Yesterday, US President Barack Obama spoke from the Brent Spence bridge over the Ohio River about the vital connection between jobs and infrastructure repair.

The Brent Spence bridge has been rated functionally obsolete and unsafe, it carries nearly twice the traffic it was designed to handle, and earlier this year, chunks of concrete fell from its upper level.2 And it isn’t the only essential piece of infrastructure that’s falling apart.

It’s shameful that our bridges are literally crumbling while construction workers are unable to find employment. America’s infrastructure needs work, and Americans need jobs.

The solution is obvious: Put people back to work repairing our bridges, dams, highways, schools, and the rest of our failing infrastructure.

We’re putting pressure on Congress to pass a jobs plan that does just that. But we need to make the problem visible. That’s why the American Dream movement is setting out to find and photograph the jobs that need doing—and we need your help.

I received this email early this morning from MoveOn, a political network which is driving progressive change in the US.

Tell Congress: America has jobs that need doing

We don’t have anything like that here. But we do have skills shortages, we have infrastructure that needs repairing, rethinking and renewing, while the national Government spends billions on new highways.

We have a government that is actively dumping existing skills sets (rail) . A govt that is not investing enough in apprenticeships. That doesn’t have a plan to create jobs.

Labour would not dump our rail engineering skills. We’d foster them. We will invest in apprentices trainig for our young people. We do have a plan to grow jobs in strategic industries.

Let’s do what Moveon is doing in the US and show the government what needs doing.

Can you take a picture of a job that needs doing in your community? It could be a bridge, dam, road, school,  or any other piece of our infrastructure that needs repair, rethinking. Email it to me clare.curran@parliament.govt.nz

DFT 7295 (that’s the loco) hauls two of KiwiRail’s new AK class passenger cars and a rebuilt viewing car on their delivery run from Dunedin to Christchurch this week . The AK class passenger cars were built by KiwiRail’s own Hillside Engineering plant in Dunedin. These two cars will be used for staff training, before being used on long distance services. These are the first two of 17.

This is what Kiwis can do. Build stuff. Quality stuff. We should be proud of this.

Instead the National Govt is sending work overseas that could be done here. As a result Kiwis are losing their jobs, settling for lesser jobs or heading to Australia.

Why can’t we do it here?  Even if it costs a bit more  (by Chinese standards) the standards are demonstrably higher, we keep the skills inside NZ, we pay wages, they pay tax. It’s better for the country.

Labour would get the work done here. The Hillside and Woburn rail workshops have huge potential. Not just for rail.

I know Kiwirail has been approached by other Kiwi companies keen to get other manufacturing and fabricating work done here. I also understand that Kiwirail’s head office isn’t too keen on actively purusing these ideas.

Why is that? Have they been told to run the workshops down. Surplus to requirements? If so this is a national scandal.

Three years ago the nation was full of hope about Kiwirail’s potential. Today the name has been tarnished and associated with a political push to grind down a proud and productive manufacturing industry and skill base.

Hat tip (for the video clip): Julian Blanchard, Labour’s candidate for Rangitata

Couple of stand out issues. Almost everyone has noted the difficulty they have had engaging with Steven Joyce on issues. Anyone who has observed his response to any suggestion of alternatives to roading projects will not be surprised by that. But secondly, so much of what is being discussed here is about providing people with genuine choice when the government is instead focused on entrenching the use of cars, and ignoring that it is becoming less and less affordable (not to mention the environmental, urban design, and quality of life issues.) Case in point- the CBD rail link!

And a final word to one group in particular- Rob George from the campaign for better transport in Hamilton is who driving a huge campaign for Waikato trains. Hard slog, but you wouldn’t find a more passionate campaigner. Now he just needs some political will behind him…..

Solving these problems has become more urgent now we have a unified Auckland that aspires to building a world class city. Which is why the circumstances around the new Westgate development in Auckland’s north-west are particularly unfortunate. Two government agencies, Transport Agency NZ and Transpower, have been obstructing a new town centre development tipped to generate 10,000 jobs and increase the country’s GDP by $2 bn a year by 2051.

The development borders on the Te Atatu electorate where I am based. Those jobs and the impressive planned new town centre, will be a huge benefit not only to the people of Massey but all of the West.

I am amazed how NZTA has refused to build motorway ramps to service the northern end of the new town centre even though the Council has offered to pay for them. NZTA is stuck in the mindset that the new Hobsonville motorway and extension to Kumeu opened with fanfare on the weekend is fundamentally a bypass to allow people from the north to get to the airport more quickly, and bugger the idea that it should support the huge new commercial hub being built at Westgate.

Transpower has also been a nightmare for the development to deal with. The high voltage power cable obviously has to be underground but they have sheeted home the full cost to the development, causing numerous delays while refusing to sign a contract that gives certainty. Meanwhile the cost has gone from $5 m to around $20 m.

The developer NZRPG are the only NZ-owned  firm who do these big retail developments. They have spent more than five years putting together the plans in conjunction with the Council, not just plonking a new mall out there but designing a town centre based on good urban design principles. They have put $228 m of their own money into it. The least the Government could do is act supportive.

That is why I have written to John Key asking him to intervene and tell NZTA and Transpower to pull their heads in. After all, it is in his electorate.

In Question Time today Steven Joyce said NZTA was in talks with the developer and progress was being made on the question of the ramps. About bloody time after five years of obstruction.

In Australia last week:

The rail industry is gearing up for a richer, fairer and greener future, driven by strategies that will be informed by a recent report into the industry’s current state of play.

Launching the report Railway Manufacturing Industry – A Profile of the Rail Manufacturing Industry in Australia, Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr said understanding the size, scale and structure of the rail industry was essential if the Government was to develop successful strategies to secure the industry’s future.

“The report, prepared by ACIL Tasman, shows that in 2008-09, the rail manufacturing industry comprised more than 330 firms, employed more than 15,000 Australians, generated $4.2 billion annual revenue and added $1.6 billion to the Australian economy annually,” Senator Carr said.

“This demonstrates just how substantial the national contribution of the Australian railway manufacturing industry is in terms of investment, jobs, skills and innovation. It is a diverse sector, with a wide-range of skill sets across Australia, particularly in regional areas.

In South Africa in April:

Addressing a well-attended meeting in Gauteng on 5 April, transport minister Sibusiso Ndebele announced an impressive programme to procure new rolling stock for the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa). To be rolled out over 18 years, the declared aim is to reposition rail as the “backbone” of public transport.

A feasibility study is in hand; the results are to be submitted for cabinet approval as soon as it is complete.

Prasa CEO Tshepo Lucky Montana emphasised that the R25 billion provided by the state in recent years merely “stabilised” the business – in decline due to years of under-investment and neglect. But Ndebele stressed that the government does not have the sort of money needed – in excess of R90 billion: “Therefore, a significant and sustained commitment from local and international financiers will be required to complete the rolling stock renewal programme.”

The proposed upgrade cannot be postponed, Montana warned. Without it, the railway could “collapse” in less than 10 years.

According to the minister, the government is committed to striking a “delicate balance” between the trains it needs and
the commercial interests of financiers and rolling stock manufacturers. The procurement process is seen as hinging on the injection of private finance ahead of March 2012, when work is to begin on selecting a preferred bidder – to be announced by August and confirmed in September. This is in the hands of an interdepartmental task team drawn from the Departments of Transport, Trade and Industry and Public Enterprises, as well as the National Treasury,

The meeting on 5 April was set up to gauge the interest of local and foreign manufacturers and financiers in the proposed rolling stock acquisition plans.

According to Prasa’s Piet Sobola, it is hoped to have the first of 6,600 new coaches to be in use during 2015, followed by deliveries continuing until 2030. Of these, 4,600 will comprise commuter rolling stock for Metrorail. The remaining 2,000 will be for Shosholoza Meyl’s intercity fleet.

