Twyford Phil: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTwyford Phil: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 18 March 2015. Volume:704;Page:2351. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]8.PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū) to the Minister of Transport: Does he agree that the Government’s Northland bridges policy was “absolutely” the idea of National by-election candidate Mark Osborne as he claims?Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister for Economic Development) on behalf of theMinister of Transport: Strictly speaking it is the National Party’s bridges policy but I am sure the Government will enjoy putting it in place. We have a great candidate in Mark Osborne with great ideas to ensure that the future of Northland is a prosperous one.David Shearer: Hasn’t answered the question.Hon STEVEN JOYCE: Give me a chance. The Pūhoi to Wellsford road of national significance will open up Northland for economic development and tourism. That is why Mr Osborne has advocated strongly to Ministers that the next logical step is upgrading single-lane bridges on the Twin Coast Discovery Highway to ensure Northland is ready for the influx of new visitors and business that the Pūhoi to Wellsford highway will bring. Mr Osborne’s commitment also reflects priorities identified by the Northland Regional Council in the region’s draft regional land transport plan.Phil Twyford: Was he disappointed that Mark Osborne who he claims is a strong voice for Northland and wait for it actually lives in Northland could not even name the taxpayer-funded bridges when asked about them by the media given that they were supposedly his idea that he announced the policy and that he could even see one of them from his house?Mr SPEAKER: Order! There is absolutely no ministerial responsibility for statements made by Mr Osborne.Grant Robertson: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. In the answer the extremely long answer that the Minister gave he made a number of political points that had absolutely no relationship to his ministerial responsibility. He also in terms of the original question did not in fact give an accurate answer to the original question anyway. Mr Twyford is allowed to ask supplementary questions that come from the Minister’s answers and that is what he did.Mr SPEAKER: Order! No on this occasion I cannot agree. I accept one or two points that the member is making. I think the answer did not strictly address the question that was raised. That is true. I think the answer did contain an element of politics. That is also true. But that does not give licence then for the member to ask a question that is simply out of order in that there is no ministerial responsibility.Chris Hipkins: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: Order! Can I just clarify that we are not relitigating this matter.Chris Hipkins: I am asking for some further clarification.Mr SPEAKER: Well on this occasion I will accept it but only marginally.Chris Hipkins: Thank you Mr Speaker. When this matter was raised previously it was in relation to the Prime Minister and whether he was answering questions as the leader of the National Party or as the Prime Minister. You previously indicated that where the Prime Minister gave answers that related to decisions that he had taken as leader of the National Party but he gave those answers as Prime Minister he could be questioned on those. So I am just wondering whether you could clarify. Mr Joyce as a Minister was answering with party political material. It therefore would seem completely at odds with your earlier ruling to suggest that he cannot now be questioned on that.Hon Gerry Brownlee: I think that raises an interesting thing for you to consider. The primary question that was accepted today and the primary question that was accepted the previous day as mentioned by Chris Hipkins and indeed the question accepted today with regard to the question to the Prime Minister all really go to the same sort of point. I think we should have either one thing or the other. Either questions in the House should relate to ministerial decisions or decisions or comments made by Ministers as Ministers in their portfolios or we just have carte blanche and we have an hour of campaigning every day.Mr SPEAKER: While I am in this position I hope we do not end up with an hour of campaigning every day. In this particular situation—I accept the point the member is making—it is a thin line that I need to judge and in fact the Prime Minister if he is answering the question needs to judge in what capacity he is answering the question. If the Prime Minister decides to suggest he is answering in his capacity as the leader of a political party that is his prerogative to do so. The reason I am comfortable with a question along these lines being on the Order Paper is that the Government on Tuesday last week took the opportunity to very much make this a Government initiative when it raised a Government question asking the Minister of Transport about the bridges. But in this particular supplementary question the member asked: “Is he disappointed with the comments of Mr Osborne?”. Under no circumstances can I find any way that allows that to have a ministerial responsibility. If the member wants to use a portion of the Minister’s answers and get it into order as a supplementary question good luck to him but he certainly did not achieve that in this supplementary question.Denis O’Rourke: What are the names of the 10 State highway bridges to be two-laned in Northland?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: The Minister is more than happy to share those with the House. There is of course the Kaeō River Bridge which his colleague the Minister for Economic Development was passing over yesterday; there is the Waihou River Rangiahua Bridge; there is the Taipā Bridge; there is the Tirohanga Stream Bridge; there is the Taheke Bridge No. 569; there is the Waimamaku River Lowes Bridge; there is the Waimamaku River Hallahans Bridge; there is the “Darby and Joan” Kauri Bridge; there is the Andersons Bridge; and there is the Matakohe River Bridge also known as the Hardies Bridge. Incidentally I heard that somebody was asked to name them yesterday. I understand they got seven out of the 10 right on the first shot although I did not need the TV and then Annette King—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The continuation of this answer will not help the order of the House.Phil Twyford: Has he as transport Minister advised Mark Osborne the man who announced his policy on the bridges of the names of each of the 10 bridges given that he could not name them when asked by the media last night?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: It is important to know that actually it was the Minister standing as the spokesperson on transport for National and the candidate who announced the 10 bridges together. He has been advised of them. As I said yesterday he got seven out of 10 on the first go. As I also said the deputy leader of the Labour Party was very supportive of him and said: “Many longstanding MPs in this House could not name all the bridges in their electorates.”Phil Twyford: Was not the real source of the bridges policy Steven Joyce and Crosby/Textor’s Jo de Joux and why does he not just come clean with the people on this?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: The Minister has spoken to his colleague the Minister for Economic Development who is also very enthusiastic about roading for economic development in Northland. He is very encouraging of the project that this Mr Osborne candidate for Northland has brought up. The only thing we can be sure of about Mr Twyford’s line of questioning is that there is one party in this House that is in favour of developing the roading network in Northland. It ain’t the Labour Party and it certainly is not the New Zealand First Party.Phil Twyford: Does he see anything wrong with a candidate proposing $70 million of taxpayer spending the Minister seeking only general advice from officials—in his words—approving them without seeing any cost-benefit analysis and then the candidate announcing that spending in order to win him votes?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: That sounds like a lot more analysis than the Labour Party went through in 2005 over the interest on student loans.Phil Twyford: Which of these best describes his bridges policy: “Brazen shameless cynical and more than a little desperate” John Armstrong in the New Zealand Herald; “it sends a destructive message … that this is how things now roll under John Key.” Matthew Hooton; that it amounts to corruption Andrew Geddis; that it shows that the Government is “Highly biddable and to be blunt a bit weak.” Rob Hosking in the National Business Review; or the New Zealand Herald editorial which said the bribe was “insulting on so many levels”?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: In response to that litany of armchair quarterbacks including one of whom has subsequently apologised for his column I would make the following comment—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! It was a long question. It deserves an answer and I am looking forward to it.Hon STEVEN JOYCE: So two points. The Minister’s colleague the Minister for Economic Development was in Northland yesterday and the Northland people were very very enthusiastic about these projects. They wanted to know whether they could be built more quickly than 6 years and wanted to know which ones would be done first. But also this is a continuation of a programme that this Government has been running right around this country. If you want to talk about the Kōpū Bridge in the Coromandel or the Kurow Bridges in North Otago or the Kawarau Bridge in Queenstown or the Waiwhakaiho Bridge in New Plymouth or the Normanby Bridge in Hāwera or the—Mr SPEAKER: The Minister will resume his seat. I have heard enough.