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Speaker 1: The Transport Minister has outlined a real problem for the

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Speaker 1: Roads of National Significance program we might not have the

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Speaker 1: money for it. In a speech to the Future Roads

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Speaker 1: Conference yesterday, Christmiship pointed out that the National Land Transport

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Speaker 1: Fund is massively oversubscribed. That's what we normally use to

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Speaker 1: pay for roads PPPs. Yeah, sure they help, but they

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Speaker 1: just delay the bill rather than paying for it. And

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Speaker 1: we do not have a big enough population for tolls

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Speaker 1: to fund projects by themselves. So let's talk to Chris

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Speaker 1: Bishop about this.

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Speaker 2: High Bish, Good afternoon.

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Speaker 1: So what are you saying here that we are not

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Speaker 1: going to get all the Roads of National Significance or

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Speaker 1: we're just going to have to wait longer for them.

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Speaker 2: I'm just trying to do a bit of expectation management.

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Speaker 2: You know, the Roads of National Significance that the government's

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Speaker 2: going to deliver are popular, and they are you know,

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Speaker 2: big investments in the future of New Zealand. From a

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Speaker 2: growth point of view, from freight, from getting around. All

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Speaker 2: of those things are true and they're right. I'm just

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Speaker 2: simply making the point that they're expensive, that there are

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Speaker 2: trade offs with other priorities, and that they can't all

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Speaker 2: be delivered at once. So I'm just trying to do

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Speaker 2: a bit of expectation management. This is about a long

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Speaker 2: term pipeline, Okay. I just don't want people to think that,

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Speaker 2: you know, there's going to be like fifteen big major

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Speaker 2: roads all built at the same time around the country,

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Speaker 2: all at the same time. That's not going to happen.

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Speaker 2: To be honest, our construction market can't cope with that anyway, right.

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Speaker 2: We just literally do not have the workers, all the

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Speaker 2: capacity to do that, and it will drive up inflation

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Speaker 2: even if we did. So, I'm just saying it's about

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Speaker 2: a long term pipeline over many, many years to get

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Speaker 2: these roads.

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Speaker 1: Well, it's long term.

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Speaker 2: Well, we're going to set out, you know, soon a

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Speaker 2: bit of a sequence and a bit of a pipeline

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Speaker 2: over the next fifteen to twenty years around not just

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Speaker 2: the roads of national significance, but also some of the

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Speaker 2: other important projects like the Northwest Busway for example, in

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Speaker 2: Auckland Airport to Botany Busway. There's a whole range of

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Speaker 2: other projects that we need to give it.

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Speaker 1: So are you saying that all of the roads of

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Speaker 1: national significance that we are expecting will get started within

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Speaker 1: the next fifteen to twenty years.

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Speaker 2: I want to give you that commitment today, but you

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Speaker 2: will see a bit of a plan and a sequence

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Speaker 2: and a pipeline over the next twenty years. As to

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Speaker 2: the pro we want to build, I'm just simply making

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Speaker 2: the point. But committed to these projects. They are really important.

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Speaker 2: We will get on. We will get on with them.

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Speaker 2: But they can't all be done at the same time.

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Speaker 1: Should we expect, though, that some of them will not

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Speaker 1: be started within the twenty year.

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Speaker 2: Period, No, I wouldn't. That wouldn't be my expectation. My

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Speaker 2: expectations would be that they will start in the twenty years,

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Speaker 2: but they can't all be you know, they can't all

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Speaker 2: be delivered. I mean, the problem be if we don't

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Speaker 2: have the capacity to do it.

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Speaker 1: The problem being, of course, that anything that you guys

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Speaker 1: don't get started in your time in office may never

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Speaker 1: get started because the next lot don't love roads, right,

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Speaker 1: That's the reality.

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Speaker 2: Well, all of that is a very strong driver for

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Speaker 2: people to party vote National to make sure we get

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Speaker 2: on with building the infrastructure that New DEALA needs for

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Speaker 2: the future.

