Shane Jones has ruled out using private capital to fund schools, prisons and the public health system after admitting the Government needs to spend more on infrastructure.
Ahead of an appearance on TVNZ1's Q+A tonight, the Infrastructure Minister assured host Jack Tame that the Government is still "open for business" when it comes to private investment.
"New Zealand is most certainly open for business, but the Government comprising three parties is not going to go and look for private capital for schools prisons and the health department.
"After that everything else, as I have said on numerous occasions that we're looking for them," Mr Jones said.
His comments come after a report released by the Business Advisory council last week stated there is "no overarching vision or leadership in New Zealand for infrastructure development".
Mr Jones says the Government inherited infrastructure problems when it came into power.
"We didn't suddenly arrive at this rather dismal point in the last 18 months, for a long time we have talked about and processed ourselves into paralysis so we've got to get on with building our infrastructure rather than writing reports about it," he says.
You can watch the full interview with Mr Jones on Q+A tonight.
* Q+A is on TVNZ1 on Mondays at 9.30pm, and the episode is then available on TVNZ OnDemand and as a podcast in all the usual places.
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