2. Question No. 2—Prime MinisterHon SIMON BRIDGES (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterQuestion No. 2—Prime Minister2. Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all her Government's statements and actions?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): Yes particularly the Government's $12 billion New Zealand Upgrade Programme which will see road rail schools and hospitals built or upgraded throughout New Zealand. Even though we only recently made the announcement for schools in particular I'm hearing about projects that are already under way.Hon Simon Bridges: Can she name one project that's already under way from that $12 billion spend up?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As I just mentioned the $400 million that has gone into schools. We're already seeing individual schooling projects I mentioned. Grant Robertson's electorate is one. I've heard from Chris Hipkins in his area. In fact if the member cares to ask members on his side every single school in their areas will have a project that they will be delivering with that funding.Hon Simon Bridges: What advice has she received on the economic effect of coronavirus on New Zealand?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: The advice that I've seen thus far has said it is too early to make any assumptions because much of what we're seeing could well be temporary. In tourism the question is whether or not the 13 percent of tourism we see come in from the Chinese market will postpone their visits or whether or not they will indeed turn into cancellations. Regardless we're not waiting. We are looking at within tourism for instance packages that may help redirect some of those tourist dollars into other parts of the market even our domestic market. We are asking tourism to work with IRD for instance on provisional tax relief as a way of easing the burden on the some 100 small to medium sized enterprises that rely directly on tourism that comes in from the Chinese market predominantly into Auckland Rotorua and Queenstown. We've also as the member if he's listened to my post-Cab will have heard taken a sweep across forestry the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) particularly the rock lobster industry. Those that are seeing direct effects now we're working closely with and in the education sector we've already worked with education to extend visas for students that may be affected by the border controls.Hon Simon Bridges: How significant does she believe the effect of coronavirus will be on our economy both now and in the future?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As I have said actually whilst it is difficult for us to quantify it now it is almost inevitable. In fact I've already said that in June when we receive the GDP results that cover this period I absolutely expect for us to see that reflected in our GDP numbers. As you can imagine as a trading nation one that receives a lot of tourism from China one that has an education sector that has a lot of students coming in from that market and given China themselves have already reflected in their forecasts for GDP a downgrade inevitably we will see impacts in New Zealand but we're working to mitigate that to the best of our ability.Hon Simon Bridges: What does she believe the Government's response to the economic effects of coronavirus should be not just in tourism but in education and primary exports?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As I have said at the moment the most direct impact we're seeing for exports is in the live export industry. MPI have worked closely with the rock lobster industry to allow them for instance where pots are in the sea where they've been collected they're able to be released and in alternative situations MPI are working in conjunction with the industry to give permissions where appropriate for release. At the moment the Minister of Fisheries is consulting on whether or not their take should be carried over into the new year. So that's something that's been consulted on. When it comes to wider exports at the moment logging is probably the area where the next biggest impact is. That's not just coronavirus; there's a beetle incursion in Europe which is causing a large amount to logs to be exported into China. The supply chain there has a backlog because people are not necessarily unloading at the port. We're working in the areas most affected particularly Tai Rāwhiti on ensuring that the Ministry of Social Development is catering for needs that we might see from contractors who are in harvesting but also on whether or not we can marry up those who might be feeling those impacts with others parts of our forestry industry. Te Uru Rākau are working on that as we speak. We are seeking to be as proactive as we can. Hon Simon Bridges: Given the consensus reports of about a half a percent off GDP at the moment that being about $1.5 billion and half a billion less in revenue what will that lower revenue have in terms of effect on this year and the budgetary process?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Again those are just some of the estimated and assumed impacts. As I've said at this point in time it is just too early to say. For instance we have really until through to April for some parts of the education sector to see whether or not that will have a long-term impact. Roughly 59 percent of the overseas education market have their students already in New Zealand. Of course we expect for the university sector that even if delayed students are most likely to still come in if border restrictions lift in appropriate time and so really it's just too early to say at this point what those wider impacts will be.