Drury's Vision for Wellington
Rod Drury lays out his Vision for Wellington: Make Wellington the best city for trails and riding (this is about maintain biking trails) Create a compelling city for people in their 20's The home of GovTech Linking Wellington to global transport innovation
Some of his specifics are:
The Commuter Greenbelt. We have an amazing greenbelt that is underutilised, and in many areas is undermaintained. Make it a full trail for walking, running, and biking. Imagine having a one hour exercise loop that anyone can walk and ride, getting new glimpses of our beautiful city.
Open up new areas close to town like Te Ahumairangi (Tinakori Hill), which could be designed as a stunning multi-use recreational area. And unleash the potential of Mt Victoria as an urban playground.
Sounds great. People will move to live and work here, if it is an urban playground. This isn't saying have commuter cycleways that destroy business carparks. This is about mountain biking and walking trails.
Autonomous driving and robotaxies are starting to trial in US cities, despite their complex layers of regulation. Like we have done for Space and VTOL aircraft, New Zealand's smaller regulatory environment makes Wellington the ideal test lab for small automated transport solutions like autonomous taxis and autonomous network transit systems like Anterra with Lars Herold
We already have a second tunnel through Mount Victoria for buses that could easily accommodate a double out-and-back route for small electric shuttles from the airport. Utilising the existing second tunnel would save billions.
I think the future is autonomous shuttles. Households will give us their private cars if a cheap shuttle can pick you up within five minutes and take you to your destination, for less than the cost of your own car.
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Kiwiblog
3 days ago
- Kiwiblog
Drury's Vision for Wellington
Rod Drury lays out his Vision for Wellington: Make Wellington the best city for trails and riding (this is about maintain biking trails) Create a compelling city for people in their 20's The home of GovTech Linking Wellington to global transport innovation Some of his specifics are: The Commuter Greenbelt. We have an amazing greenbelt that is underutilised, and in many areas is undermaintained. Make it a full trail for walking, running, and biking. Imagine having a one hour exercise loop that anyone can walk and ride, getting new glimpses of our beautiful city. Open up new areas close to town like Te Ahumairangi (Tinakori Hill), which could be designed as a stunning multi-use recreational area. And unleash the potential of Mt Victoria as an urban playground. Sounds great. People will move to live and work here, if it is an urban playground. This isn't saying have commuter cycleways that destroy business carparks. This is about mountain biking and walking trails. Autonomous driving and robotaxies are starting to trial in US cities, despite their complex layers of regulation. Like we have done for Space and VTOL aircraft, New Zealand's smaller regulatory environment makes Wellington the ideal test lab for small automated transport solutions like autonomous taxis and autonomous network transit systems like Anterra with Lars Herold We already have a second tunnel through Mount Victoria for buses that could easily accommodate a double out-and-back route for small electric shuttles from the airport. Utilising the existing second tunnel would save billions. I think the future is autonomous shuttles. Households will give us their private cars if a cheap shuttle can pick you up within five minutes and take you to your destination, for less than the cost of your own car.
Otago Daily Times
26-05-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Tech entrepreneur calls for electricity sector shakeup
Rod Drury. PHOTO: ODT FILES Tech entrepreneur Rod Drury has put a radical reform of New Zealand's electricity sector at the centre of an impassioned call for a "national vision". Speaking to a packed audience on the opening day of the Electrify Queenstown conference yesterday, the Xero founder lamented the country's lack of ambition and continuing brain drain. He had spent a lot of time in the past few years thinking about how the country could develop a sustainable competitive advantage in something. "For me, the answer was really easy — renewable electricity. It could be our version of Saudi Arabian oil." He was advocating for the separation of infrastructure from retail services in the electricity sector in the same way that Telecom was split into Chorus and Spark more than a decade ago. "At the moment, we have vertically-integrated power companies trying to do both infrastructure and retail. "That model just doesn't support long-term infrastructure investment. "Let's do what we did with telecommunications — separate the generation and transmission assets into a dedicated infrastructure entity." The government had shown foresight to build massive hydro-electric schemes decades ago, which meant 88% of the country's electricity was generated from renewable sources. However, New Zealand only had six weeks' energy storage, creating a scarcity factor that led to "really high" electricity prices. Building infrastructure for six months' storage would give New Zealand "energy sovereignty". Although a difficult decision would have to be made on the "least worst place to put it", the alternative was the country's continuing dependence on the global supply chain for coal. Mr Drury said he was "road-testing" his ideas for electricity sector reform, including speaking to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon about it recently. "Our goal could be to have the lowest-priced renewable energy in the world." The three-day Electrify Queenstown event is aimed at helping businesses and households electrify, decarbonise and reduce their energy bills. It continues today with an exhibition and trade show at the Queenstown Events Centre and ends tomorrow with a day of field trips to local energy projects.
