'Public institutions' like schools and hospitals shouldn't be owned privately - Chris Hipkins

Kohuora Auckland South Corrections Facility, run by private company SERCO. Photo: RNZ / Sam Olley

Labour says it does not support the private ownership of core infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and prisons.

At the first day of the Infrastructure Investment Summit on Thursday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the government wanted private investment into "anything and everything" and was pushing for bipartisan support.

Representatives of more than 100 companies from 15 countries have gathered in Auckland for the summit, between them controlling $6 trillion in assets and funds.

Health Minister Simeon Brown said in his speech the government was "explicitly" open to public-private partnerships to build health infrastructure.

Labour MPs were attending the summit. Leader Chris Hipkins was not there, but said his colleagues were making clear what the party's priorities would be when it returned to government.

"A bottom line for us is things like hospitals, schools, prisons for example, the bottom line is we don't support the private sector building and operating those things - those are public institutions."

Hipkins said Labour did explore public-private partnerships when last in government for Auckland light rail, and public transport was another area they could work in.

He said more transparency was needed from the government on what was up for auction.

Chris Hipkins. Photo: Reece Baker

Luxon said New Zealand had some very successful public-private partnerships.

"We haven't set a set number [of partnerships], but we're just making sure we're open and up for anything and everything because at the end of the day... we care about infrastructure getting built. Why do we care about that? It's fundamentally so that New Zealanders can actually get more money into their pocket."

Luxon said the Waikato Expressway, for example, had led to economic and social benefits as it enabled people to work longer and get home faster.

Labour's infrastructure spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said Labour would honour any public-private partnerships signed up to by the coalition government. He said Labour might not like all the deals made, but it would honour them.

"The fact is we might be in government in 18 months time and these people need to know that there's going to be stability in New Zealand and that's why we're there," he said.

"Our finance spokesperson is going to be doing a speech today... so everyone knows exactly where we stand. There's a bottom line for us on certain things - private ownership of core infrastructure - but there's a big area where we would welcome foreign investment and that's an important message for them to know."

Projects up for public-private partnerships include the Northland Expressway and a prison wing in Christchurch.

Labour's finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

Labour's finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds told the summit foreign investment in Aotearoa must create real benefits for all New Zealanders, and uphold the country's values.

"With a limited pool of domestic capital, attracting foreign investment has to be a key part of our plan for economic growth. But how that growth happens-and who it benefits-matters," she said.

"I'm not interested in an economy where one part of the country races ahead of the rest. Nor will I accept investments that depend on jobs that are low paid and insecure."

There were big opportunities in investing in iwi and the Māori economy, Edmonds said.

"Recent data shows that the Māori contribution to the economy grew from $17 billion in 2018 to $32 billion in 2023 - and there is no reason why this trend cannot continue," she said.

Edmonds said the next Labour government would not support any step towards the private ownership or operation of public hospitals, schools, prison or critical infrastructure.

"These are essential public services, and people expect their government to safeguard them for the benefit of all New Zealanders long into the future," she said.

"The reason why investing in New Zealand has been seen as a privilege is because successive governments agreed that there are some things too important to New Zealanders to sell off.

"Our land, our hospitals, our schools, and infrastructure are not just assets to be traded - they are the foundation of our communities and economy and must remain in public hands."

Infrastructure New Zealand chief executive Nick Leggett said he thought the government pitched the country well in its speeches at the investment summit.

Leggett said from conversations he had with investors at the summit, they saw opportunities in Aotearoa.

"New Zealanders want infrastructure built as efficiently and as quickly as possible. We can use private capital to do that, but government must retain ultimate control."

Civil Contractors New Zealand, which represents the construction sector, was optimistic about the future direction of infrastructure investment.

Alan Pollard Photo: Supplied

Chief executive Alan Pollard said there had been encouraging conversations at the summit and he believed the number of public-private partnership projects would grow.

"That can only mean good things for our industry because our industry relies on having confidence in the future supply of work to enable it to invest in people and technology," he said.

"The ministers are very clearly on top of their portfolios and the needs of each of their portfolios. And not only the government in the room but the opposition is part of the process as well, and this is probably one of the first times I imagine where we've got their cross party support for the event.

"It's been a little quiet across the construction sector over the last 12 months or so and that's caused some restructuring to occur so we have lost people and we have lost plant and equipment, but if the industry has confidence in the future pipeline of work we will invest in it."

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