WEBVTT - What's on the table at Govt's Investment Summit - and could it help National in the polls?

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<v Speaker 1>Kyoda. I'm Richard Martin in for Chelsea Daniels and this

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<v Speaker 1>is the Front Page, a daily podcast presented by the

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<v Speaker 1>New Zealand Herald. The government's focus on economic growth and

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<v Speaker 1>foreign investment is back in the spotlight. Later this week,

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<v Speaker 1>the much anticipated Investment Summit will take place in Auckland.

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<v Speaker 1>Businesses from over fourteen countries with six trillion dollars of

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<v Speaker 1>capital will be in attendance across Thursday and Friday, with

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<v Speaker 1>government ministers and labor representatives in attendance. It comes at

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<v Speaker 1>a critical time for the government, with mixed pole results

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<v Speaker 1>suggesting a difficult path to re election next year. Today

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<v Speaker 1>on the Front Page to talk us through who will

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<v Speaker 1>be in attendance and what it all means for the government,

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<v Speaker 1>we're joined by Enzed Herald Deputy Political editor and host

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<v Speaker 1>of On the Tiles podcast, Thomas Coglin. Thomas, what is

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<v Speaker 1>the purpose of the summit? What is the government actually

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<v Speaker 1>hoping to get out of it?

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<v Speaker 2>Well, the government wants to encourage more investment in New

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<v Speaker 2>Zealand economy in general. It's keen to get more foreign

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<v Speaker 2>investment into all parts of the New Zealand economy. So

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<v Speaker 2>that means you know, you start a business somewhere, perhaps

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<v Speaker 2>there is a foreign investor out there who wants to

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<v Speaker 2>buy into your business and help you grow it overseas.

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<v Speaker 3>That's the sort of broader government goal.

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<v Speaker 2>More specifically, this conference is about private investment and government projects,

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<v Speaker 2>so the public private partnerships. For example, the government is

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<v Speaker 2>more than a handful of sort of infrastructure projects. The

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<v Speaker 2>mainly in the infrastructure area that it is keen to build,

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<v Speaker 2>and it is less inclined to borrow the money and

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<v Speaker 2>do the building themselves as New Zealanders tended to do

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<v Speaker 2>in the past. You know, you borrow a whole lot

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<v Speaker 2>of money and.

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<v Speaker 3>You build a tunnel or whatever.

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<v Speaker 2>The government is keen to partner up with private investors

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<v Speaker 2>overseas who will raise the capital themselves, partner with builders

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<v Speaker 2>to deliver the project. They'll run it for a certain

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<v Speaker 2>amount of time. I mean, this is all sort of hypothetical.

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<v Speaker 2>These contracts look different depending on the project, but that's

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<v Speaker 2>just sort of your boilerplate example of how it works.

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<v Speaker 2>So the government's basically got a lot of infrastructure projects.

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<v Speaker 2>That's key to tickets in private finance. For these investors

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<v Speaker 2>from overseas are coming to have a look at them

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<v Speaker 2>and see if they if they stack out.

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<v Speaker 1>In layman terms, it's basically a big sales pitch to

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<v Speaker 1>the world, right.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's a it's a public private partnership sales convention.

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<v Speaker 3>Really.

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<v Speaker 2>They come in and if they like what they see,

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<v Speaker 2>they'll they'll ope ab out their walllets and potentially invested that.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, So what are some of the key businesses that

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<v Speaker 1>are going to be in attendance because we're looking at

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<v Speaker 1>around one hundred or so, right.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, about one hundred businesses or organizations. Some of them

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<v Speaker 2>are small local construction firms and then you've got like

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<v Speaker 2>large ewe organizations. My Tagic Holdings from the South Island

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<v Speaker 2>is coming up. So these are these are like construction

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<v Speaker 2>and professional services firms, law firms from New Zealand. So

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<v Speaker 2>these are New Zealand firms that would be partnering with

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<v Speaker 2>these seas firms to try and deliver projects. If their

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<v Speaker 2>construction company or help with the legal you know that

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<v Speaker 2>the legal infrastructure of New Zealand. If their law firm.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, if you're you're a big international investment, you

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<v Speaker 2>want to you want to pick up the front of

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<v Speaker 2>a New Zealand lawyer to say, you know, how does

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<v Speaker 2>the r M A, how does the RMA work. That's

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<v Speaker 2>a that's a long conversation. And then you've got larger

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<v Speaker 2>organizations that are keen to get involved like that. They've

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<v Speaker 2>got some some pretty big portfolios at the moment and

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<v Speaker 2>they might be looking to say, you know that they've

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<v Speaker 2>got some local expertise. I mean to use the Nahoo

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<v Speaker 2>example again, they know the South Island back to front.

