Chris Bishop used Kāinga Ora money to fund a bridge in his electorate

Tuesday, 18 November 2025

Transport Minister Chris Bishop at Melling Station ahead of announcing the bridge’s funding.

Senior minister Chris Bishop used housing money earmarked for a stormwater project to fund a walking and cycling bridge in his electorate - against the advice of his officials.

The $27m in funding from state housing agency Kāinga Ora was needed because the Government’s new transport policy had slashed any funding for non-car infrastructure, documents exclusively obtained by The Post reveal.

Labour says Bishop is dipping into housing funds to “save face” in his electorate and should have recused himself from the decision - but Bishop says it was simply a “pragmatic” response to a complex situation.

The proposed bridge, which had lost funding due to the Government’s strict new criteria for walking and cycling funding.

It seemingly goes against a Cabinet Manual directive that ministers should not make major decisions about projects within their electorate, but Bishop says making the decision with Finance Minister Nicola Willis was an adequate safeguard.

The funding was organised so quickly in March of this year that Treasury did not have time to take an official view on it, but Willis signed it off regardless.

Transport Minister Chris Bishop, second from the left, breaking ground to mark the beginning of preliminary construction work for the Melling Interchange, part of the wider RiverLink project. The project has been a long-term focus for Bishop in his electorate.

Bishop, who is both Housing and Transport Minister, had promised to fund the “City Link” bridge between the Melling railway station and Lower Hutt city centre as part of a wider RiverLink project when running to win the Hutt South electorate.

But the Government’s 2024 transport policy statement halved funding for walking and cycling, and introduced severe new restrictions on the money left.

“Investment in walking and cycling should only take place where there is either clear benefit for increasing economic growth or clear benefit for improving safety and where there is an existing or reliably forecast demand for walking or cycling,” the policy statement reads.

This left a $27m deficit in funding for the bridge.

But the Hutt City Council had an idea for where some more public money could be found - an Infrastructure Acceleration Funding agreement between state house developer Kāinga Ora and the council.

These funds are specifically intended for use in supporting the development of homes, with the original 2022 agreement setting aside $99m to upgrade stormwater infrastructure in Lower Hutt, with the goal of enabling 3500 new homes to be built.

The Hutt City Council had identified some potential savings within the project, including going from one pipe to two, and asked the Government for permission to use these savings - estimated to be a similar size as the deficit for the bridge - to pay for the bridge.

Labour’s Tangi Utikere said Bishop was dipping into housing funds to save face in his electorate.

Kāinga Ora said this made sense, but the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was against the move - saying the potential savings in the stormwater project were unclear, as was the potential cost of the bridge.

“There is still risk in progressing with the stormwater option and that until the savings are confirmed that it is prudent they stay allocated to the stormwater project. HUD wishes to avoid the situation where two projects without cost and delivery confidence are embedded in the [funding agreement],” officials wrote.

HUD officials did not believe that the bridge directly enabled housing as the stormwater infrastructure would.

They were also worried about the overall optics of using housing money to replace NZTA funding, saying this could create “reputation or precedent risk”.

Bishop told The Post that he saw the council’s request to switch the money as a “pragmatic response to the situation”.

“The wider RiverLink and Melling development has a long and complicated history, largely because there are three major entities involved and lining up the funding approvals over time has proven difficult,” Bishop said.

“It became clear earlier this year that the Hutt City Council’s view was that the city to river bridge was a critical part of the development. They proposed - and we agreed - to essentially swap some IAF funding granted to them so this could be prioritised as part of RiverLink. At the end of the day, it is another form of infrastructure and will help lay the foundations for more housing growth,” Bishop said.

Labour’s transport spokesman Tangi Utikere said Bishop should have delegated the decision to another minister given it was within his electorate.

“He had options, including delegating to Associate Transport Minister James Meager. Instead, he’s raided funds from social housing to make himself look good in his electorate and taken Nicola Willis along for the ride,” Utikere said.

While the funding was from the social housing agency Kāinga Ora it was not earmarked for social housing.

The Cabinet Manual suggests that ministers making major decisions about projects within their constituency either hand the decision to another minister or leave it with their agency, and potentially declare the conflict in the conflict of interest register. None of this was done in this instance.

Bishop said the fact that the funding decision had to be signed off by both him and Willis was an “adequate safeguard in this instance”.

“I have previously sought Cabinet Office advice on matters relating to the Melling Interchange. My actions have been in accordance with their advice,” Bishop said.

Utikere disagreed.

“Acting with Nicola Willis as opposed to delegating this was not an adequate safeguard,” Utikere said.

Labour says massive blowouts in projected costs for the Roads of National Significance forced Bishop into this move. The party supports the bridge being built.