Bennett David; Wood MichaelHon DAVID BENNETT (National): Thank you Mr Chair. We're talking about State highway improvements not maintenance Minister so would you please answer the question as to why that is. And also relative to the fact that the number in 2020 will indicate Labour policy in the last four years of having done a National Land Transport Plan whereas prior to that those earlier years reflected some of the National transport plan.Hon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister of Transport): I'd encourage the member to look a little more widely across the appropriations. I think what he is referring to is the specific activity class figures that are represented in the National Land Transport Plan where there is significant investment across all of those classes this year. But of course that is not the only way that we fund improvements including roading improvements. So the New Zealand Upgrade Programme is direct Crown funding which is going into a range of really important projects; for example the Ōtaki to north of Levin project a whole range of projects around the South Island Tākitimu stage one and a range of others. So the total amount of investment that we are putting in across that sector is a significant increase but it's spread across both the money that comes from the National Land Transport Fund and direct Crown funding.Hon DAVID BENNETT (National): Well how does the Minister explain that even the year before that when the New Zealand Upgrade Programme was not in existence it was lower than what was spent in 2016-17?Hon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister of Transport): Well I believe we're here to answer questions about the Estimates of appropriations for the 2020-21 year so I have not come prepared nor is it the role of this committee to consider what happened two or three years ago.Hon DAVID BENNETT (National): How much did the New Zealand Upgrade Programme give to State highway improvements in 2020-21 then?Hon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister of Transport): There's a considerable investment across the New Zealand Upgrade Programme in a range of roading projects. The way in which the money is structured is a little bit lumpy because when investment in one of those projects start there's an initial phase as the member will appreciate that goes into the early engagement the route protection detailed design and consenting. So it's a little bit difficult to actually break it down year by year but what I will say is that a significant portion of that $8.7 billion is going into a range of important roading projects.But I would just encourage the member to recognise that there is also a shift in Government policy which is quite a deliberate shift which is that we no longer see it as simply adequate to plough the lion's share of transport funding solely into a small number of gold-plated roading projects. That's what we've been doing in recent decades. It's led us to the situation that we're in and we believe in a more balanced approach to investment across the transport sector. So that's why the member will see in addition to investment in State highway maintenance which that side of the House let go on their watch there is investment in improved roads but there's also significant investment in making sure that the rail network which suffered years of managed decline under their watch is improved there's investment in the coastal shipping activity class because we believe that has an important part to play in building a resilient supply chain. So yes there is good investment in important roading projects but there is more of a spread of investment across other modes.Hon DAVID BENNETT (National): The Minister tried to say that the previous Government reduced State highway maintenance. The Minister has in written questions indicated that the first two years of this Government actually had lower State highway maintenance expenditure than the previous National Government. How does he explain that then?Hon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister of Transport): My recollection of the answers that were provided to the member to that particular question—and I think he's referring effectively to the amounts that were applied to State highway maintenance in the 2018-21 National Land Transport Plan—is that there was an increase in year one a small decrease in year two albeit still to a higher figure than was there previously and then a further increase in year three. And that over the course of the three years there was a good increase in the total amount that was funded.Hon DAVID BENNETT (National): So when the Minister says that his preoccupation is now with a balanced transport spend with a movement away from roads has he started any major roading projects under his Government other than the Manawatū Gorge upgrade?Hon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister of Transport): The short answer to that is yes. And I do just want to provide a little bit of context for this discussion by just going directly to the all-up National Land Transport Plan (NLTP) figure for road maintenance under the 2015-18 NLTP which was the last one that that side of the House was responsible for. And the total figure across that three-year period was $4.8 billion. In the NLTP that we have just announced the total figure is $7 billion. That's an increase in 46 percent that this Government has delivered for road maintenance over and above the figure that that Government provided in the NLTP that they delivered at the last reasonable point.Hon Gerry Brownlee: That's a joke statistic.Hon MICHAEL WOOD: It's a significant investment—and Mr Brownlee I'm sure you can do the maths. A 46 percent increase over a six-year period is a very significant increase in investment.And I just say to the member and I'd repeat it that it is indeed our position that it is appropriate to be investing across a wider range of modes. When this Government came into power we had a national rail network that was on its knees with bridges over a hundred years old that couldn't be run on at full speed—real safety concerns. So yes we do believe it's important to spread the investment—Hon Gerry Brownlee: Who sold it off?Hon MICHAEL WOOD: Oh who sold it off were the ratbags who left our lot and set up the ACT Party.