Simon Court

Simon Court, ACT Member of Parliament and Under Secretary to the Minister for Infrastructure, brings a rare political perspective to the podcast. Andy and Simon worked together on the Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) rollout in 2013-14. The conversation covers infrastructure funding and financing (toll roads, water metering, electronic road pricing), the failures of Auckland light rail ($228M spent on reports with nothing built), fast-track consenting, the Infrastructure Commission's pipeline of 4,500+ projects, and proper risk allocation (Transmission Gully's consenting risk pushed to contractor). Simon also shares a powerful personal story, being shot at 17, that reshaped his life trajectory from archaeology student to engineer to politician.

Key Topics Discussed

• Infrastructure funding & financing. NZ needs to move from fuel taxes to electronic road pricing. Coalition agreement includes this as ACT policy. Water metering only in Auckland and a few councils, Wellington has leaks erupting from footpaths but no revenue stream. Need clear revenue sources to service infrastructure debt.
• Fast-track consenting & RMA reform. Simon's role is reforming the Resource Management Act and solving funding/financing. Fast track helps mega projects but 99.9% of projects won't qualify. Need better spatial planning to know where infrastructure goes well ahead of time.
• Pipeline of work. Infrastructure Commission has identified 4,500+ projects over next 5-15 years across central/local government, health, education. Workers need pipeline visibility so they can build lives, send kids to school, not have to move to Australia when a project ends.
• Risk allocation. Transmission Gully: pushing consenting responsibility to contractor contributed to delays and cost overruns. Asset owner (transport agency/council) is best placed to negotiate consents with regulators, not the contractor.
• Auckland light rail failure. $228M spent on technical reports and a business case with nothing built. Phil Twyford commandeered the project from Auckland Transport, who were already proceeding. Six wasted years of uncertainty for Dominion Rd businesses.
• Digital communication in construction. Andy advocates for short-form video (TikTok/reels-style) to communicate methodology, replacing 20-page Gantt charts. "The boardroom doesn't care about the Gantt chart, they care about 3 milestones." Two simulations running side by side showing root cause of delay.
• Personal story. Shot at 17 by a drug dealer while camping. Recovered, reflected, changed direction from politics/history degree to science/engineering. Worked 14 years in environmental engineering and waste industry. "Victims of crime need to feel safe and perpetrators need to feel the consequences."

Notable Quotes

• Simon: "If you think about who's best placed to get consents... it's probably the asset owner. Leaving the poor old contractor to go and do it, that's going to be extra time and cost."
• Simon: "We need a good planning system, a pipeline of work, and to sort out the funding and financing issue."
• Andy: "The future is short form videos. People don't have hours to read 20 pages of Gantt charts."
• Simon: "Sometimes really bad things happen... at that point you have to make a decision, am I going to be knocked down by this, or am I going to make sure good things happen?"

Guest Background

Simon Court is an ACT Party Member of Parliament, serving as Under Secretary to the Minister for Infrastructure and RMA reform. Background: grew up in a family that valued education, was shot at 17 while camping (sawn-off shotgun, point blank), which redirected his life from studying politics/history/archaeology to science and engineering. Worked 14 years in environmental management, engineering, and the waste industry. Worked with Andy on the UFB broadband rollout in 2013-14 at Downer. Has 3 boys.