Its said that this announcement will give certainty to the civil contracting industry over the next 10 years which will enable it to train and retain a skilled workforce.
This sounds fantastic unless you look at it again. These projects (and others not included like Mt Messenger) were all in train and funded, scheduled to go under the previous Government and many would’ve been half built by now providing that continuity.
Except that there’s been a massive lull in works after Labour cancelled nearly all of them – just for this opportunity to bribe the electorate.
Now the hook: The timing means that none of them will be started before this September election with the uncertainty that will bring to ALL industry. Labour will imply that if they’re not re-elected the projects won’t go ahead and skeptics like me who’ve seen it all before will know there’s an even chance they won’t go ahead even if they are re-elected.
A National Government will be little better. They’ll get in and go Jeez, the books are terrible, we’ve got no money to do these projects and may well cancel the lot – even though they’ll have pledged to carry them on if elected -to keep them for a lollie scramble on another day.
So thanks a lot you useless b@stard politicians playing your politics with our livelihoods and kids’ futures. They can’t get industry training and employment if the industry has no continuity and this rips whatever confidence we might’ve had clean away.
?BREAKING ? We’re building on our progress from the last two years and future-proofing our country with the Big New Zealand Upgrade. More ➡️ labour.org.nz/nzup
Posted by New Zealand Labour Party on Tuesday, 28 January 2020