Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Andrew Dickens: The Government needs to act fast to save our engineers from leaving the country

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Andrew Dickens: The Government needs to act fast to save our engineers from leaving the country · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So the government says they're all about growth. The government
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: says they're layser focused on growth. The government says they're
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: going to stop saying no and they're going to start
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: saying yes. So why on the weekend was Engineering New
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Zealand calling the government out for gaslighting about its going
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: for growth strategy. They accused the government of talking up
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: infrastructure development and yet in the last fifteen months since
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: the formation of the government, they have stalled, frozen and
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: dumped various state funded building plans with the aim of
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: deficit and debt reduction. And we're seeing it. It's the
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: cancelation of education rebuilds, the shutdown of hospital builds and upgrades,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: the slowdown on roading, and the changes in the Three
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Waters space as well. I mean, you can say what
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: you want about co governors, but at the end of
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: the day, Three Waters was about building some more dams.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: It's all meant that New Zealand engineers and New Zealand constructors,
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  Speaker 1: the people who build the roads and the water networks
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: and the buildings, they've all had to look for work
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: elsewhere and that has seen people heading overseas or contracting
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: to work overseas and it's in significant numbers, says Engineering
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: New Zealand. Engineering New Zealand says large infrastructure firms in
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  Speaker 1: Australia are rapidly hiring large numbers of New Zealand engineers.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Engineering New Zealand seers other engineers have been lured to
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: California to help with the rebuild after last month's devastating wildfires.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Engineering New Zealand urges the government to free up funds
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: for the delivery and firm up the infrastructure pipeline, or,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: in the immortal words of Mike Hosking, Engineering New Zealand
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: is saying, just do something. For more from early edition
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: with Ryan Bridge. Listen live to News Talks at B
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio