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 policies and statements?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): Yes particularly our Government's efforts to encourage more young New Zealanders to take up a trade to help close the skills gap. Just yesterday we announced that from next year there'll be 2000 more trades academy places and up to 2000 more places for Gateway. This follows on from the Government establishing the Prime Minister's Vocational Excellence Awards which will be rolling out at school assemblies and prize-givings coming very very shortly on top of work on micro-credentially reforming vocational education. This is about supporting young people into decent work.Hon Simon Bridges: Will construction of light rail down Dominion Road be completed by 2021 as she has previously said?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: One thing I can tell you: it'll be a lot faster than under that last Government who didn't believe in expediting light rail to the airport. In 2017 we had one proposal; now we have two. They are substantively different. NZ Infra is a proposal that would mean that every journey would be contributing to New Zealand's superannuation. It deserves to be properly looked at and that is exactly what we are doing.Hon Simon Bridges: When will construction of her light rail project start?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: We will have details of the proposals back before Cabinet in February. That'll be the point at which further decisions then will be able to be made. I do note though that the member asking the question was once a transport Minister and the member asking the question once too agreed that light rail to the airport should be progressed. He just happened to be of the view that it should take a very very long time. The majority of Aucklanders disagree. This project has the potential to take 11000 commuters off our roads within every hour of peak traffic. That is why we are committed to progressing the project.Hon Simon Bridges: Does she know when construction will start?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Obviously as I've said once we've finished the analysis of the proposals. This is a significant project. The member may like to trivialise this but this has the ability to dramatically change the congestion issues that Aucklanders are facing. Now if the member wants to continue with his old proposals which were building ghost roads or roads that predominantly most New Zealanders did not use that is that member's prerogative. This Government wants to make sure that Auckland is a world-class city and deals with congestion.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Can I ask the Prime Minister on the matter of transport as to whether she's going ahead with the Silicon Valley company described as MZ will be transformative in its application to transport logistics online advertising markets health (patient care) energy retail and a range of other markets."—this is in October 2016 when Mr Bridges then Minister of Transport said that and it turned out to be a giant con?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I have seen those reports just as I've seen reports that the member asking questions about light rail used to support it. I don't know what has changed other than purely his role as leader. It's disappointing to say the least.Hon Simon Bridges: Will she consider it a broken promise by the Government if construction hasn't started by the next election on light rail?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As I've set out many many times the choice sat before us to simply ignore the fact that the New Zealand Superannuation Fund was putting before the Government a public-public partnership unlike anything that we've seen before in partnership with operators with good experience in Montreal and a design that was substantively different than what the New Zealand Transport Agency had proposed. I think we owed it to taxpayers and to Aucklanders to properly consider both proposals particularly putting emphasis on reducing the time it takes for those in the central business district to move to South Auckland. We have to make sure that we are reducing congestion—Hon Paula Bennett: You're the one that made the promise.Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: —in the city.SPEAKER: Order!Hon Paula Bennett: What?SPEAKER: Well the member knows what.Hon Simon Bridges: How much will the light rail project cost?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Obviously the tender process is under way and once that's complete we'll be able to talk about those details.Hon Simon Bridges: What proportion of the NZ Infra bid she's talked about is proposed to be owned by the Canadian pension fund?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Obviously I'm not going to give away what is commercially sensitive information during a process and I'm sorry but the idea of calling it a secret agenda—either the member knows what a tender process involves or he doesn't. Of course we're not going to reveal information at this stage that needs to be properly considered by our agencies.Hon Simon Bridges: Does she agree with the Rt Hon Winston Peters who has said "It made no sense to sell a monopoly and highly sound business to a group of foreign investors." and why then is she considering selling light rail to the Canadian pension fund?SPEAKER: Order! I want an assurance that that was made by the Deputy Prime Minister.Hon Simon Bridges: It was made by the Rt Hon Winston Peters.SPEAKER: Was it made by the Deputy Prime Minister?Hon Simon Bridges: It doesn't need to be.SPEAKER: I beg your pardon! I'm trying to work out whether there's ministerial responsibility for the question. Was it made in the current term of Parliament or in a previous period when the member was a Minister?Hon Simon Bridges: Point of order.SPEAKER: No I'm asking the member a question. Can he tell me the answer to my question.Hon Simon Bridges: He was Deputy Prime Minister but under a different Government.SPEAKER: That's all right. The member may answer the question.Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Well obviously I'm going to reference quotes that are made by the Deputy Prime Minister in his role in this Government rather than hypotheticals. The member is also misrepresenting this. This is a public-public partnership.Rt Hon Winston Peters: As a matter of sound business practice does one determine what the fiscals might be after the tender process or before?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Obviously after.Hon Simon Bridges: Is she concerned that NZ First Minister Shane Jones says he's horrified by projections of costings for light rail?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Again as I've already said we have no final costings. We're still in the middle of a process. All I think though that people in Auckland will be hearing is that the National Party has no new ideas on how to reduce congestion and get up to 11000 commuters off our roads. This is a Government that's getting on with those solutions while that member continues to be negative with no new solutions or ideas.Hon Simon Bridges: Is she concerned that Winston Peters as Minister responsible for KiwiRail said last night "Obviously the connection to the airport will be heavy rail."?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: No.Hon Simon Bridges: Is heavy rail or what some call the Puhinui option a possibility for the Government rather than the light rail project?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As I've said we've already got a process under way and we'll be making decisions in future. [Interruption]SPEAKER: Is the member finished? Yes. Question No. 3 the Hon Paul Goldsmith. [Interruption] Question No. 4 Jan Tinetti. [Interruption] No—well I called question No. 3 and no one took a call.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Mr Speaker.SPEAKER: The member would like to go back?Hon Paul Goldsmith: Yes.SPEAKER: The Hon Paul Goldsmith."