Andrea Vance

Tony is angry. He feels betrayed. Over a couple of post-work beers, he and his mates are discussing Labour’s big infrastructure spend-up. ‘‘We’ll have to show them at the election,’’ he called to a friend across the bar as he left. Tony lives in Christchurch.

In 2017, Labour took Christchurch Central back from National for the first time since the 2011 earthquakes. It also significantly increased its party vote share in five of the city’s electorates, by between 13 and 15 percentage points.

Cantabrians had tired of shortcomings in the city’s rebuild. Inner city housing projects were slow to materialise. Anchor projects – like the convention centre – were delayed. Health services were run down.

With the party’s resurgence under Jacinda Ardern, voters put their faith back in Labour as a stronger advocate for them in Wellington’s corridors of power.

Those hopes have been replaced with bitterness. Canterbury got just a $159 million slice of the almost $7 billion transport infrastructure pie doled out by the Government last week. It will pay for pedestrian crossings, traffic lights, an overbridge and a bus lane. Once again, many residents feel abandoned and overlooked. And genuinely confused: the city is forecast to grow by some 10,000 residents each year for around the next decade. Leaving it out of a package designed to plan for the country’s future growth is shortsighted. The post-quake displacement of the population from the east upset the balance of the city’s transport infrastructure, and it is buckling under the strain.

There’s also resentment over delays to the Metro Sports Facility and glacial progress on the stadium. And a sense Ardern does not visit frequently enough.

Politically, overlooking our second biggest city seemed risky.

Why alienate voters there when there was blatant pork-barrelling in other decisions, such as the $690m 222km road NZ First snagged for Northland?

A meme began to circulate of ‘‘Labour’s map of New Zealand’’ – it featured only the North Island.

Thankfully, this perceived snub is not the end of the story. It missed out largely because of the rebuild… but not because the Government thinks the city has its fill of taxpayer cash.

Pressure from the Reserve Bank, IMF, OECD, the business sector and voters to get spending a $12b surplus meant the Government was looking for projects that were ready to go.

Auckland’s planning was already in place. Christchurch’s was much less developed and easy wins – like a new hospital – had already been done.

Critics are most irked by Labour’s unfulfilled election promise of light rail for the city. But the Government’s hands are tied as it is currently locked in a stand-off with regional council Ecan, which prefers buses.

Analysts are predicting this will be an election fought on infrastructure issues and Christchurch’s long-suffering constituents will punish Labour if it is left out.

The Government still has $4b left to spend. If Labour is planning to use any of that money in Christchurch, it should signal that sooner rather than later before the displeasure takes root and cannot be reversed before September’s election.

There’s also resentment over delays to the Metro Sports Facility, above, and glacial progress on the stadium. And a sense Ardern does not visit frequently enough.