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<v Speaker 2>They've got a lot of capital themselves, but they might

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<v Speaker 2>want to partner up with a with an even larger

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<v Speaker 2>investment front from overseas to to do something to match

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<v Speaker 2>the capital and skills that I've got with with even

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<v Speaker 2>more capital from offshore. So that's the that's the local

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<v Speaker 2>side of things like Morrison's as there as well that

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<v Speaker 2>there are large New Zealand firm that that that manages funds.

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<v Speaker 3>You know, it's not it's not all international.

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<v Speaker 2>Then you've got some some large sort of blue chip

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<v Speaker 2>firms from overseas. So CVPQ, which is a big Canadian

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<v Speaker 2>and investment investment fund. They were the ones who were

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<v Speaker 2>looking at doing the Auckland light Rail public private partnership

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<v Speaker 2>from a few years ago before they've done before that

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<v Speaker 2>fell apart.

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<v Speaker 3>That's one of them.

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<v Speaker 2>You've got City Bank, one of the big American banks,

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<v Speaker 2>but some of the large Chinese Chinese banks which which

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<v Speaker 2>have a claim to being some of the some of

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<v Speaker 2>the largest banks in the world, head Construction, so they're

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<v Speaker 2>involved in the transmission gully provate public private partnership. China

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<v Speaker 2>Construction Bank, another very large Chinese bank, Hyundai, well a

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<v Speaker 2>member of the Hyundai group, so that that they were

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<v Speaker 2>obviously involved in the in the Theory project that that

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<v Speaker 2>that hasn't been going so well, but but that clearly

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<v Speaker 2>still interested enough to come over. So your big big films.

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<v Speaker 2>So there are also some Kiwi savers providers like Milford

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<v Speaker 2>Milford Asset Management who obviously do managed funds, but they

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<v Speaker 2>also run quite a popular kiwisaver so that they're here

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<v Speaker 2>on the on the New Zealand side of things, mid

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<v Speaker 2>Tubishi's here. So some really some really big names and

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<v Speaker 2>familiar names. But I think you have our colleagues across

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<v Speaker 2>the corridor at Businesses have done some some good reporting

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<v Speaker 2>on this that there are some big since thes as well,

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<v Speaker 2>like you know, the government's were making a big push

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<v Speaker 2>to Abu Dhabi and sorry, the United Barer Emirates and

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<v Speaker 2>some of the large and some of the large immorti

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<v Speaker 2>funds are not are not here. So so look it's yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>you can you can find some big names, but there

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<v Speaker 2>are also some some some places, some some firms that

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<v Speaker 2>you'd expect to see that that that that are not there.

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<v Speaker 1>Yees, So looking at that choice of firms and I

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<v Speaker 1>guess also the firms that that are not going to

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<v Speaker 1>be attending. What does that really say about what this

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<v Speaker 1>government is targeting?

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<v Speaker 3>The government is quite kean philosophically.

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<v Speaker 2>The government thinks that New Zealand would be better off if

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<v Speaker 2>it were more connected to international capital markets. If if

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<v Speaker 2>if New Zealand was seen as an attractive place to invest,

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<v Speaker 2>that would mean there would be more investment. And when

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<v Speaker 2>there is more investment, arguably the cost of capital decreases

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<v Speaker 2>because people there's so much demand to invest in New

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<v Speaker 2>Zealand that that people are willing to people are people

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<v Speaker 2>are willing to cut their pricess in theory, so so

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<v Speaker 2>so the government's of philosophical ideas more investment equals more

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<v Speaker 2>and more foreign investment in New Zealand means of all

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<v Speaker 2>the better economy and certainly when you look at the

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<v Speaker 2>relationship between foreign investment and things like productivity, and there's

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<v Speaker 2>some good evidence that foreign investment is good for that.