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Speaker 1: That is that is realistic, right, Anything that doesn't that,

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Speaker 1: that is why we are fixated on getting you guys

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Speaker 1: to get spades in the ground, because the next lot

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Speaker 1: may never do it if you don't do it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and ultimately they'll have to account for themselves. As

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Speaker 2: to all of that, we can set out our policies

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Speaker 2: and our intentions, and we're working as quickly as pos

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Speaker 2: to get started on these projects because they are really

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Speaker 2: important for his zealand we're just to turn that. We

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Speaker 2: start a construction on the Hawks Bakespressway just last week

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Speaker 2: and that's underway now, the four laneing of seven kilometers

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Speaker 2: of that very congested section of the road, and it will

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Speaker 2: be more, be more next year.

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Speaker 1: Is it not realistic to simply raise the tolls just

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Speaker 1: just make it more expensive to drive on the new roads? Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So what's one of the points I made in the

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Speaker 2: speech that gave yesterday or day before, which is that,

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Speaker 2: you know, one of the one of the things people

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Speaker 2: do need to think about is if we delivered all

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Speaker 2: of the seventeen roads that we want to deliver, that

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Speaker 2: if that would that would be paid for or could

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Speaker 2: be paid for by forty nine cents per leter increase

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Speaker 2: in fuel tax. Now, there's probably a bunch of people

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Speaker 2: listening going, well, bug of that. I don't want to

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Speaker 2: fifty cent you know, a leader increase in fuel texs

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Speaker 2: are paying off as it is. But that's kind of

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Speaker 2: my point, right, is that roads do actually ultimately have

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Speaker 2: to be paid for, and they paid for through petrol

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Speaker 2: tax yep are tolls are a thing, and obviously they help,

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Speaker 2: but you know, will people really pay twenty five bucks

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Speaker 2: drive on a new road. I'd say probably not. In fact,

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Speaker 2: they probably just take the alternative route. So that's just

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Speaker 2: something to my point. I'm just trying to get expectations

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Speaker 2: set a bit. That's all. Now.

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Speaker 1: Listen, do you think the Prime Minister is doing a

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Speaker 1: good job.

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Speaker 2: Yes, I think he's doing an excellent job and difficult circumstances.

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Speaker 2: I think he's doing good job, so he should keep

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Speaker 2: the job. Yeah, he's doing a good job. We're obviously

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Speaker 2: in a difficult economic environment and the government's working as

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Speaker 2: hard as we can to turn the corner on that

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Speaker 2: and we've got some green shoots of change coming through

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Speaker 2: and I think next year will be better than this year.

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Speaker 2: But you know, clearly it's a difficult time for everybody

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Speaker 2: and it's a difficult Jeo political environment as well.

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Speaker 1: Have you read Audrey's piece today.

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Speaker 2: No, I haven't read Audrey's piece. I'm sure you're about

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Speaker 2: to tell me.

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Speaker 1: I am, and I can't wait. Audrey's piece says that

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Speaker 1: you are getting targeted by labor. You have a target

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Speaker 1: on your back because you are the most likely person

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Speaker 1: to take over from Chris Luxon.

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Speaker 2: Oh that's interesting. I think they're just having a go

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Speaker 2: at me because they've got nothing else to go on

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Speaker 2: the government, and they've dreamed up some you know, tim

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Speaker 2: pop little story about you know, making sure that you

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Speaker 2: know the government delivers for the people, the good people

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Speaker 2: of the hut South.

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Speaker 1: Hey, listen, scale of one to ten. How disappointed are

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Speaker 1: you that you weren't at Metallica last.

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Speaker 2: Night or ten and a half?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, but it's what happened.

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Speaker 2: Sad, but well it's a sad but true reality. Do

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Speaker 2: you see what I did there?

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Speaker 1: Yeah? No, I don't know any Metallica songs. Bish.

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Speaker 2: Oh well, nothing else matters than I got the Parliament. Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 2: but it's just down here writing the lightning at Parliament.

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Speaker 2: So it's all good.

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Speaker 1: You're so lame. Hey, thank you overy What was that?

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Speaker 2: Laugh? Lord?

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Speaker 1: Bish? Thank you very much. Chris Bishop Transport Minister, Transport Minister,

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Speaker 1: metal head not rolling Chris Lackson apparently. For more from

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Speaker 1: Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, Listen live to News Talk sai'd

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Speaker 1: be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on

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