Lotu-Iiga Sam: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLotu-Iiga Sam: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 02 July 2013. Volume:691;Page:11554. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]5.Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA (National—Maungakiekie)to theMinister of Science and Innovation: What investment is the Government making in business-related science innovation and research?Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister of Science and Innovation):Alongside our massive investment in the tertiary sector we are making significant investments in science and innovation because they are key drivers of economic growth and making New Zealand businesses more internationally competitive. That is why we have invested total funding for science innovation and research across Government agencies. We have increased it to $1.36 billion in the financial year just started which is up from $1.24 billion last year and an increase of 28 percent over the last 4 years. A very sizable proportion of this increase is in the area of business research and development. Increasing funding in this area will help our businesses grow deliver more and higher-paying jobs for New Zealanders and improve our living standards.Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga: What support is available for businesses wanting to invest in research and development?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: Well over the course of this financial year which started last Monday the new Government agency Callaghan Innovation will allocate $141.5 million in research and development co-funding to innovative New Zealand businesses. This is easily the highest amount ever and is a 24 percent increase on the funding available just last year. This funding is being invested in a number of ways including nearly $91 million for research and development growth grants $46.6 million for research and development project grants which are targeted at new firms with smaller programmes and $4 million for research and development student grants to providesupport for undergraduate and postgraduate students to get work experience alongside research and development - active businesses.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Can I take it from the Minister’s long answer that his Cabinet and he himself in particular never talk to for example Sam Lotu-Iiga or the backbench and that is why he has to inform them in the House in this lengthy way?Mr SPEAKER: Order! That question is out of order.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. What on earth is out of order with that question?Mr SPEAKER: It was an unsatisfactory question. If the member wants to phrase it with something that has got a responsibility of the member I will entertain it.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: Is this a fresh point of order?Rt Hon Winston Peters: If the Speaker thinks that the Minister talking or not talking with the backbench is not a matter of his ministerial responsibility that would be a very new one. That is simply what I asked him. It is not out of order and I want an answer.Mr SPEAKER: The question was out of order. I have ruled it out of order. If the member wants to attempt it again to get it into order then we will have a go. [Interruption ] Order! I am giving the Rt Hon Winston Peters an opportunity.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Can the Minister advise us as to whether or not he thinks it is appropriate to come to the House to pass information on to backbench colleagues or does he have another means of communication hitherto unknown to us?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: Well I am not sure how it works in that member’s party but actually we do talk to backbenchers in this party—indeed we know their names. What I can say is these questions are for the benefit of the whole House and going on the member’s knowledge of our science and innovation investment I think he could do well to listen.Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga: What support is the Government giving to the manufacturing sector through research and development funding?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: The manufacturing sector is a very important partner in the research and development co-funding. It is in fact the biggest recipient of the Government’s research and development co-funding programme. Countless internationalising New Zealand firms have received assistance over the last 4 years to develop new products and services to help them move up the value chain and export more effectively. These include firms such as Douglas Pharmaceuticals Buckley Systems Compac Sorting Equipment WilliamsWarn Fisher and Paykel Healthcare Tait Electronics Altitude Aerospace Interiors and a company known as HamiltonJet which has been in the news recently just to name a few random examples. The Government has established Callaghan Innovation as a high-tech headquarters for business research and development. We are investing hundreds of millions of dollars annually in business research and development across all export-focused sectors. This may have made a contribution to the BNZ-Business New Zealand Performance of Manufacturing Index which was released last month—Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It would have occurred to you—it occurred to everybody else in the House who was watching the Minister—after that very long answer that when he switched to page 2 it was well time for you to stop him.Mr SPEAKER: It was certainly a long answer and I think the Minister was coming to the end. I was watching him switch to page 2 and I was confident that he had very little left to add to the question.Hon STEVEN JOYCE: Hardly half a sentence Mr Speaker. The New Zealand manufacturing sector is now expanding at its fastest rate since 2004 and at one of the highest rates across the world.