Beware thinking big

The government could have saved itself and the country much angst by studying the mistakes of a past PM, writes RICK CHRISTIE.

- RICK CHRISTIE

Looking at the raft of transformation projects launched during the two terms of the Ardern government, there are striking parallels with Rob Muldoon’s Think Big schemes of the early 1980s. These were generally industrial and energy-related projects and relied heavily on overseas borrowing. They ultimately cost the New Zealand economy dearly rather than providing the mooted economic growth benefits.

The contemporary projects are typically heartland Labour, namely in health, education, transport, the media and social policy. But like Think Big, it could be argued that they are driven more by political ideology than economic common sense.

Are they not only unrealistic but also undoable and uneconomic? Is a desire for power and control not far from the surface?

When we consider the specific proposals, aside from their sheer scale they are almost doomed from the start for being ill-conceived and lacking any implementation methodology.

The government clearly learnt little from its housing failure of five years ago that delivered on no more than a fraction of its target.