9. Question No. 9—TransportSHANAN HALBERT (Labour—Northcote) to the Minister of TransportQuestion No. 9—Transport9. SHANAN HALBERT (Labour—Northcote) to the Minister of Transport: What is the current State highway maintenance budget for 2021-24 and how does this compare to 2015-18?Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister of Transport): The Government is spending more on road maintenance including on pothole repairs than any previous Government. The current State highway maintenance budget is $2.8 billion for the period 2021-24 a 65 percent increase on the $1.7 billion from 2015-18. With the increased frequency of severe weather events increasing the resilience of our roading networks is critical to our economy. Maintenance spending on all roads including local roads has increased by 54 percent since this Government took office. This has meant we have been able to fund huge increases in pothole repairs and road resurfacing.Shanan Halbert: How many potholes did Waka Kotahi repair in 2022-23 and is this an increase?Hon DAVID PARKER: Well in 2022-23 Waka Kotahi repaired 60989 potholes. This compares with just 12739 pothole repairs in 2013-14. That's an almost 500 percent increase in pothole repairs.Shanan Halbert: What percentage of the network needs to be resurfaced each year to maintain the State highway network—Hon Gerry Brownlee: This is embarrassing.SHANAN HALBERT: —and what recent trends in the resurfacing is he aware of?SPEAKER: Order! Thank you. I really need to hear the question so I can rule if it's in order or out of order. I want to hear the question.Shanan Halbert: Thank you Mr Speaker. What percentage of the network needs—Hon Todd McClay: And Bidois is out doorknocking.SPEAKER: Who was that? Are you going to stand and withdraw?Hon Todd McClay: I withdraw and apologise.Shanan Halbert: What percentage of the network needs to be resurfaced each year to maintain the State highway network and what recent trends in resurfacing is he aware of?Hon DAVID PARKER: Resurfacing of course is absolutely critical because if you don't resurface the road when the road gets dished with heavy trucks and cracks the rain gets in and you get potholes. So what is needed to prevent that according to Waka Kotahi is around 9 percent or 2000 kilometres of the State highways need to be resurfaced each year. Other than during the first wave of COVID this Government has delivered more than 2000 kilometres of road resurfacing every full year we've been in Government. In contrast between 2013-14 and 2015-16 road resurfacing halved to 4.5 percent—half of the 9 percent required.Shanan Halbert: Is he satisfied with the current level of road maintenance in New Zealand?Hon DAVID PARKER: Well I'm satisfied that we have been catching up on a lot of road maintenance. I'm also aware that the severe weather events that we've had this year particularly in the upper half of the North Island are absolutely unprecedented. So there's still a lot of work to do and this Government is committed to doing that work—committing to funding it committing to doing it properly and committing to funding it properly.Simeon Brown: Why is the New Zealand Transport Agency installing 21 speed bumps on State Highway 2 between Masterton and Featherston at a cost of up to $450000 each which will significantly reduce travel times on State Highway 2 and shouldn't this money be spent actually fixing our roads instead?Hon DAVID PARKER: Road safety improvements are important and I have heard some members of this House say that we should cancel all of the TV campaigns for example on drink driving safety speeds and others—that would save $37 million a year. I've also heard other people say that we should spend less on traffic improvements like median barriers. We're committed to rolling those out. In respect of speed bumps look I'm not attached to every speed bump in the country. Speed bumps are actually normally installed by councils rather than by central government but if the member's got some individual speed bumps that he's worried about and he wants me to see if I can cancel them send me a list and I'm happy to look at it.Shanan Halbert: Does the Government intend to defund police work on our main highways?Hon DAVID PARKER: Well the major component of the cost of safety measures that are funded by the Government is the approximately 1000 police dedicated to traffic duties that the Government funds. It's really important work and there's actually not a lot of money to be saved there that could be spent on potholes.