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Kuriger Barbara; Woods MeganBARBARA KURIGER (National—Taranaki - King Country): Thank you Madam Chair. In November 2019 the Minister received advice from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) on a potential pumped hydro scheme. The advice received some quotes that read as if they were from Yes Minister rather than MBIE—quotes like The future value of pump storage is unclear. This is not a small or trivial project." While the scheme's economics may look appealing on paper the ministry stated "A scheme like Onslow is a high-cost long-term solution to dry-year storage and lowering emissions. While no detailed planning has taken place it is not impossible that designed and constructed a large earth dam could take 10 years."Given we have wholesale electricity prices that are four times what they were at the time of the oil and gas ban my question to the Minister is: is the $100 million spent on the New Zealand Battery Project—of that money what options for dry-year storage are going to be considered? Will it consider ammonia as a dry-year storage as suggested by MBIE and will it consider gas as a dry-year storage?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Energy and Resources): I'd just like to point to the member that the reason why we're spending in phase one $30 million and in phase two $70 million is for precisely those reasons. I'd like to say some very hard-working officials put together that advice and I have a great deal of respect for the advice that they give to me and it is appreciated—rather than ridiculing it.So in terms of what it will look at which has been well canvassed in public documents—it will look at pumped hydro it will look at the particular case of Onslow and it will look at smaller North Island schemes as comparators to that. What is happening the phase that we're at at the moment is actually putting together a long list of what the comparative technologies will look at. But this is actually about ways in which we do renewable systems. This is about what the future of the world looks like and that is renewable energy. So no we will not be looking at fossil fuels for New Zealand's future because our Government believes we have to be planning for a fight against climate change."
Court SimonSIMON COURT (ACT): Thank you Madam Chair and again thank you to the Minister for the briefing that you voluntarily provided to the ACT Party to the National Party and to the Green Party last week. It was very helpful and it was good to have the opportunity to speak to you and to officials in a more informal setting. I'd actually like to preserve that spirit of collegiality tonight but there are some rather important questions that we do need answered. Firstly does the Minister agree with the Climate Change Commission's suggestion that burning some residual gas is OK and that the focus of any reforms to the electricity sector or reductions in emissions should be on decarbonising energy as a whole not just electricity?Further does the Minister agree with the chief executive of Genesis Energy that a mix of energy sources is important to maintain a stable reliable system so we can decarbonise other sectors using electricity a statement that the CEO of Genesis made on Radio New Zealand earlier this week? And does she also agree with Genesis Energy's CEO that the Onslow project is a stupid project?
Kuriger BarbaraBARBARA KURIGER (National—Taranaki - King Country): To the Minister has she received the latest Gas Industry Company supply and demand report and if so when will it be released? I'll keep going: why has the Minister appointed to the Technical Reference Group for the NZ Battery project a group that will provide technical advice on a potential $4 billion investment in pumped hydro that the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment has called potentially the largest earth-moving project in New Zealand's recent history—why has she appointed a School Strike 4 Climate organiser and a Greenpeace campaign manager to the so-called technical group?
Court SimonSIMON COURT (ACT): Thank you Madam Chair. To the Minister we've heard a little bit more over the past few days about security of supply the resilience of the electricity system and measures that the private sector are taking to reduce consumption as one of those voluntary steps to make sure that other conservation measures are not required. But it is of great concern to the ACT Party and to those businesses no doubt that they are having to reduce production and potentially turn people away from jobs while electricity prices remain so high. It appears they remain high because of a shortage of natural gas for reasons that have been well canvassed—because the Pohokura field is slowing down. So my question to the Minister: given that an energy shortage has led to an increase in wholesale energy prices does the Minister see a risk of New Zealanders paying more in their energy bills each month?
Kuriger BarbaraBARBARA KURIGER (National—Taranaki - King Country): I want to ask the Minister in the chair Megan Woods—it's been reported that the Pohokura gasfield is now delivering 43 percent less gas than it did at the time the Government announced an oil and gas ban. OMV have said that about $100 million of investment is needed just to keep up current production. To her knowledge has OMV reduced maintenance investment in Pohokura and has this led to greater risk to the asset including reduced production? I'm happy to ask another one if—Erica Stanford: Keep going—she doesn't answer.BARBARA KURIGER: OK. Recent reporting is that New Zealand Steel and Fonterra are both now on day-to-day gas contracts. As we head through the winter and to spring this will create serious risks to Fonterra who have no choice but to process the milk that they receive. Has she sought any advice on potential imports to New Zealand of liquid natural gas into the country?
