{"id":95004,"date":"2025-10-22T20:36:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T20:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/95004\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T20:36:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T20:36:12","slug":"we-shouldnt-sell-our-state-assets-unless-were-building-nick-leggett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/95004\/","title":{"rendered":"We shouldn\u2019t sell our state assets unless we\u2019re building \u2013 Nick Leggett"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here in New Zealand, we face an infrastructure deficit estimated at over $200b. In this context, it is irresponsible to let Crown capital remain idle in an investment that delivers limited upside, particularly when those funds could mobilise schools, hospitals, roads or transport links that current and future generations will use. Chorus is an important organisation, but it\u2019s now a legacy holding for the Government, not a strategic platform that still requires state intervention.<\/p>\n

Of course, the first project we put that money into must be visionary and visible. A second Auckland Harbour crossing<\/a> is the kind of nation-building project that we can all rally behind.<\/p>\n

From a big-picture perspective, it\u2019s irrelevant whether we eventually end up with a bridge or a tunnel \u2013 they are merely possible solutions to what is an engineering problem. The result is what matters, namely the human connections, community connectivity, increased productivity and future growth that a second crossing will provide.<\/p>\n

As a non-Aucklander, I believe it\u2019s in every New Zealander\u2019s interest to have our one international city perform exceptionally. This takes investment, leadership and courage, and when we have capital that is sitting idle in something that is no longer contributing to the future of the country, we need to repurpose it for something that will.<\/p>\n

A clear \u201cChorus proceeds equals Auckland Harbour crossing\u201d pipeline can build public trust, particularly if the Government can present the benefits of the second crossing. The public must see the \u201cafter\u201d as sure as they saw the \u201cbefore\u201d. The Chorus funding won\u2019t cover anywhere near the full cost of the project<\/a>, but it\u2019s a reasonable downpayment that can provide that project certainty to get it going sooner.<\/p>\n

Both our major political parties need help here. National needs to sell what an asset-recycling programme that releases current assets to build new ones can do. Then they need to show us. Labour needs to get off the conservative ideological bench and recognise that creating new public assets is better for our communities than protecting assets that no longer serve our needs.<\/p>\n

Asset recycling, if it is to be successful in New Zealand, needs to include the following guardrails to reassure the public that their investment won\u2019t just be frittered away.<\/p>\n

\u25cf The proceeds of selling down the public holdings in assets need to be ringfenced through legally binding allocations so the money cannot be redirected to general spending.<\/p>\n

\u25cf An independently prepared shortlist of candidate projects that are pre-vetted, with cost-benefit analysis and that match national priorities (transport, regional growth, climate adaptation) needs to be developed.<\/p>\n

\u25cf Community buy-in is needed upfront. Iwi and local government must have a role in selecting and designing the future projects their communities need. They should also be thinking about which of their own assets could be offered up to fund these projects.<\/p>\n

If this approach works and benefits can be independently evaluated, we can establish a way of doing this repeatedly. We can also look at bringing public and private funds together to seed other new infrastructure, perhaps by way of a publicly owned infrastructure bank.<\/p>\n

I concede divestment isn\u2019t risk-free. Market appetite might underwhelm. Valuation disagreements could delay timing. Due diligence will be complex. But risks are manageable with a disciplined process.<\/p>\n

To critics who see this as \u201cselling the family silver\u201d, the answer is that we\u2019re not divesting our core assets, we\u2019re converting a completed infrastructure investment into new infrastructure that the country requires. Think of it as rolling capital forward into the next need, not cashing out.<\/p>\n

In short, the Government\u2019s planned divestment in Chorus should be supported on one condition \u2013 that every dollar is pledged to build, not spend elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot sell unless we are building\u201d needs to be more than a slogan, it must be the contract the Government, and future Governments, sign with New Zealanders.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s transform static assets into real outcomes that benefit our communities. Sell what we own in Chorus and use it to build infrastructure for the future.<\/p>\n

Catch up on the debates that dominated the week by signing up to our Opinion newsletter<\/a> \u2013 a weekly round-up of our best commentary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here in New Zealand, we face an infrastructure deficit estimated at over $200b. In this context, it is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[35678,19092,674,138,42601,52044,5399,7011,52606,219,1137,14768,8815,7237,9978,1702,70401,111,139,6933,69,2847,22213,13194,17159,3109,14901,9979,29039,13311,24035,33285,1072,13672,1361,4468,53923,3270,3608],"class_list":["post-95004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-additional","tag-assets","tag-building","tag-business","tag-chorus","tag-commits","tag-debt","tag-dollar","tag-drives","tag-economy","tag-equity","tag-every","tag-explore","tag-governments","tag-grows","tag-infrastructure","tag-leggett","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nick","tag-nz","tag-only","tag-our","tag-progress","tag-proposal","tag-public","tag-receives","tag-right","tag-securities","tag-sell","tag-selling","tag-shouldnt","tag-social","tag-state","tag-that","tag-thing","tag-unless","tag-we","tag-were"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}