5. Question No. 5—Economic DevelopmentHon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura) to the Minister for Economic DevelopmentQuestion No. 5—Economic Development5. Hon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura) to the Minister for Economic Development: Does he stand by his statement of 1 April 2020 That's why we are now developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects from across the country that would be ready to begin as soon as we are able to move around freely and go back to work."; if so when will he announce the projects? Hon PHIL TWYFORD (Minister for Economic Development): Yes and that's why we've continued to work on the projects that were announced as part of the $12 billion New Zealand Upgrade Programme. We've released in this time the new Draft Government Policy Statement on land transport a 10-year transport investment plan. We allocated $1 billion for rail in the Budget including the new Interislander ferries. Minister Woods has announced an additional 8000 public and transitional homes. The Minister for Infrastructure and I commissioned the Infrastructure Industry Reference Group to identify ready-to-go infrastructure projects. That group received a total of 1924 submissions across approximately 40 sectors with a combined value of $136 billion. The Hon Chris Hipkins is ensuring we have the skills to work on these projects through the $1.6 billion trades and apprenticeships training package and the Government has also announced a further $3 billion for infrastructure projects through the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund. The Minister of Finance will consider this through the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund processes. Hon Judith Collins: Why have these projects not started now that the construction industry is back at work? Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Well a great deal of construction projects have started since the lockdown was lifted and I can give the member a list: the Northern Corridor Improvements project in Auckland State Highway 20B improvements the Manawatū Tararua Highway the State Highway 1 Hamilton West expressway Bayfair to Baypark in the Bay of Plenty Mackays to Peka Peka and Peka Peka to Ōtaki in the central North Island the Christchurch Northern Corridor the Christchurch Southern Motorway stage 2 the Safe Network Programme—they are all projects that are under way. They have been recommenced since the lockdown was lifted and the member might like to know also that more than $3 billion of projects that were announced earlier this year as part of the New Zealand Upgrade Programme are progressing. So State Highway 58—the New Zealand Transport Agency is in negotiations with builders there on stage 2 and that's expected to be up and running in August. They're opening registrations of interest for the Tauranga Northern Link Penlink and State Highway 1 Papakura to Drury South. They're working with two shortlisted parties on who will deliver the shared pathway across the Auckland Harbour Bridge and the member will be pleased to know that geotechnical testing is under way for Ōtaki to north of Levin to assist the design process. So as the member can see there is a lot of infrastructure work going on. Hon Judith Collins: So how many of those projects that he's just listed had not already been started before he announced he was going to announce some on 1 April? Hon PHIL TWYFORD: So what I announced on 1 April was that the Hon Shane Jones and I were tasked with working with Crown Infrastructure Partners through the infrastructure reference group to solicit projects from local government and the wider industry to assist the COVID response and recovery programme. That is one strand of a massive infrastructure development programme that is under way including many projects that have recommenced and progress being made since the lockdown was lifted. SPEAKER: I sense a point of order from the Hon Judith Collins. I think she'd better express it. Hon Judith Collins: Thank you Mr Speaker. I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I asked about how many of those projects that the Minister had listed had not already been started before his press statement of 1 April. SPEAKER: That's right and the member will address that question. Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Four of the projects that I listed had not been started at that time. Hon Chris Hipkins: Does the Minister expect new projects to start with no tendering and no planning and consenting work having been done on them? Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Well the member is probably aware that the former Government was in the habit of putting shovels in the ground in front of the television cameras or driving a bulldozer round in circles on a construction site months or years before those construction projects ever started. That's not a practice that this Government intends to adopt. Rt Hon Winston Peters: Can I ask the Minister of the projects that he's been told today he inherited how many dollars were set aside for the north of Tauranga to Katikati four-lane highway or the one between Warkworth and Whangārei also promised or the Whangārei to Marsden Point—of those three projects much beloved by mention in this House how many dollars were set aside by the previous administration? Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Well we don't need to be very good at maths to know the answer to that is zero. No money was put aside even though those projects were promised over and over by members on that side of the House. Hon Judith Collins: When the Minister announced on 1 April that there was a developing pipeline of infrastructure projects that would be ready to begin as soon as we are able to move around freely and go back to work were some of those projects not fully consented or funded? Hon PHIL TWYFORD: There is a large pipeline of projects that I have described to the member in the last few answers that we have been putting together. Some of those projects—well no work had begun prior to the lockdown. They are now under way and there is a great deal more work as a result of the infrastructure reference group and their projects that will follow in the months to come. Michael Wood: Does he expect the significant housing infrastructure project on Endeavour Avenue in Hamilton being led by Kāinga Ora to proceed in spite of the petition against it by the Hon David Bennett? Hon PHIL TWYFORD: I don't have responsibility for that. But I do think and I will say to the member that when the members on the other side of the House call for infrastructure projects to be delivered and then run petitions in their local communities against housing being built in places like Whangārei and Hamilton they should have a good look in the mirror at themselves. Hon Judith Collins: Is he now telling the House that when he announced on 1 April 2020 that these projects would be ready to go as soon as we are able to move around freely and go back to work he did not have either all consents or all funding in place when he made that announcement? Hon PHIL TWYFORD: No I completely reject the connection that the member is making in her question. We announced that we were putting together a pipeline of projects. I've outlined for the member a massive pipeline of projects that are under way. The infrastructure reference group is adding to that pipeline and my colleague the Hon David Parker has legislation before this Parliament that will streamline the Resource Management Act processing in a way that that member and that side of the House never did in nine years. Hon Chris Hipkins: Has the Minister been advised that schools up and down the country—thousands of schools up and down the country—have been going to market over recent months for up to $400 million worth of school improvement projects? Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Yes indeed that is one of the strands of this massive infrastructure programme that the Government has under way—$400 million—that's generating jobs for tradies in every community from one end of this country to the other. That's the kind of infrastructure programme this Government believes in."