructure and snarled up traffic.

State Highway 2 should have been four lanes to Omokoroa by now. Pāpāmoa East residents still have to travel at 50km/hr along Papamoa Beach Rd to access the Tauranga Eastern Link while work continues on the interchange connection to the TEL. And if you travel through Tauriko regularly, you know how desperately we need an overhaul of the Tauriko-SH29 access.

Having high-quality, modern and resilient infrastructure drives economic growth, boosts productivity, and enhances our way of life.

Yet New Zealand has a significant deficit.

In the past six years, the Labour Government has failed to start and finish one major infrastructure project. We've seen endless working groups, pages of press releases and a reduced state highway budget which has destroyed a pipeline of worthy projects. Delivering infrastructure will be a high priority for the next National government.

National Party leader Chris Luxon recently announced a five-point Infrastructure For The Future plan that will: create a National Infrastructure Agency; make use of innovative funding and financing tools to boost investment; develop national, city and regional deals with central and local government; create a fast-track consents process; and build a 30-year infrastructure pipeline to deliver long-term certainty. Building infrastructure is a key to growing the economy. That matters because it's only with a strong economy that NZ can reduce living costs and interest rates, lift incomes and fund the public services our country needs.