Webb DuncanDr DUNCAN WEBB (Labour—Christchurch Central): Kia ora. Thank you Mr Speaker. This is a great step forward for New Zealand. We indeed have languished with a lack of planning around infrastructure and projects that have been driven not by a thoughtful careful systematic approach but by the kind of pork-barrel politics that can go on around six-lane highways to Ashburton and so on. Whereas what this does is it says we need to think carefully both about priorities about what is really in the best interests of all New Zealanders and also about pipelines and funding. The Hon Judith Collins was right that we do need to think carefully about the health of our construction industry in many ways. One of those ways—one of the critical ways—that this is doing is trying to even out some of those bumps so that there aren't big spikes where prices go up and we pay too much for the services and then three years later when a project comes to the end people are on the unemployment benefit and businesses aren't being used to their full capacity because of that kind of planning. So we want to be able to project well into the future—using this bill—what the work will be so that businesses and other institutions as well can plan around that. That's at the centre of what this bill does. It is important to note that this kind of planning will also enable us to ensure our training institutions are up to scratch as well because we know that that is essentially part of the infrastructure of New Zealand: the quality of our people and their ability to do these very skilled tasks whether it be engineering or whether it be actually simply laying that road or building that building as well. So this bill does a number of things and one of the main things of course—the first task for the commission—will be information gathering and that's at the heart of this bill which is to say we need to know what is going on. One of the things that occurred in the Finance and Expenditure Committee was that that information-gathering power was extended into local bodies because we know in fact that probably the majority but certainly a huge amount of infrastructure works that is undertaken is undertaken by local bodies whether it be three waters or whether it be building public libraries or any other public facility. So that ability to cast the net pretty wide and understand what's going on what the needs are what the capacity of industry is is really important as well. You know I was interested to hear the Hon Judith Collins reciting her Government's achievements but we know that there's a huge shortfall in New Zealand—that's why this Government announced in Budget 2018 in fact that it would invest $42 billion over the next five years. That's the kind of money which simply hadn't been invested and there's a massive deficit in our infrastructure but we're going to catch that up. It is interesting to note as well that the bill defines infrastructure very broadly. Quite often when we talk about infrastructure we leap to transport because those projects are large and visible. However we've got to recognise that things like the rural broadband project that this Government is rolling out is also part of important infrastructure and that the Dunedin Hospital is a massive project—I think it's $800 million; I may be wrong there—that's going to absorb a huge amount of infrastructure resource in the South Island. The huge school building project that this Government is embarking upon and again that's going to take a lot of building resources a lot of planning a lot of architecture a lot of engineering—that's infrastructure as well as those fantastic rail projects that I know my friend Mr Ball will be very happy with the road projects and of course things like ports and so on. So it's all infrastructure. In fact right down to the kind of tourism infrastructure that we're going to be using the tourism levy on—things like upgrading toilets and tourist facilities on our main tourist routes—it's all part of the infrastructure that this bill is aimed at delivering in a careful manner in a planned manner and if I may say in a manner which will get both the best business model for the construction industry and the best price for all of those people that are embarking on it. The terms of trade" was the phrase used by the Hon Judith Collins. It is important we get those right and part of that is making sure that we do give full fair warning of when these projects are coming so that we don't have to pay a premium for ramping up and ramping down in a most inefficient manner. So that's great news. This kind of infrastructure really contributes to our wellbeing in New Zealand both in the provision of great infrastructure which means we can lead better lives but also things like reducing our carbon output so that we have things like great rail links and better inner-city networks and so on. Of course one of the other really important parts of this bill is prioritising because it's all very nice to look at a centre where some voter support is needed and put a link of some kind in or a bridge that is not really used or doesn't actually have a great business case. What we really want to see is that if we've got you know $8 billion to spend on infrastructure over the next short while it's used in the way it gives the best return—not necessarily the best financial return but the best return in that way we now need to look at what a return on investment is: the way in which it improves the lives of all New Zealanders whether it be by putting them into work more effectively by business operating more effectively or even just leading better healthier lives better-connected lives lives where we understand each other better. The safety work that's going on on our roads is a really good example of that where we might not get somewhere quicker but we're going to get there alive. We're going to drive that road toll down. That's a great piece of infrastructure. That's the kind of planning that we can prioritise by looking carefully at both the science side of it the numbers but also looking at the human side of it—what's the best spend. So the Infrastructure Commission will be—and we need to recognise that it's not a kind of democratic body; it's an expert panel. To that panel will be appointed people who have special knowledge and expertise in the various areas of infrastructure and planning and they will be able to deliver to Government quite independently their views. That will be on a rolling basis so we'd expect those reports to be published every five years and to be able to inform the Government of where the need really is in terms of all of that infrastructure upon which New Zealand the economy and its people depend. Of course the Minister responsible will be able to take that and respond to it. It will be a public document so it can be subject to the careful scrutiny that members of this House and the wider public subject it to. It is an absolutely fantastic piece of legislation and it's great to see—you know I don't deny that this was an idea that had its genesis in the National Party. It's one of those ideas which should have cross-party support because it's simply common sense. Of course we've got around to doing it which is something that really is worth taking note of. The information-gathering powers in the bill though are important and I must say this was what came under most scrutiny at select committee because we're always a bit worried about a Government entity that can pry and we're rightly cautious about that because privacy and commercial sensitivity is an important thing. So we looked carefully at those provisions but I think the committee was satisfied both that the powers were appropriate in their extent—that the ability to get information from third parties from local government from other parts of Government was appropriate—and that there were appropriate safeguards. Of course information that's commercially sensitive and confidential cannot be used for anything else cannot be further disseminated and those protections are there in the bill—very important protections they are. This bill really is a leap forward and what it means is that huge sum of money that this Government's going to spend and I suspect there'll be more to come in future Budgets—that $42 billion will be carefully spent. It will be spent in a way which gets best value and improves all of New Zealanders' lives better. I commend this bill to the House."