5. Question No. 5—FinanceHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to the Minister of FinanceQuestion No. 5—Finance5. Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by his statements policies and actions in relation to the economy?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): Yes in the context that they were made delivered and taken.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Is he at all worried that at a time when New Zealand still has historically high terms of trade and should be doing well we have the lowest interest rates in our history?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: As we were talking about just in the earlier questions this is a global phenomenon. We are seeing historically low interest rates across the world. What we do know is a combination of what the monetary policy levers can pull and what the Government can do with our fiscal policy stimulus means that New Zealand can build on the strong position we have to weather this global downturn.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Does he agree with the Reserve Bank Governor's conclusions in the statement released at 2 o'clock Indicators of growth have remained weak or weakened further over the past few months."?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Just as the member has we've both just received that statement and I note that the tone of it overall is one that says yes there is lower growth. We've covered that before in this House. That is a global trend and indeed that is reflected in the Governor's statement.Hon Paul Goldsmith: So what responsibility if any does he take for that weakened growth outlook over the next few months?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The responsibility I take is for ensuring that the New Zealand economy is well positioned to weather a global storm—we've done that. We've kept debt relatively low. We have a Government surplus but at the same time we have invested significantly by lifting our operating spending to $3.8 billion per annum in new operating spending and by lifting our capital spending to historically high levels as well.Hon Paul Goldsmith: So following his statement yesterday "On this side of the House we understand that it is the Government's role to stimulate the economy in times like this" will he revisit his Government's decision to stop or delay around a dozen major road projects that in several cases were ready to go in favour of new projects that won't be ready to go?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: No I do not back off that statement because they weren't ready to go. There was no funding put aside for the majority of those roads.Hon Simon Bridges: East-West.Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: They were ghost roads. Where there was money put aside such as the Leader of the Opposition is interjecting about with the East-West Link that would have been the most expensive piece of road in the world had we gone ahead with buying it at around $300 million per kilometre.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Has Mr Simon Bridges or any member of the National Party showed that there was one cent in the Warkworth to Whangarei four-lane highway that they were promising?SPEAKER: Order! No there's not responsibility for that.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Regarding his statement yesterday "We are making sure that transport infrastructure doesn't go on a handful of highways" is it his plan that it all goes on one tram instead?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: No. It is our plan that we actually have a balanced investment in transport. That means roads in the regions which are getting a much better deal out of this Government. It means improving safety. It means investing in public transport and yes it means investing in other modes of transport as well. It's actually the 21st century over here."