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<v Speaker 2>In terms of who's invited, I mean, the government doesn't

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<v Speaker 2>want any kind of low profile, kind of not all

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<v Speaker 2>that flash foreign funds coming and and certainly, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>it doesn't look like there's anyone on that list who's

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<v Speaker 2>just making up the numbers for it that way. So

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<v Speaker 2>so credit to the government, I guess that managed to find,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, a fairly solid slate. But the list is

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<v Speaker 2>mainly full of firms that have money to invest and

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<v Speaker 2>then then firms that have the construction, legal professional services

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<v Speaker 2>ability to deliver on on that on that investment, anyone

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<v Speaker 2>with money was probably probably welcome, and then I guess

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<v Speaker 2>you wouldn't want any kind of sort of dark money obviously,

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<v Speaker 2>but it doesn't appear that that's is the case.

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<v Speaker 4>With the schools, a private partner comes along and build

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<v Speaker 4>the school and then rather than just building something and

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<v Speaker 4>handing over to the ministry or school to maintain, which

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<v Speaker 4>you know, I think anyone listening will know from our

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<v Speaker 4>school property experience, the government has done really badly. It's

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<v Speaker 4>while we have rocking school buildings all over the country.

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<v Speaker 4>In a PPP a deliverer of the project in maintainment

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<v Speaker 4>for twenty five thirty years now. We've paid that so

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<v Speaker 4>it's not going maintenance, but that's built into the contract

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<v Speaker 4>and as an availability of payment and a maintenance payment

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<v Speaker 4>and all of those things. But they have to maintain

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<v Speaker 4>it to specified performance standards. And anyone who visits the

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<v Speaker 4>PPP schools that we have out there now will know

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<v Speaker 4>that are really well maintained. They're very high quality schools

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<v Speaker 4>and so you get what you're paid for.

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<v Speaker 1>Private public partnerships are something that this government is keen on,

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<v Speaker 1>but Business Desk reported last week that there aren't actually

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<v Speaker 1>that many ready to go in the near term.

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<v Speaker 3>Is that correct, Yeah, that's correct.

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<v Speaker 2>There's the government publishes these investment statements every cord. I

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<v Speaker 2>believe they were started by labor, but the current government

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<v Speaker 2>has begun publishing them more regular so that people labor.

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<v Speaker 2>Labor wasn't so so flash on publishing them in a

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<v Speaker 2>timely manner, so that the government, the government's publishing them

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<v Speaker 2>very regularly, so you get a look up of the

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<v Speaker 2>hood at what's happening investment wise, and at the moment, Yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>there there aren't very many PPPs ready to go to market,

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<v Speaker 2>just for I think are the first stage of the

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<v Speaker 2>Northland Expressway, which to be fair is a very large

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<v Speaker 2>PPP if that happens, and then a couple of smaller projects.

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<v Speaker 2>Chris Bishop, I think, in that story said that actually

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<v Speaker 2>that's quite a lot to go to market with it once,

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<v Speaker 2>and I guess you know, he's probably right, mainly because

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<v Speaker 2>that Northland Expressway projects so big. But certainly, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>if you if you're having all these people too Ortland

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<v Speaker 2>for the summit, you'll want to have a deeper, a

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<v Speaker 2>bigger stand to offer. The government is saying, well, look,

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<v Speaker 2>this is just the start, and this part of this

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<v Speaker 2>is about forging relationships with these businesses so that in

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<v Speaker 2>the long term, is we have more of these PPPs

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<v Speaker 2>go to market, that New Zealand is sort of a

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<v Speaker 2>trusted and reliable partner for them, and so perhaps the

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<v Speaker 2>relationships that are built at this at this summit leads

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<v Speaker 2>to PPP investments down the track. But you know, obviously

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<v Speaker 2>that time will tell whether they're right from thinking that,

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<v Speaker 2>But certainly if it goes well, you know, maybe who

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<v Speaker 2>knows five years time, some of these other PPPs go

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<v Speaker 2>to market. Some of the some of the relationships that

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<v Speaker 2>will forged this week be a fruit from terms of investment.

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<v Speaker 1>Labour's Farbara Edmonds is going to be there. Does this

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<v Speaker 1>suggest that we might finally see some cross party consensus

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<v Speaker 1>on infrastructure. Surely Labor has some different priorities on what

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<v Speaker 1>infrastructure it wants to see built.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>I think one of the main things for Labor, one

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<v Speaker 2>of the main things for PPPs in general, is market certainty.

