Will city deals change anything?

Will city deals change anything?
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown and NZ First leader Winston Peters doing a city deal. (Image: X/@MayorWayneBrown)
Dileepa Fonseka
Simon Court’s description of how New Zealand allocates its infrastructure funding conjures up images of Oprah Winfrey’s stunt in 2004 where she gave away cars to random members of her live studio audience.  But instead of Winfrey shouting “You get a car, and you get a car” while pointing to people watching her show, in Court’s description it's politicians doing the pointing and they’re giving away the infrastructure for the cars, rather than the vehicles themselves. “Every election season,...

More Infrastructure

ComCom sets out price path for gas networks
Infrastructure

ComCom sets out price path for gas networks

Auckland bills will rise about $4 per month.

Northland outage: Class action law suit launched against Transpower over felled pylon
Infrastructure

Northland outage: Class action law suit launched against Transpower over felled pylon

A class action has been filed against national power grid operator Transpower and its lines maintenance contractor, Omexom, over the June last year outage that left much of Northland without power for days.The class action seeks to recover losses on behalf of all Northland busine...

Draft approval clears way for OceanaGold expansion
Primary Sector Exclusive

Draft approval clears way for OceanaGold expansion

The Waihi North Project is the first mine set to be approved under the fast-track law.

Garth Bray 26 Nov 2025
Port ownership up for debate
Infrastructure

Port ownership up for debate

Regional council assets, including NZX-listed ports, to be questioned in council reforms.

Thomas Manch 26 Nov 2025