Mallard Trevor; Young JonathanEconomic Development and Infrastructure SectorThe CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): Members we come to the first of the votes in the economic development and infrastructure sector B.5 volume 1. The question is that Vote Business Science and Innovation; Vote Labour Market; and Vote Transport stand part of the schedules.JONATHAN YOUNG (Chairperson of the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee): I am very pleased to stand and speak on this very important area in New Zealand's life which is economic development and infrastructure. We are indeed the party that has invested huge amounts of money into infrastructure—proven I think so important only a few weeks ago when this country was caught in a cold snap that saw many of the State highways closed off because of snow and bad weather. State Highway 3 on the west coast of the North Island was the only route that people could drive from Auckland to Wellington. So it is such a good thing that this Government is funding development of that piece of infrastructure so that it will be resilient and be able to provide the support and services particularly to freight transport which enables this economy and this nation to be able to progress. Particularly in my part of the country everything in and out obviously travels by freight—most of it by land some by rail. It is so important that we have a strong infrastructure programme particularly around transport for our nation to go ahead. This nation is thriving is doing well and we are delivering for New Zealanders. It is great to see that.This ninth Budget is about that. It is about ensuring that our country can succeed can proceed can go ahead and that we see the infrastructure in place that is going to enable businesses to succeed and communities to prosper whether that be schools hospitals; whether that be rail networks; whether that be roading networks—it is a good thing.Recently I was in Auckland and as I was driving from the airport through the city I received a message on my phone to say that if I took the western route and went through the Waterview tunnel that would take 5 to 10 minutes off my journey. I took that route and I got into the CBD so quickly. It is important in a city that faces an incredible level of economic activity that we have routes that enable those businesses and those people who are moving to and fro about the city to get there efficiently and fast. It is great to see that Waterview Connection opened—a great step forward—in that western ring route to see an alternative to going right down State Highway 1 through the CBD in that way.It is all about efficiencies. It is all about economic advantage. This Government is investing in those things that are going to help New Zealanders succeed and make our country even more prosperous. All of that means that our companies can be more productive. If people have less time sitting on a motorway and more time in their places of work we are going to see companies prosper in an exceeding way. That is a good thing and this is behind the thinking behind the vision that this Government has in order to help businesses succeed. They are the ones that create employment.The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! I am going to interrupt the member and ask him to take his seat. We will turn the time off. I want to remind the member of the role of the chair of the select committee. There is an extra allocation for chairs of select committees and that is so they can report back on the hearings in a way that better reflects a presiding officer of that committee—so to report back on what occurred at the select committee on the reports that have come in. After that I have no expectation of a less partisan approach from the members who follow.JONATHAN YOUNG: Thank you Mr Chair for—[Interruption] The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order!JONATHAN YOUNG: Thank you Mr Chair. So the western ring route—that came up in our discussions. All of these things about Auckland Transport and its relationship with the New Zealand Transport Agency and the necessity to create these efficiencies in our largest economic powerhouse of Auckland City were very important areas of discussion. We were very pleased to see that there is this great investment taking place over even these next decades. We are very mindful of the progress that we need to make.The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): No the member has another 50 seconds.JONATHAN YOUNG: Fifty seconds? Thank you Mr Chair. It is expected—the western ring route is a 48-kilometre motorway alternative to State Highway 1. All the time we are looking at these different ways in which as I said before businesses can move around the city and that is incredibly important. It is expected to produce wider economic benefits worth $430 million.This is the reason why the infrastructure investments are important. They enable such strong economic progress and profitability for New Zealand companies. I am very happy to commend this Appropriation (2017/18) Estimates) Bill to the Committee.