NZ Herald
24-05-2025
- NZ Herald
My biggest financial mistakes and what you can learn from them
My financial missteps haven't ruined me (yet, touch wood) but there have been many - and perhaps there are some pearls of wisdom you could learn from my past idiocy. Panic selling I won't pretend it was stellar financial foresight that led me to invest in Xero in its early days on the NZX. I just liked the cut of Rod Drury's jib, and it seemed like he was on to a good thing. I was planning to be a long-term investor but, as its share price rose and rose, I got excited - particularly as I was saving for a house deposit. (I should note here that I only had a small portion of my overall savings in shares!). Every broker I spoke to warned Xero was overvalued – the fundamentals did not support such a share price, they said - but investors apparently disagreed. But then shares took a wee tumble, then fell a little further - and I panicked. I decided it was better to quit while I was ahead and reasoned 'Hey, I'd doubled my money'. Xero shares then resumed their rise, climbing further … and further … and further. I later did the sums as to what that decision cost me, and the answer was hundreds of thousands of dollars. Gulp. Sob. Sigh. There are many lessons from that experience. First, my reaction to a drop in the share price, coupled with my short-term goal to buy a house, suggests I didn't have the right risk profile to be investing in shares just then (plus having such a concentration in a single share is the anthesis of diversification wisdom). It showed me it's easy to say you're comfortable with risk when the share price is rising, but the reality is revealed by what you feel – and what you do - when it's falling. I also learnt to keep things in perspective – I didn't lose hundreds of thousands of dollars, I lost the chance to turn my meagre investment into a much bigger sum. Plus, I did manage to use the funds to buy a house – and that also makes me fortunate. I should also mention that I later re-invested in Xero before it moved solely to the ASX – and it has performed very well since (just not as well as if I'd left my initial investment in!) Life admin fail Not all my mistakes were quite so costly, but one that still rankles involves my KiwiSaver. For a while I was on a contract that took a total remuneration approach to KiwiSaver - meaning both your 3% and your employers' 3% come from your salary, rather than their 3% being on top (so perhaps my first mistake was not negotiating a better contract!). As contributions were therefore 6% of my salary, a financial adviser suggested pausing them to help me secure lending for another investment, which I did. It then took me a long time to resume contributing. I just didn't get around to it. For ages. What. An. Idiot. Not only did I miss out on the investment returns that would have compounded for decades to come, but I did not put that 3% anywhere productive. I can't quantify specifically what that life admin fail cost me, but it was fruitless and avoidable. Learn from my mistakes - pausing your KiwiSaver contributions should be an absolute last resort, but if you need to do it, prioritise resuming them ASAP. Falling victim to lifestyle creep Nadine Higgins is the host of NZME's personal finance podcast, The Prosperity Project, and a financial adviser at enableMe. She was formerly a financial journalist and broadcaster. Photo / Supplied Early in my career, my salary rose much faster than my living costs but my spending adjusted terrifyingly quickly to soak up the difference. I budgeted like a ninja to survive as a student, then as an intern, but as I moved to being paid a salary, then a higher salary, then into a new job with better pay, my taste got more expensive. A friend and I look back and laugh (a little ruefully) about how our Saturdays used to involve getting our nails done and going shopping just for something to do. I enjoyed that financial freedom after a childhood where every dollar was stretched, and I did still manage to save but not nearly as much as I could have – the benefits of which would have paid serious dividends all these years later. I'm not an advocate of living life in a financial straitjacket if you can avoid it, but I do encourage prioritising what really brings joy. So, let's just say these days I'm more likely to go shopping in my own wardrobe, and paint my own nails. I've made many more than three financial mistakes, of course, and, while all are devoid of both glamour and gore, hopefully you can learn something from them without having to make them yourself.
