Auckland stands at a crossroads. A city with many natural assets and emerging talent, our city risks being overtaken by global peers unless bold action is taken.

The Coalition Government’s Regional Deals initiative is an important way to help address these issues. An Auckland Deal would see central and local government working productively together to support agreed infrastructure investment including schools and housing as well as economic growth opportunities. It is positive to see the Labour Party in principle supporting this.

This year’s State of the City report on Auckland, initiated by the Committee for Auckland in partnership with Deloitte and Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, said new policies that enable scale, speed and co-ordination in how infrastructure is delivered are essential if we are to address New Zealand’s billion-dollar infrastructure deficit and lagging productivity, as well as the decline the report highlighted in Auckland’s overall performance.

The Government’s challenging economic circumstances are obvious but we have to aim higher than government and Auckland Council wrapping up what they’re already working on and putting a regional deal bow on it, which is all some of the early Australian deals achieved. International investors are keen to invest in a range of Auckland opportunities if the investment, policy and regulatory settings are right.

Technology and innovation projects are major drivers of economic return. In Scotland, the Edinburgh Innovation Deal, funded by the then Conservative government and the centre left Scottish government established the Edinburgh Futures Institute creating a hub for interdisciplinary research and data science significantly bolstered the region's infrastructure, research capabilities, and technology skills. The Auckland Business Chamber’s Auckland Tech Council has identified three key sectors – CreativeTech, FinTech and HealthTech where Auckland is particularly well-suited to take the lead within New Zealand and become a globally recognised technology hub.

An Auckland Regional Deal could provide a vital boost to Auckland’s innovation and skills areas, Auckland’s weakest two areas compared to its peer cities. Supporting the development of the University of Auckland’s Newmarket Innovation Precinct is an obvious opportunity to both address key industry skills deficits and attract new investment – contributing to get higher incomes and productivity improvements.

Auckland’s growing technology sector needs energy thirsty data centres and a tripling in the energy needed to support data centre numbers is expected over the next 10 years.

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and the New Zealand Super Fund are investigating an enormous one-gigawatt offshore wind farm in the South Taranaki Bight which would help meet Auckland’s needs. But this will only happen if the Government improves the regulatory framework for offshore renewable energy and commits to grid and other infrastructure enhancements.

More broadly with energy, our current market structures constrain competition and inhibit investment, with businesses and households paying the price. This will be the focus of a major industry event being hosted by the Chamber next month.

An Auckland Regional Deal could solve more than 10 years of options design, debate and delay on an improved stadium for Auckland. This would be a catalyst for more of the employment and other economic benefits that major events bring to a city. Included in this area should also be a decision on tourism infrastructure funding. Auckland receives 70% of the country’s international arrivals and the city should be delegated its share of the Government’s International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy to enhance the visitor experience.

A deal could help facilitate more integrated economic planning in the fast-track prioritised housing growth areas of Drury, Henderson and Mt Albert.

It could progress special economic zones, as Auckland peer city Fukuoka in Japan, which I’ve just visited, has done to attract international investment to support priority technology growth sectors.

In the next couple of years Auckland will have the International Convention Centre and the City Rail Link completed. But these legacy projects began a decade ago. What are today’s equivalent projects to underpin Auckland’s next 10 years?

I joined Mayor Wayne Brown on his recent business trade mission to China where I saw the positive impacts China’s effective infrastructure and innovation systems have had on its major cities, improving economic opportunity.

This is also true of cities in many smaller countries more similar to New Zealand like Denmark’s Copenhagen and eastern European cities like Prague in the Czech Republic where their manufacturing is exceptional.

The different and at times conflicting views of successive governments and Auckland Councils has slowed or even prevented some of the most important infrastructure and economic progress in Auckland. This will continue to hold the city back and see investment flow to cities in other countries unless we use an Auckland Regional Deal to declare that this stops now.

The time for indecision and delay is over. An Auckland Regional Deal presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to align central and local government, attract global investment, and unleash the city’s full potential. If we act boldly, Auckland can rise to become the globally competitive city it has the potential to be. The choice is ours—will we lead, or will we lag?