Strange JamieJAMIE STRANGE (Chairperson of the Economic Development Science and Innovation Committee): Thank you Madam Chair. It's a pleasure to take a call in this debate the Appropriation (2019/20 Confirmation and Validation) Bill annual review debate energy and resources. Is my microphone on? I'll just carry on talking and hopefully—unless I move to the other side; that's probably made it more difficult.Hon Members: Move to the right.JAMIE STRANGE: If I stay where I am—I'll just carry on talking in a loud voice so the members can hear. [Microphone turns on] There we are—ha ha!The annual review debate energy and resources: so look as the chair of the Economic Development Science and Innovation Committee I appreciate the opportunity to provide the committee with a little bit of an overview of what we heard in the annual reviews.I'd like to start by talking about the annual review of Meridian Energy Ltd. Meridian told us that its passenger vehicle fleet is now fully electric and that it expects that all its fleet will be electric within the next two years. It is planning a carbon sink to mop up its carbon emissions. The company has an active commitment to their sustainability. Also they spoke quite a bit about renewable energy generation. Meridian told us it had recently announced that construction would begin on the Harapaki Wind Farm expected to cost around $395 million. It reported that renewable energy generation—wind geothermal and solar—is becoming cheaper and that it can replace older fossil fuel - based generation. It did not see a problem with future supply but would encourage policy makers to think about ensuring that demand continues to be stimulated. We also heard about the use of non-renewable generation in terms of the just transition away from fossil fuels. We heard about the resource management framework.And also which will probably be of particular interest we heard about the planned closure of the Tīwai Point Aluminium Smelter. Meridian announced in January 2021 that it had reached an agreement with its largest customer Rio Tinto which operates the New Zealand Aluminium Smelter at Tīwai Point in Southland. The planned closure had been extended from August 2021 to December 2024. Meridian noted it was unlikely that the contract would be extended past 2024.So I won't take too much more time because I know that there will be other speakers who would like to ask questions of the Minister. So if I could just kick this aspect of the debate off by asking the following question of the Minister. Like I said at the select committee we heard that renewable energy generation—wind geothermal and solar—is becoming cheaper and can replace older fossil fuel - based generation. So my question is: what role has the Government played in this transition and to what extent has the Government promoted investment in new renewable energy sources? Thank you.
Salesa JennyCHAIRPERSON (Hon Jenny Salesa): Members when we suspended for the dinner break we were in the annual debate. We now move to the energy and resources portfolio.
Willis Nicola; Woods MeganNICOLA WILLIS (National): Can the Minister confirm that she thinks $750 million worth of State house sales since Labour came to Government amounts to here and there"? Can the Minister confirm that increasing rents put pressure on the State house waiting list? And can she also confirm that she received explicit advice that policies to remove interest deductibility could put pressure on rents—particularly for the lowest-income tenants—and she went ahead with those policy changes anyway?Finally to return to those matters we've had two points of clarification on: can she confirm that she received a briefing that said this "As advised to you verbally Kāinga Ora will find it challenging to deliver their portion of the thousand transitional housing places 70 to 80 percent by June 2021 for this reason." The letter of expectation notes that at least 500 places are expected to be delivered by 30 June 2021. In other words the Minister talked to Kāinga Ora. They said "Look we're not on track to deliver we can't do it" and the Minister said "No problem. I'll revise down my expectation. I'll revise down the target; that's how we roll." It's Labour; they promised 16000 houses couldn't deliver it and just said "Oh we don't do targets for KiwiBuild any more." Are we seeing the same in transitional housing? If the Minister could address those questions.Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Housing): I'd just like to reiterate what I've said to that member—that we've delivered transitional housing through both community housing providers and Kāinga Ora. The reason why I have allowed Kāinga Ora to revise it down but revise up delivery in other areas is because we're able to deliver those numbers through alternative pathways. The same number of houses will eventuate; we are continuing to add to the stocks. And I will address the question about rent increases that the member did raise then and in a previous question. The data shows that the year on March to March rent increase figure is 1.6 percent for last year that we've seen—we know that probably is a little bit suppressed because of the period of lockdown when there wasn't the ability to put up rent so we think it's probably more in the realm of somewhere between 2 to 4 percent. But I also note for that member when she was asking about data sets that we'll be using—and there's a variety—that Stats NZ and bond data will be the primary data sets that we will use. But I do note that the Trade Me stats came out today and it showed an absolute flat-lining of rent in the last 30 days the period of time we said that we were going to see—you know there were some people saying that we could see very large rent increases. It certainly didn't happen and the statistics didn't back it up.CHAIRPERSON (Hon Jacqui Dean): The time has come for the House to rise for the dinner break. The House will resume at 7 o'clock this evening.Sitting suspended from 6.03 p.m. to 7 p.m.Energy and Resources"