A 65% minimum level of local content is to be a precondition. The market engagement process will seek to gauge the technology and financing options available “within South African ownership and infrastructure constraints”.

The NZ Rail Maritime Transport Union’s Wayne Butson said that the successful tender for Auckland’s Electric Multiple Units is due to be announced within weeks, and the RMTU would be watching very closely to see whether KiwiRail honoured the local involvement pledge it made during the tender process.

I have an inkling there will be a few crumbs tossed towards local NZ  procurement to shut us all up.

I doubt it’ll be targeted at Dunedin’s rail workshops though. And I doubt it will show a serious commitment to the local rail industry

Hat tip: RMTU

Bill English has admitted the government infrastructure plan released today does not contain detail on any infrastructure project that had not already been announced over the past 2-3 years.

That’s right this is actually a non-news story. The article goes on to say how there was little in the way of specifics or detail in the announcement. I am getting more and more feedback from all parts of the political spectrum of real concern that the National Party has no plan to lift the NZ economy out of its current state. This non-news announcement just adds to that.

Maybe it was because Kiwirail were at the same time firing staff in Dunedin and the Hutt Valley.

Because it is Kiwirail not Chinarail it is time the economic benefits of these purchases (jobs created, skills developed, tax paid, benefits avoided) rather than just the accounting costs are taken into account.

KIWIRAIL Purchase Additional 20 sets of “MADE IN CHINA CNR” Diesel-electric Locomotives
Source?Author?Date?2011-06-17
On June 2, CNR Import & Export Corp. Ltd of CHINA CNR Corp. Ltd. Singed another contract for 20 diesel-electric locomotives with KIWIRAIL New Zealand. The partner PPD company in New Zealand of CNR Import & Export Corp. Ltd has been strongly supporting this contract. This is KIWIRAIL to the CNR purchase after first 20 locomotives in 2009.

But with the High Court judgement quoted below showing how he illegally tilted the playing field in Telecom’s favour he can not be the principal policy advisor on a plan which abolishes regulatory oversight of Telecom’s broadband. It gives them a blank cheque to overcharge much of the country for a decade.

Even before the court decision the sector was revolting. This revelation means that there needs to be a quick expert inquiry into both the decision to favour Telecom and the process that resulted in a very unusual decision.

Because of the vested interests involved the expert(s) will have to come from offshore.

The judgement said interalia:-

The senior Telecom executive named by High Court judge Rodney Hansen in his judgment penalising the telco for historic breaches to Commerce Act, is now a senior civil servant with oversight of the government’s broadband investments.

Bruce Parkes is currently Deputy Secretary at the Ministry of Economic Development for the Energy and Communications Branch. Among his responsibilities, according to his profile on the MED website, are ICT policy and the Ultra Fast Broadband plan. “In conjunction with Crown Fibre Holdings, this group will continue to implement work on the ultra-fast broadband policy, with the immediate aim of settling initial negotiations with potential providers,” reads the profile.

In the High Court judgment released yesterday, Justice Hansen imposed a record $12 million fine on Telecom for a breach of the Commerce Act between 2001 and 2004. Telecom is appealing the case. In his judgment Hansen notes that Parkes was among senior company executives to have been involved in what was later found to be an anti-competitive practice:

“Telecom’s strategy was understood and approved at the highest level of management. Bruce Parkes, who headed Telecom’s Industry Services Unit, which was responsible for the development and sale of commercial products to other service providers, said in a memorandum to Ms Teresa Gattung, the then Chief Executive Officer of Telecom: “Our negotiations to date with carriers have been to treat them exactly like other large corporate customers … carriers such as Telstra are obviously competitors in the retail market for any services but for data they are actually primarily resellers of our retail data services … and as such are growing the market for our benefit and theirs.”

“Mr Stuart Goodin, Telecom’s Strategy and Pricing Manager, worked under Mr Parkes in developing CDPs. He acknowledged in evidence that Mr Parkes’ philosophy was that there would not be price competition between Telecom and other TSPs, only competition on service quality,” the judgment reads

Yesterday’s judgment followed a High Court ruling in October 2009 that Telecom unlawfully leveraged its market power to charge competitors disproportionately high prices for wholesale access to its network.

