Webinar video: Renovating the Nation: How Asset Recycling Can Help Solve the Infrastructure Deficit
This webinar launches Renovating the Nation: How Asset Recycling Can Help Solve the Infrastructure Deficit, a report by Roger Partridge arguing New Zealand can fund new infrastructure by recycling Crown-owned commercial assets the government does not need to own.
Hosted by Dr Oliver Hartwich and featuring Fran O’Sullivan and Fraser Whineray (former CEO of Mercury), the discussion unpacks the New South Wales model and why New Zealand’s past asset sales failed to build trust. Partridge sets out three design requirements: ring-fencing proceeds in a statutory National Infrastructure Fund, ensuring additionality so proceeds fund genuinely new projects, and producing a prioritised, costed infrastructure list (led by the Infrastructure Commission) from which ministers can choose. The panel also discusses mixed-ownership settings (including the 51% rule), regulatory oversight, and why the public case must focus on visible outcomes — not the sale itself.
Read the report here.