Woods Megan; Dean JacquiHon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Housing): Thank you Madam Chair. Just to respond with some information to answer a question put by both members in terms of the public house building and a reassurance that is on track I'm happy to inform the House that indeed it is. In fact since we've come into Government—since November 2017 the beginning of our first term in Government—7631 new public housing places have been built; 5848 of those I am thrilled to inform the House have been new builds. In terms of our transitional places since we came in in November 2017 2364 new transitional places have been put into place. This has more than doubled the capacity of transitional housing available in New Zealand. Is it enough? I think every member sitting in this House knows there is more work to be done and that is something that we are committed to doing. In terms of the member's question around the delivery of the transitional housing against those targets the member will know because she has received information under the Official Information Act about a briefing that said that Kāinga Ora wasn't going to deliver all of its bit of it and for many reasons construction projects got delayed last year—everybody had to down tools for a substantial period of time. But did that mean that we were substantially delayed in the delivery of the absolute number of transitional houses? No. What happened is they were delivered in partnership with community housing providers. So while the target was 1000 by December 2020 that was in fact reached in January 2021 which I think is a huge achievement for any organisation in 2020 given the delays we had. I'm incredibly proud of our teams and our delivery partners in the community and housing providers sector who helped us deliver that. We are a Government that is committed to getting on with the work to actually building houses and making sure that we are continually adding to the supply of houses.CHAIRPERSON (Hon Jacqui Dean): I call Dr Debbie Ngarewa-Packer—not Dr" yet."
Williams PotoHon POTO WILLIAMS (Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing)): Thank you Madam Chair. It's a pleasure to take a brief call on this and I want to ask the Minister a question but I also want to respond to some of the questions that have come up in the House today. There's no doubt that housing is by far and away the most important issue that our people face. Whether that is housing affordability whether that's access to public housing or transitional housing or State housing or whether that's access to warm dry and affordable rentals housing is a hugely important feature of the work that this Government is doing and we're very committed to doing that.The question I have and it kind of relates to something that the previous speaker Nicola Willis spoke about really is about the build of housing and what the build programme is about. I know that if previous Governments had kept up building at a particular rate we may not have found ourselves in the situation that we find ourselves in having to—Nicola Willis: Answer the question. Be accountable. Hon POTO WILLIAMS: —having to—Nicola Willis: Be accountable for your own target.CHAIRPERSON (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! I apologise to the Minister. If the member would kindly keep the Chair out of the debate.Hon POTO WILLIAMS: Thank you Madam Chair. We all know that not enough housing was built and I think it's about time that we all owned up to the fact—Nicola Willis: How's KiwiBuild going?Hon POTO WILLIAMS: —and this is a Government that is actually addressing the problem by putting spades in the ground and building houses. It's a little difficult to ignore that because it keeps happening and I'm happy for the member to interject if she so chooses but I would like actually to just have a moment if I could.What I'd like the Minister to respond to is actually our build of public and transitional housing because we know that public housing is a big issue for us. We want people to tell us when housing is a problem for them. There has long been this notion of State versus social versus public. Actually it's people in need of housing and sometimes they're not able to manage that on their own without significant support either from community housing providers or from the Government. I think it's a real testament to this Government that they put housing first in terms of a priority and that they prioritise also people who find it difficult to find housing on their own. You know we have a public housing register that is significant because the need is significant. Now that doesn't mean that we shy away from the issue; in fact what we are doing is we are recognising that we have to put all of our shoulders to the wheel if we're going to address this so that people feel confident and comfortable about coming forward and saying they have these needs.So if I could ask the Minister if she would outline what our plan is for public housing build and also the transitional housing which is vitally important to move people from public housing into the ability to really take care of their own needs and hopefully our aspiration that they get into homeownership themselves. Thank you Madam Chair.
