Time for politicians to work together

Jim Quinn (NZ Herald, Dec 27) hit the nail squarely on the head with his summing up of the debacle of Kiwi Rail and State Highway 1 across Cook Strait, with a 337 per cent change in directorship in the past decade. This also applies to our democratic system of government, where our MPs play the Alice in Wonderland tea party game of “all move around one in the seats of Parliament House”.

Given as a classic example of the “all move around one” action of Cabinet roles within the past two governments (right- and left-wing) during a six-year stint in Parliament, the percentage of changes must far exceed that of the directorship seen in KiwiRail with three years’ learning and three years’ planning and very few project completions. No wonder our dismal state of infrastructure and economy in NZ is in crisis.

No one minister or party is in the driver’s seat long enough for longterm goal achievement in any infrastructure before everyone moves around once more. Our system of constant change of legislation, trial and error, ignorance and failure to future-proof policies, pass and repeal legislation, planning and costing and never reaching implementation is causing New Zealand to slide backwards instead of moving forward.

New Zealand’s politicians seriously need to stop sniping at each other and playing the “blame game” and sit around the table together for the advancement of all. Agree to a permanent plan, stop tossing the balls up in the air and praying for solutions, use reputable expert consultants and contractors and build for at least the next 100-200 years.

Older New Zealanders have workable household items from the last century in their homes. Roads and rail built with pick and shovel, homes have stood for centuries and lasted longer than our modern infrastructure built in the past decade.

Build it once and build it right!