A big Budget for Northland

When the coalition government announced our second Budget last week, the positive impact it will have on Northland was plain to see.

We’ve known for a long time that regional New Zealand is poorly served by many of our social and health services. This a barrier to many of our people gaining and holding work, and many of our wha¯nau providing supportive homes for their children.

The Budget’s additional spending on services in mental health, children in state care, family violence and drug and alcohol dependency will help us turn this difficult position around. The indexation of benefits to changes in wages will help our poorest families.

I am also proud of the specific contribution New Zealand First has made to this Budget. In those difficult social service areas we sought and secured $153 million for young people who have been in state care and are making the transition to independent adult life. This funding will for the first time support young people from often very difficult circumstances as they make that transition.

Perhaps the largest item in the Budget that will have a significant impact on the future of Northland is the new investment of more than $1 billion in KiwiRail. Of this some $742m will be spent upgrading KiwiRail’s tracks, bridges, tunnels and freight wagons, including greater investment in log wagons that can take more heavy trucks off the roads and make life easier for regular motorists.

The recent business case on the upgrade of Northland rail, and the first report from the independent group looking at how freight is moved around the upper North Island, have both indicated the dire state of rail in our region. Both show rail services in the North have been in a state of “managed decline.” Our tunnels can’t handle modern containers and our rail line, crazily, is not connected to our port. As a result much of what we make – milk, cheese, fruit – moves by truck to Auckland and then by rail to the port of Tauranga, from which it is exported. This is also crazy.

NZ First believe this has held Northland back from achieving its potential, and our primary industries and tourism have both been restricted by the emphasis on roads at the expense of rail.

And that is true of other regions, not just Northland. That’s why we will shortly be opening the mothballed rail line between Napier and Wairoa.

It’s also why NZ First secured from the Provincial Growth Fund $300m for specific regional initiatives. I can’t promise this will be used to address our issues with rail transport in the region, but I can promise that I will do my utmost to advocate for Northland’s share of that money.

The Budget shows how a coalition government that contains a party like New Zealand First, which is dedicated to our regions can have such a positive impact on wellbeing.

"Perhaps the largest item in the Budget that will have a significant impact on the future of Northland is the new investment of more than $1 billion in KiwiRail."