Willis NicolaNICOLA WILLIS (National): I note that the Minister has no idea how Kāinga Ora will reach the target once demolitions are taken into account. So my question is whether the State house building track is on track and can the Minister confirm that she had expectations in Budget 2020 in amidst her priorities for delivery that Kāinga Ora would deliver 70 to 80 percent of the 1000 new build transitional housing places promised? Of course this is important because the reason we are spending a million dollars a day as a country on motels is that there isn't enough housing and the Minister has proposed that transitional housing as part of the solution. Is it correct that Kāinga Ora advised the Minister verbally that they would find it challenging to deliver their portion of the thousand transitional housing places by June 2021?
Willis NicolaNICOLA WILLIS (National): That was wholly unsatisfactory but I'm going to move to a new track on State house building. The Minister repeatedly claims the Government will deliver 18350 new public and transitional housing places by 2024. The Kāinga Ora Sustainability Financing Framework notes that 45000 houses are due for renewal or replacement in the next 20 years. My question for the Minister is: how many houses will be demolished between now and 2024 and how many therefore will Kāinga Ora need to build in total to reach the 18350 additional target which the Minister repeatedly states?
Dean JacquiHousingCHAIRPERSON (Hon Jacqui Dean): We now move to the financial review examination of social services and community housing. The Hon Dr Megan Woods is in the chair.
Salesa JennyCHAIRPERSON (Hon Jenny Salesa): Members we come now to the annual review debate on housing—Hon Todd McClay: Point of order Madam Chair. We actually started four minutes late and my colleague has only one question. We divide this time up to be about seven minutes for the Opposition and we haven't come close to our seven minutes yet because the line of questioning was interrupted at the beginning. CHAIRPERSON (Hon Jenny Salesa): We'll take one more question.
Upston Louise; Sepuloni CarmelHon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō): Thank you Madam Chair. I want to come back to the question I asked about value for money on employment initiatives and I want to know if the Minister thinks that $220000 for a shovel-ready job is good value for money; and if not what is?I also want to know around employment initiatives—Government initiatives—and taxpayer spending how many jobs will be created have been created; and if not why not?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for Social Development and Employment): The premise of the member's question around $220000 for a shovel-ready job I would question. So I don't quite know how to respond to that given that I'm not quite sure where that figure comes from. With regards to the employment initiatives that we have in place the vast majority of what the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) does is they create the supports. We put the supports in place so that we can support New Zealanders into employment. Alongside that we form the industry partnerships with different sectors to ensure that where there is an opportunity for job creation those industries and sectors are supported by MSD's products and also then workforce—because of the clients we have that want to go into work—to be able to fill the positions when those opportunities are created.So MSD is not necessarily about creating the jobs. They are about working with people so that they are work-ready so they have the skills so they get access to the training and so they get access in some instances to things like licences whether that be a licence so they can get to work a forklift licence so they can drive a forklift or a truck licence in some instances. So it's about supporting people to be work-ready to take up the positions that are there. It's not about MSD creating the jobs.
Sepuloni CarmelHon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for Social Development and Employment): [Uses sign language] Good afternoon. It's New Zealand Sign Language Week. Can I just start by saying that I won't speak for long because I do respect the fact that many people in the Chamber will have questions. But I do just want to start with a few opening remarks and that is that there was significant investment at Budget 2019 2020 where we invested in some really important things. We indexed benefits to wages we changed the abatement settings and we also removed section 192 of the Social Security Act so that sole parents who were unable to name the other parent of the child would not be penalised any further. Those are significant changes in themselves but on top of that we all know that last year we were hit by COVID. My opening statement is just to recognise the work of the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) over the course of that year. The programme that we had in front of us before COVID hit was already immense but the MSD staff showed their agility and their ability to be able to respond effectively to New Zealanders during a crisis and for that I am very proud. I'll stop there and I'll take questions from the Chamber.