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<v Speaker 2>When things go really bad, a new government comes and

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<v Speaker 2>rips up contracts and changes the investment environment, and that

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<v Speaker 2>means that as a country, investors are less likely to

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<v Speaker 2>come here and sit up shop because they don't know

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<v Speaker 2>what the next government's going to do.

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<v Speaker 3>Now.

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<v Speaker 2>When Labor got into office last time around, it was

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<v Speaker 2>not philosophically very keen on PPPs, but.

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<v Speaker 3>It didn't rip up any contracts.

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<v Speaker 2>You know that the Transmission Gully PPP was finished and

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<v Speaker 2>had a funding top up and then opened by Labor.

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<v Speaker 2>Quite the fact that Labor wasn't very keen on the

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<v Speaker 2>idea of PPPs, it's still it's still allowed the project

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<v Speaker 2>to go ahead. And and so I think the fact

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<v Speaker 2>that Barbaria Edmonds is there sort of says like, hey, look,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, we're obviously with a labor party. We absolutely

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<v Speaker 2>different values and views on doing infrastructure, but don't be

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<v Speaker 2>afraid of the sovereign risk aspect to investing in New

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<v Speaker 2>Zealand because we're pro investment too. So I think there's

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<v Speaker 2>actually quite a big thing that she is there, quite

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<v Speaker 2>a big signal to those investors to come here, and particularly,

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<v Speaker 2>you know when you see all the crazy stuff that's

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<v Speaker 2>happening in the United States and actually some crazy stuff

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<v Speaker 2>that's happening in Europe and South am Euerica too, these

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<v Speaker 2>these big funds might look at you know, boring old

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<v Speaker 2>New Zealand and think, well, great, invest a few hundred

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<v Speaker 2>million dollars in building a road, and we've got this

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<v Speaker 2>asset which makes money for us over over a few decades,

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<v Speaker 2>and the future government isn't going to come along and

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<v Speaker 2>rip it up and cost us, you know, one hundreds

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<v Speaker 2>of millions of dollars. That the fact that that Barbaria

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<v Speaker 2>Edmonds is there gives them a lot of a lot

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<v Speaker 2>of certainty. I think that whatever happens their investments, I say,

0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:03.120
<v Speaker 2>under a future government, because obviously these projects will last

0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:05.199
<v Speaker 2>for decades, and you know in New Zealand, like the

0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:08.520
<v Speaker 2>longest the longest government we've had do we tend to

0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:10.600
<v Speaker 2>have these days as a nine year government. So you know,

0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:13.520
<v Speaker 2>whatever whatever happens with these investments, these investors know that

0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:15.920
<v Speaker 2>and then not to just in future there will be

0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:17.520
<v Speaker 2>another government and they want to make sure that their

0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:19.040
<v Speaker 2>investments safe under their government too.

0:11:19.200 --> 0:11:22.560
<v Speaker 1>Economic growth is a key priority for the government this year.

0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:24.640
<v Speaker 1>Do you think that that's resonating with voters.

0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:26.640
<v Speaker 3>It's a good question. I think.

0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:29.960
<v Speaker 2>I think voters would like to see economic growth because

0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:33.200
<v Speaker 2>economic growth is usually a good thing. So I think

0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:35.880
<v Speaker 2>because we haven't had very good economic growth for the

0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:39.160
<v Speaker 2>last few years, I imagine voters are thinking, yes, police,

0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:40.000
<v Speaker 2>we would like some of that.

0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:40.319
<v Speaker 3>Please.

0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:45.080
<v Speaker 2>You know, it means generally means higher incomes and a

0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:48.160
<v Speaker 2>good of life for New Zealanders. So I think voters

0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:50.480
<v Speaker 2>would like to see economic growth, whether or not heavy

0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:53.720
<v Speaker 2>with the tactics and the methods of the government is

0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:57.079
<v Speaker 2>using to get their economic growth, more foreign investment in particular.

0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:00.000
<v Speaker 2>That's that's that remains to be seen. There's a ten

0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:02.559
<v Speaker 2>Expayers Union poll out recently which actually showed that voters

0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:07.120
<v Speaker 2>were pretty supportive of more tourism, international students and the like.

0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:10.280
<v Speaker 2>So most of the government's policy leaders that it's looking

0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:13.800
<v Speaker 2>at using are supported by by a decent number of voters.

