5. Question No. 5—FinanceANDREW BAYLY (National—Port Waikato) to the Minister of FinanceQuestion No. 5—Finance5. ANDREW BAYLY (National—Port Waikato) to the Minister of Finance: What new plans if any will he announce to support those businesses that are currently affected by alert levels in New Zealand?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): The Government as I outlined in my answer to question No. 1 has provided significant support to businesses across New Zealand affected by the change in alert levels. We know that the impact on some sectors and regions such as those in Auckland has been hard and we will continue to work with them and provide support. Again as I said in question No. 1 the Government's been working on an enhanced business support package with a particular focus on Auckland and I'll have more to say about that on Friday.Andrew Bayly: Has he seen the Auckland Business Chamber survey from October which shows that two-thirds of Auckland businesses are not confident about the state of the economy over the next six months; and if so will he restore confidence by committing to allow the wage subsidy to be accessed at alert level 2?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I have been in regular contact with the Auckland business chamber of commerce and indeed many of their members over the last couple of months. In terms of what we will be doing that will happen on Friday.Andrew Bayly: Has he seen the Retail New Zealand report from 30 September which shows that a third of all retailers are not confident that their business will survive the next 12 months; and if so what plan does he have to ensure that this does not happen?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The focus of the Government over the course of the last 20 months has been on cash flow and confidence within the economy. That's the reason why we have put out such a significant amount of resources—as I mentioned close to $4.5 billion going to businesses since the August outbreak. I know the member has his own announcements that he plans to make tomorrow; if there's any new ones in there on top of what's previously been announced I look forward to seeing them.Andrew Bayly: Has he seen in the same Retail New Zealand report that 87 percent of retailers want the Government to provide a plan for rental support in the form of a financial payment; and if so will he be adopting National's rental support package?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: As I previously said the resurgence support payment was specifically designed to help businesses meet their fixed costs. We've obviously expanded access to that over the course of the last couple of months; the member will have to wait till Friday. But again I look forward to any further new announcements he has tomorrow.Andrew Bayly: Has he seen the report from the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research which shows that 43 percent of the building sector expect weaker economic conditions ahead; and if so what plan does he have to make it easier to supply and transport building products across the Auckland regional boundary?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: It's very clear that there'll be no new announcements tomorrow from the National Party given this particular line of questioning. As the member knows we have facilitated the movement of building supplies across the boundary over recent times in order to meet some of the needs that exist there. And the construction industry bear in mind continues to operate at alert level 3 and indeed around the country.