Court Simon; Wood MichaelSIMON COURT (ACT): Very briefly to the Minister thank you for describing the utopia of public transport opportunities initiatives and what's been delivered in other parts of Auckland. The express busway to the North Shore—as an engineer many years ago I was involved in delivering one of those stations so I understand how important it has become to the people of the North Shore how they've come to grow to rely on it but also that it is at capacity. Again in South Auckland the connection of Puhinui from heavy rail to the airport shows you what you can do when you take a flexible approach—with a limited amount of budget and having some limited targets how much functionality and what a great level of service you can offer.So it must be salt in the wounds for the people of the west of Auckland and the north-west who still rely on roads last upgraded in the 1980s—from Westgate in Auckland to Kūmeu Huapai Helensville where hundreds of thousands of people are scheduled to build homes and live—and already sitting in heavily congested roads on weekdays and even weekends where freight moving between industrial areas commercial areas and other parts of the country is held up for 20 30 40 additional minutes at peak time. There's also severe constraints on freight movement and people movement during the day. So my question to the Minister is—firstly thank you for what your Government Auckland Transport and previous Governments have delivered to Auckland. But the missing part is what is going to be delivered for the people of the west and the north-west of Auckland who feel short-changed? Thank you.Hon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister of Transport): The member is correct in identifying the north-west as a significant growth area. Ministers across portfolios are working together closely to make sure that we're aligning our urban development housing transport strategy and investments in the coming years to meet the change the member identifies which really is a failure of planning over a good 20 years or so now. I can give the member some comfort: there is significant roading investment which is planned around Waimauku and Brigham Creek which is currently working its way through the consenting process. But the long-term story has to be getting high quality public transport up to that part of the world. There is work that's under way there now to get interim busway improvements up to Westgate. That work is rolling out as part of our COVID response funding and we'll make progress on that by next year. I want to see us looking as hard as we can to get progress as quickly as we can to be extending high-quality public transport outcomes up to the communities in Kūmeu. That's something I've been asking questions of Auckland Transport and Waka Kotahi.
Doocey Matt; Rurawhe AdrianMATT DOOCEY (Senior Whip—National): Point of order Mr Chair. It was agreed this theme would finish at 3.50 p.m.CHAIRPERSON (Adrian Rurawhe): I was told 50 minutes which is another five minutes. It's up to the members of the committee. If you no longer want to speak then just stop speaking.
Bishop Chris; Wood MichaelCHRIS BISHOP (National): Just very briefly Mr Chair I want to ask the Minister about his comments in relation to the baselining process and in relation to the contingency. The information that I have received says that in the original $6.8 billion programme for the New Zealand upgrade there was a $46 million only contingency—I'm referring to emails between the Ministry of Transport and Treasury here. I make it a $46 million contingency and we've got $6.8 billion in total. On 14 January there's a the Minister has just asked for additional Wellington rail infrastructure package" so the contingency is "pretty much gone". And on 23 January bearing in mind that the package was announced five days later the attached shows that a further $47 million worth of projects have been added to the Canterbury package by Minister Twyford's office". The contingency across the package is now just $47 million. Why did the Government allow just $47 million in a $6.8 billion programme and why are we now expected to believe—why do we now think it's reasonable for us to tolerate a baselining process when the Government should have done that when they put the package together in the first place?Hon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister of Transport): The member simply speaks to the tensions and trade-offs that occur within any significant infrastructure package. I mean the member in his comments earlier sort of went back and forth a bit in terms of the Wellington rail package and he's confirmed that in fact he is in favour of it. That is something that is being delivered as a result of the New Zealand upgrade package. You face choices within a large package like this between what you allocate between projects between what you allocate between contingencies based on the information that you have at the time.As the member will be aware while I'm responsible for it I wasn't the Minister at the time so I'm unable to give a detailed account of those discussions and how they played out at the time. But I stand by the fact that as a result of that package we're delivering fantastic upgrades to the Wellington rail network which is going to improve the commuter performance. I stand by the comment I made earlier that we remain committed to investment in all of those key routes to improve the transport outcomes for New Zealanders."