0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:16.920
<v Speaker 2>So so yeah, I suppose based on that poll voters

0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:19.600
<v Speaker 2>like what they're seeing. Obviously most current polling, here's the

0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:24.079
<v Speaker 2>government behind the opposition. So I suppose you know what,

0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:26.160
<v Speaker 2>what does that say? Well, that says the voters is

0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:29.800
<v Speaker 2>not very happy with the current government. Although whether whether

0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:32.800
<v Speaker 2>that those poles will reversed out once we get economic growth.

0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:36.040
<v Speaker 2>You know, typically based on what we've seen in the past,

0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:38.600
<v Speaker 2>when the economy is doing well, the government the government's

0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:41.960
<v Speaker 2>position and the polls improves. So maybe that's what that's

0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:44.280
<v Speaker 2>what the government's hoping for, is that is that once

0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:46.480
<v Speaker 2>they get the economic growth, if they get economic growth,

0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:49.600
<v Speaker 2>some of that pollingly that the opposition currently enjoys will

0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:50.680
<v Speaker 2>will reverse.

0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:55.240
<v Speaker 3>Out way for polling.

0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:57.880
<v Speaker 5>So Forny, look, I mean, we've got you know, it's

0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:00.400
<v Speaker 5>a tough time for Kiwi's poles are bouncing around a lot.

0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:03.240
<v Speaker 5>Our job is to focus on what New Zealanders want

0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:05.320
<v Speaker 5>and that is all about us fixing the economy and

0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:07.880
<v Speaker 5>making sure we get money into Kiwi's back pockets, and

0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:09.640
<v Speaker 5>I can tell you don't give a lot of thought.

0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:11.760
<v Speaker 5>I'm here each and every day making sure that we're

0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:14.559
<v Speaker 5>actually growing the economy. That's why we're doing the infrastructure summit,

0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:16.520
<v Speaker 5>That's why we're going to India. Those are the things

0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:17.880
<v Speaker 5>that are actually going to power up the economy and

0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:19.440
<v Speaker 5>get Kiyi's more cash in the pop us so that

0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:22.360
<v Speaker 5>there's a trend of labor overtaking you. Well, I just

0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:25.240
<v Speaker 5>say to you, look, I never have obsessed too much

0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:27.560
<v Speaker 5>on poles, as you know when we've talked about them

0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:28.959
<v Speaker 5>in the past, and it's the same position.

0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:30.680
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:33.400
<v Speaker 1>Well, on the subject of polls, there was a Horizon

0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:36.120
<v Speaker 1>Research poll and stuff this week that found that thirty

0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:39.679
<v Speaker 1>nine percent of respondents were concerned about the coalition's performance.

0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:43.000
<v Speaker 1>Thirty eight percent were disappointed, compared to only ten percent

0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:45.560
<v Speaker 1>who felt pleased. So does this put some pressure on

0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:48.920
<v Speaker 1>the summit succeeding to really turn things around, or is

0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:51.960
<v Speaker 1>this just one small part of a bigger issue for

0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:52.520
<v Speaker 1>the coalition?

0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:57.559
<v Speaker 2>Well, polls, that's like, it's a quite interestingly worded question.

0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:00.200
<v Speaker 2>I suppose it's in the polling question. I mean, not

0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:04.160
<v Speaker 2>your question that those poles sort it's quite it sounds

0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:06.360
<v Speaker 2>quite similar to a right track wrong track question, which

0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:07.640
<v Speaker 2>is do you feel like the countries on the right

0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:09.720
<v Speaker 2>track and do you feel or on the wrong track?

0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:12.079
<v Speaker 2>And so voters feel like the countries are on the

0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:14.599
<v Speaker 2>wrong track, that tends to vote very bad as a

0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:17.360
<v Speaker 2>leading indicator for the party vote performance. So if the

0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:20.160
<v Speaker 2>voters are feeling negatively about the government, about the country

0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:22.440
<v Speaker 2>and the direction it's on, that tends to show up

0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:24.960
<v Speaker 2>in a few weeks or months and the party vote

0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:28.000
<v Speaker 2>performance of the government. Yeah, I think what their horizon

0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:30.080
<v Speaker 2>poll shows is what a number of right and wrong

0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:32.880
<v Speaker 2>track tolls and economic sentiment polls are shown, which is

0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:34.840
<v Speaker 2>that people are not feeling very good. People are not

0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:37.120
<v Speaker 2>feeling very good about the state of the economy and

