Government Response to the National Infrastructure Plan
What are the next steps? At the time the National Infrastructure Plan was released, Minister for Infrastructure Chris Bishop said the Government will be studying the recommendations for proposed long-term system shifts, which include legislative change, and will publish its response to the Plan in June 2026. He also highlighted his intention to engage with other political parties on that response. That response has now been published. The Government supports, or supports in principle, all recommendations. Where the Government supports recommendations in principle, it supports the outcome but has chosen alternative methods of implementation. The Labour Party provides broad support for the Plan, and the Green Party supports all recommendations in full but notes some specific concerns with the Government’s response. The Treasury has been asked to lead, monitor, and report back on the implementation of the Government’s response as a whole – with relevant agencies responsible for executing individual recommendations. The Minister for Infrastructure will report back to Cabinet on the Government response to the Plan no later than the end of June 2027.
Themes for change and system shifts Theme
Recommendation
Government Response
Planning what New Zealand can afford
1.
Ensure capital allowances are based on need, informed both by the Commission’s independent assessment of long-term need and agencies’ asset management and investment plans.
Supported
2.
Reform land transport funding and investment oversight to align investment with the revenue that will be available.
Supported
3.
Introduce legislation requiring capital-intensive central government agencies to publish long-term investment and asset management plans aligned with fiscal strategy.
Supported
4.
Extend the planning horizon to provide predictable funding signals from Government.
Supported in principle
Looking after the assets New Zealand already has
The Government is taking steps to extend the infrastructure planning horizon, including through the development and publication of multi-year infrastructure plans for major areas of spending such as the Health Infrastructure Plan released in April 2025. Steps taken to extend the infrastructure planning horizon will be included as part of the Minister for Infrastructure’s June 2027 report back to Cabinet. 5.
Adopt multi-year budgeting to reinforce high quality planning, delivery and asset management practices.
Supported in principle The existing capital budgeting system already has aspects of multi-year budgeting.