Newstalk ZB transcript of first recording starts at 12:05
Mike:
Is Julie-Anne Genter dangerous wanting to ban cars?
Jacinda:
She doesn’t want to ban cars.
Mike:
She wanted to ban combustion engines.
Jacinda:
I think… I think what’s more dangerous is… ah you know claims that when something is… so the productivity commission came up with this um… suggestion ah when we were looking at what we could do to encourage more fuel-efficient vehicles in NZ the Ministry of Transport put it into a draft paper. It was removed and nixed. So, I think… I think what’s more dangerous is you know, when you get a bit of politics being played and misleading statements are made about what government’s doing. We are not considering banning combustion engines in NZ.
Mike:
Good. The Green’s control of the roading programme in this country – why do they have so much influence given so many roads have been cancelled, the pipeline is drying up and you are going to see workers move to Australia?
Jacinda:
Well, again I would, I would quite honestly reject the premise of that statement. We are putting $17 billion um into um transport in NZ.
Mike:
Yeah but that’s not right, that’s transport, that’s trains and stuff.
Jacinda:
It includes roads, um what… what you are seeing a difference is, of course, when we came in, we said that we were concerned we were spending a large amount on roads, the majority of New Zealanders do not use, and that regional and local roads were being um neglected. And so, we did change up the priorities there, we also wanted the cost benefit analysis to really hold for some of those projects and it has meant that a few that were announced but not funded by the last government were canned as a result.
Mike:
Treasury is telling you it puts a handbrake on the economy, info metrics is saying the same thing – are you rejecting their advice?
Jacinda:
Ah, so you are saying some of the projections over what’s likely…
Mike:
In terms of roads and infrastructural spend, treasury and info metrics both say that you gotta spend and you gotta build roads, we want roads, in fact your prime ministerial business committee in their first report said we need more roads.
Jacinda:
Sorry, sorry… if you are referring to the need for infrastructure is the way to stimulate the economy, in fact…
Mike:
No, specifically roads.
Jacinda:
Well, ah it’s not just roads though. Ah in fact, um my understanding is that, you know, investment in, for instance, building hospitals, um… building houses, um… those of course have a… an impact on stimulating the economy as well…
Mike:
But the argument around roads is you’ve got a pipeline currently of $4.5 billion that’s coming to an end, $3.5 billion worth of roads has been cancelled, you’ve got an ongoing pipeline of $1 billion that leaves a lot of workers without work – they all go to Australia, plus we don’t get the spend on the roads, plus the economy doesn’t move because of it.
Jacinda:
We are not spending less on roading… on… transport infrastructure.
Mike:
You are spending less on roads.
Jacinda:
The second… the second point where actually I am going to agree with you is the idea of infrastructure pipeline. So, I’d say it’s not just about transport, um one of the things that we think we lack in NZ is long term infrastructure planning which goes beyond political cycles, beyond the three years.
We’ve created something that they use in Australia, they use an infrastructure commission to try and have… take a bit of the politics out of big, big long term projects and try and get a little bit more continuity in our planning so um ah we’ve already announced um the commission that’s… that work’s already starting ah and it means that, for instance, if we have a recommendation around something big like, you know, a big transport project, that hopefully we don’t get a bit of back and forth. We lock it in as a country, we are able to then have long term planning for companies that contract for them and so on, and so I agree with you on that, and that’s something that we are looking to fix.
Mike:
Suicide numbers. Yesterday $2 billion into mental health. Do you not see the juxtaposition with the same government who wants to legalise cannabis?
Jacinda:
We have said of course that um ah drug and alcohol addiction um is linked to mental health.
Mike:
And so, you want to sell more of it therefore cause more mental health problems. Why would you want to do that?
Jacinda:
Well, we already have problems…
Mike:
Yeah, but you want to make more problems.
Jacinda:
Well, I haven’t taken a position…
Mike:
But your government has. They’re pro the referendum and you want them to vote yes. The Green Party want you to vote yes, they are part of the government.
Jacinda:
We are pro people having their own decision on this. We obviously have ah um prohibition now and we have issues now, so it will be up to individuals to determine whether or not they think that bringing it out into the open will enable communities to deal with its better um that is a decision for them. Um, the decision for us actually is to address that actually this goes well beyond cannabis. Methamphetamine is a major issue; alcohol is a major issue and we are investing in drug and alcohol treatment as a… as a way to address that contribution to mental health.
Mike:
Appreciate your time, prime minister Jacinda Ardern. Get Phil to give me a call.
