TLDR: On a day when the main Opposition party proposed a youth justice policy for a third time that was judged a failure twice while it was in Government, TOP announced a proposal to replace Three Waters with a comprehensive Crown-backed system for funding and building infrastructure over 30 years.
TOP proposed a 30 year infrastructure plan backed by Crown-issued 30-year bonds that allocate funds via Crown Infrastructure Partners and uses an alliance contracting model based on the successes of SCIRT in Christchurch and Watercare in Auckland. It also proposed a Ministry of Water Works to commission and oversee the infrastructure upgrades. I’ll do a separate deeper-dive piece on this for all later today with a podcast interview with TOP leader RAF Manji.
Elsewhere in the news overnight and this morning here and overseas:
The UK unveiled £55b of spending cuts and tax hikes to win back bond market confidence;
FTX’s receiver revealed the worst failure of controls he’d ever seen; and,
Jacinda Ardern will meet Xi Jinping face-to-face tonight in Bangkok.
Paying subscribers can see and hear more analysis and detail below the paywall fold and in the podcast above. I’ll also send invites to paying subscribers for our weekly Ask Me Anything at midday and our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar at 5pm.
In Aotearoa’s political economy
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