Justice Hansen said in the judgment that the exclusionary effects of Telecom’s conduct “were injurious to competitors, brought significant benefits to Telecom and were damaging to the competitive process.” He also noted that “[t]he breach was the result of a deliberate strategy, apparently sanctioned at the highest levels of Telecom, to price data tails at a level that would preclude price competition between Telecom and other [teleco service providers]”.

Thanks Computerworld

It was Road Transport Forum (RTF) driven and many trucking operators put their employee drivers on the road that day to boost the numbers, which is a bit like a union paying union members to strike. It was timed well, and had an effect.  Transport Minister Annette King set up a road user charges review group which reported back in 2009.

Now parliament is considering a Road User Charges Bill that has got the truckies up in arms again because it proposes to change the definition of licence weight from nominated gross weight to a definition based on the maximum permissible on-road weight. 

The truckies are saying that this could mean increases in RUC charges for around 70% of the industry, forcing unproductive changes that could have impacts on safety, on damage to our roads, and financial consequences for SMEs. Basically, the big trucks will get off lightly, while the smaller trucks will pay more. 

In a fascinating turn of events, truckies have told the government that they are organising to protest again and this time around they will be better organised than in 2008. One operator has set up a website which is worth a look.

There’s a split in the industry. Many are supportive of the New Zealand’s unique road user charging system, which is now attracting international interest as virtually every modern economy develops and trials technology to implement similar direct charging for heavy vehicles. 

There’s some really smart modern operators in New Zealand now taking up the opportunity new technology offers to buy road user charges on-line and maximise efficiency. 

Then you have the RTF, who continue to insist that road user charges should be paid through fuel excise and who appear to treat modern technology with suspicion. 

Never thought I would be so interested in trucks.

While in the meantime, we get to pay more for our copper-based services, which won’t improve during that time?

The Bill that Steven Joyce is rushing through parliament will see a price hike of at least five dollars a month on the average phone and broadband bill for many consumers. The effect of his new law is to re-average prices for the current copper based broadband services which means the price of broadband delivered over copper will increase in urban areas by more than 20 percent.

And, it will stifle competition in the copper market, while the vast majority of Kiwis will not be able to access fibre for up to a decade.

As if Kiwis didn’t have enough to worry about with hikes in food, electricity and petrol prices, they now face artificially increased prices for their broadband and phone while the Government presses through with its ill-advised telco laws and hands enormous powers to the Communications Minister as well as to New Zealand’s biggest telco, Telecom.

And, if I read Juha Saarinen right in the NZ Herald today, when we do get fibre, it may very well be much less than what the government said we’d get. Juha somehow got hold of Crown Fibre Holding’s wholesale pricings for fibre.

He said:

Despite the government’s promise that New Zealanders will receive at least 100Mpbs downloads and 50Mbps uploads on the fibre-optic network that will cost tax payers $1.5 billion, the price book shows that the entry-level service runs at more modest 30Mbps downstream and 10Mbps upstream.

Today’s broadband over the country’s ageing copper phone network provides up to 15Mbps downloads and 800kbps uploads.

So Steven Joyce says we’ll all get ultrafast broadband in our homes. By the end of 2019. He says we’ll get 100Mpbs. But it looks as though we’ll get 30Mbps. He says he doesn’t care what the industry thinks, he only cares about consumers.

And yet those consumers will have to pay more for their existing copper based broadband. Possibly until the end of 2019.

Even David Farrar on Kiwiblog thinks it’s questionable. He doesn’t say it’s a dog. But I reckon he thinks it.

How can we progress as a country if we can’t get broadband right? The only organisation supporting the Government’s new laws are Telecom. I wonder why that is?

They’d be wise to have a bit of a rethink on their position.

At some point Steven Joyce might realise he’s the only one in the room.