The way New Zealand plans, funds and delivers
infrastructure must be a key issue at this year’s
election, and Infrastructure New Zealand is taking that
debate directly to New Zealanders.
With tens
of billions of dollars of investment needed over coming
decades, New Zealand cannot afford infrastructure decisions
driven by short political cycles, stop-start investment or
constantly changing priorities.
That is why
Infrastructure New Zealand is today launching Let’s Build
NZ, a nationwide campaign to put infrastructure
choices in front of voters and push political parties to be
clear about how they will approach the infrastructure New
Zealand needs.
Infrastructure New Zealand CEO Nick
Leggett says infrastructure is too important to New
Zealand’s future to remain largely a conversation between
politicians, officials and industry.
“Every New
Zealander relies on infrastructure every day. It determines
whether we can get to work, whether our homes have reliable
water and power, whether businesses can grow and whether New
Zealand can compete with the rest of the world.
“Too
often we make infrastructure decisions election by election
and New Zealanders ultimately pay the price through higher
costs and slower delivery. “We need to build for
generations, not elections.”
A key part of
Let’s Build NZ will be an Infrastructure Policy
Scorecard, assessing political parties’ policies
and positions against the eight priorities in Infrastructure
New Zealand’s 2026 Election Manifesto.
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“New
Zealanders deserve to know where political parties stand on
the infrastructure challenges we face,” Leggett
says.
“We don’t expect every party to agree with
us, or with each other. But voters should be able to see
clearly what parties are proposing, where the differences
are and what those choices could mean for New Zealand over
the next generation.”
The Let’s Build NZ website
launches today, with new material being released over the
coming weeks, including weekly evidence cards, insights from
the infrastructure sector and the political party
scorecard.
Let’s
Build NZ is a non-partisan campaign by
Infrastructure New Zealand aimed at making infrastructure a
bigger, better-informed part of New Zealand’s 2026
election
debate.
Notes:
Infrastructure
New Zealand is the nation’s leading infrastructure member
association. Our core purpose is to advance best practice
development of world-class transport, energy, water,
telecommunications, and social infrastructure for all New
Zealanders. We do this through research, advocacy, and
public and private sector collaboration. Our membership is
comprised of over 150 organisations, including central and
local government agencies, consultants, contractors,
financiers, utilities, and academics – collectively
employing approximately 150,000 people in
infrastructure-related roles. Together, we are committed to
creating a better New Zealand through outstanding
infrastructure.