0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:39.680
<v Speaker 2>the country, and therefore the government that runs the country

0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:42.960
<v Speaker 2>is not performing well. Like that does for pressure, I mean,

0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:44.560
<v Speaker 2>not so much on the summit, Like I don't think

0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:47.920
<v Speaker 2>the government is going to succeed or failed depending on

0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:50.160
<v Speaker 2>the summit, but it does put pressure on the government

0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:53.280
<v Speaker 2>to sort of actually deliver something tangible to voters before

0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:55.760
<v Speaker 2>the next election, just so it does have something to say,

0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:57.840
<v Speaker 2>you know, to vote as well that we're making the

0:14:57.840 --> 0:15:01.520
<v Speaker 2>country better because because of the exposed and I suppose

0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:04.840
<v Speaker 2>whether summit might be successful and achieving their aim as

0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:08.040
<v Speaker 2>if the summit's able to court investment from someone and

0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:11.520
<v Speaker 2>because of that investment and infrastructure project is accelerated. The

0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:15.240
<v Speaker 2>ex party has this idea of accelerating infrastructure investment by

0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:18.040
<v Speaker 2>simply allowing more or less say well, look, if you

0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:20.240
<v Speaker 2>want to if there's any infrastructure project out there that

0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:22.400
<v Speaker 2>you think you can build and with no assistance from

0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:25.480
<v Speaker 2>the government, then you know, we would like to hear

0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:27.840
<v Speaker 2>from you. And if you can do it without us

0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:29.800
<v Speaker 2>putting up any money, then there's a chance you'll be.

0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:30.320
<v Speaker 3>Able to do it.

0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:32.000
<v Speaker 2>And then they look at that as a way of

0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:35.200
<v Speaker 2>accelerating investment, you know, or even when you look at

0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:36.720
<v Speaker 2>the roads that we want to build over the next

0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:39.240
<v Speaker 2>of thirty thirty years, we have a long pipeline of roads.

0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:41.240
<v Speaker 2>If a private investor comes and says, look, you know

0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:43.240
<v Speaker 2>that road that you want to build in fifteen years time,

0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:44.840
<v Speaker 2>I could do that as a PvP if you let

0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:47.280
<v Speaker 2>me start tomorrow, And that sort of works that way

0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:50.160
<v Speaker 2>where private investors look at the slate and if they

0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:52.080
<v Speaker 2>like something or else they can bring it forward, maybe

0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:55.480
<v Speaker 2>very downstream of this summit. You see stuff like that,

0:15:55.600 --> 0:15:57.400
<v Speaker 2>and the government would would then be able to go

0:15:57.400 --> 0:15:59.000
<v Speaker 2>to verses and say, look, as a result of our

0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:02.080
<v Speaker 2>investment changes, result of us courting this capital, we've actually

0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:05.000
<v Speaker 2>started to close the infrastructure deficite thanks to private capital.

0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:06.840
<v Speaker 2>You know, I'm not sure you'll see a massive changes

0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:09.440
<v Speaker 2>before the election though, because these things, particularly in the

0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:12.160
<v Speaker 2>infrastructure world, things move pretty slow, So I wouldn't be

0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:13.320
<v Speaker 2>getting ahead of myself.

0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:17.000
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Like, are you expecting it to go well or yeah?

0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:20.000
<v Speaker 1>Is it just too short term thinking to think in

0:16:20.080 --> 0:16:22.040
<v Speaker 1>terms of success or failure about this?

0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:25.920
<v Speaker 2>I think if we see some projects Anington in the

0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:28.120
<v Speaker 2>short term, then I think it will be a success.

0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:31.360
<v Speaker 2>But I yeah, I don't. I wouldn't be expecting something

0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:32.680
<v Speaker 2>too tangible from it.

0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:34.840
<v Speaker 3>Thanks for joining us, Thomas no Wiries. Thank you.

0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:40.320
<v Speaker 1>That's it for this episode of The Front Page. You

0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:43.080
<v Speaker 1>can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage

0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:45.840
<v Speaker 1>at zidherld dot co dot nzen. The Front Page is

0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:48.880
<v Speaker 1>produced by Ethan Sills. I'm Richard Martin. Subscribe to the

0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:52.120
<v Speaker 1>Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts,

0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:55.000
<v Speaker 1>and tune in tomorrow for another look behind the headlines.