8. Provincial Growth Fund—Tree-planting Programme and Waipapa RoundaboutJONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth) to the Minister for Regional Economic DevelopmentProvincial Growth Fund—Tree-planting Programme and Waipapa Roundabout8. JONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth) to the Minister for Regional Economic Development: Does he stand by all the decisions and statements he has made regarding the Provincial Growth Fund?Hon SHANE JONES (Minister for Regional Economic Development): Yes. Jonathan Young: Is he aware that construction of the proposed Waipapa roundabout on State Highway 10 is already planned as the third new project for Northland by the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) from the National Land Transport Fund for the years 2018 through to 2021? Hon SHANE JONES: The announcement pertaining to the Waipapa plan is a project that was referred to me by the NZTA and I hope they get started as soon as possible. Jonathan Young: How does that answer line up with paragraph 63 of the Provincial Growth Fund Cabinet paper which makes it clear that the fund is not designed—and I quote—to fund activity that will take place anyway"?Hon SHANE JONES: That refers to the fact that the project was brought to me by the chief executive officer of NZTA—into my office—where he identified that they most certainly would not be funding that project within the next financial year. Jonathan Young: Is the Minister aware that the Waipapa roundabout project is only 4.7 kilometres from his house and did that proximity have any impact on the decision to include the project in the initial list announced last Friday? Hon SHANE JONES: Given that I've walked the distance many times it will come as no surprise to the House to know that I am domiciled in Kerikeri near Waipapa and of course that never crossed my mind. Hon Kelvin Davis: Is he aware of how many people have crashed and how many people have died at that particular intersection? Hon SHANE JONES: I have an idea of who I'd like to see crash but that's another matter.SPEAKER: Order! Order! No the member will resume his seat. He will address me as he answers and he will answer it in a proper manner. Hon SHANE JONES: When NZTA brought that proposal to my office I had not a doubt in my mind that they had been through the processes of identifying danger efficiency and safety as a part of the tourism highway—admittedly identified under the planning of "Northland Inc."—over the last couple of years. Hon Gerry Brownlee: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. With all due respect to the Minister he didn't answer Minister Kelvin Davis' question. SPEAKER: He addressed the question.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Well—no but he did not at any point make a comment about the safety issues that Mr Davis raised. It would just help us to know if every other black spot round the country can dip into his provincial fund as well. SPEAKER: Well I'm going to deal with this one first and say that I was listening to the answer. The Minister referred to safety. That's all he had to do.Jonathan Young: In regard to paragraph 63 of the Provincial Growth Fund Cabinet paper and following his press release last Friday where he said "We are finalising an agreement with the Landcorp to plant 1 million trees this winter and another million trees next year - about 2000 hectares in total" is he aware of the Landcorp annual report for 2016-17 which states on page 27 "The land and environment plans have identified further areas of forestry. As many as 1000 hectares may be planted in each of the next three years." and are these the same trees?Hon SHANE JONES: The Landcorp chief executive officer is currently in discussions with Ministry for Primary Industries officials. They are a land-use enterprise. They have been told "You can forget about selling any more Landcorp farms." and I can assure the member I can assure the House that once those commercial negotiations have been complete a full public statement will be made as to where the trees are and how many there will be."