Luxon ChristopherCHRISTOPHER LUXON (National—Botany): I just wanted to ask the Minister some questions about the second harbour crossing in particular. Obviously back in February his colleague Minister Parker talked about you know it was a problem the second crossing it had to be fixed but not for tomorrow. And then obviously the Minister received advice at the end of last year saying that further structural strengthening of the bridge isn't possible. So I guess the question is: what is the real state of that asset? How does he think about that? What is the pace and urgency around getting a second harbour crossing under? And if there are restrictions going forward what fundamentally would be the effects on our supply chain and how would we manage that going forward? So I'm just interested in your views around this.I've got a couple of others on the second harbour crossing if you'd sooner I'd do it all in one go for you? The second thing is really around—so the first thing is around sort of urgency priority of the asset and strategic conditions—the business case. I noted in the announcement that you made with Mayor Goff around the $31 billion Auckland Transport Alignment Project (ATAP) investment that there is money in there but essentially I think it's about $80 million from memory just for business case and a bit of land acquisition. I guess the question also is that you know the business case has been in development when you look at those ATAP documents for the last two years and how much longer do you think it will take to complete the business case for that?And I guess the third question I really wanted to ask around it was: I note in that investment package that you announced with Mayor Goff there still is you know the SkyPath project funded in there I think to the tune of $240 million sitting in ATAP. But it does make the comment and we have had comments about its being beleaguered by technical problems and significant complex and engineering issues around that. So the question around SkyPath is: is it happening or not happening? And if it is happening why is it so when we've got a bridge that's structurally challenged currently? Why would we persist with doing that?So really questions around urgency questions around the business case and questions around SkyPath.
Court SimonSIMON COURT (ACT): Thank you Mr Chair—thank you for giving me this call this afternoon—and thank you Minister for coming to the Chamber today to answer some of the questions about this really really important portfolio. We agree that there is a need for better public transport in New Zealand. Our road network is at capacity or beyond capacity in many towns and cities and in those vital connections between regions.Now this road network which is managed by the transport agency Waka Kotahi is already at capacity in Auckland. There are new suburbs in the north the west and the south of the city which unfortunately despite having existing public transport services like buses are limited by two-lane road connections to new subdivisions built on land zoned for medium density and high density and yet there are no new roading connections to these areas in the north the north-west the west and the south of Auckland. Tradies freight and workers commuting from home to work dropping the kids to school are already suffering terrible delays—sometimes an hour. An hour and 20 minutes it took me to travel from West Auckland to Papakura on Friday afternoon alone. What this tells us is that despite the need for housing and our acknowledgment that we need to grow up as well as out there is no current capacity for growth.I'll give you an example. A few years ago when I was a civil engineer managing projects in Auckland we could have banked on four to five round trips a day between the CBD and the quarries and other suppliers that we relied on for building materials to get to our project sites. Most recently my colleagues in the industry tell me they're banking on three loads a day and sometimes only achieving two. So that is resulting in a huge loss of productivity to the manufacturing and the construction sector—and that's above and beyond the congestion experienced by workers and families getting their kids to and from school and to and from places of work. It is definitely a priority to expand the existing transport network. That is why I would ask the Minister to consider delivering better public transport now—delivering free-flowing networks now.So when it comes to the light rail system that was put up under the previous Government debated at length and is now being brought back for consideration with another steering group set up to develop a business case can I ask the Minister to explain: what is the problem that the Government is trying to solve with light rail in Auckland? Is there a stronger or better case that light rail is actually a better option than increasing road capacity to free up roads from congestion and deliver better public transport through express buses and wheels on roads?
Bishop ChrisCHRIS BISHOP (National): Thank you very much Mr Chair—just a couple of very quick comments and a couple of questions. The first is in relation to the New Zealand Upgrade Programme. The Minister now says that it's very prudent we sit back—it's a very large project; $6.8 billion—and we need to do baselining which is just as an aside a verb that I hope does not catch on. I forget the precise grammatical term or the syntactical term—whatever it is when you turn a noun into a verb. The Public Service love it but I hope it does not catch on. It's like learnings"—anyway!So we're doing some "baselining". What I would like to know is why that was not done in the first place and why the Minister did not heed the warnings of Treasury when putting together the New Zealand Upgrade Programme in the first place because he was told by Treasury and I've seen the official advice to him that said "There is a danger of cost overruns and we are worried that too much is being packed into the programme." Right at the very last minute a single item which is the Wellington rail upgrades was added—right at the very last minute—which is maybe a $300 million programme which took the package right up to the limit of $6.8 billion. And actually the Minister was told to allow some contingency inside the programme and that was not done. So I want to know why that was not done. Because all of these problems were foreseeable. In fact Treasury told him that these problems may come down the line and it was totally foreseeable that here we are in May 2021 worried about cost overruns—first point.Second point is in relation to the Melling and the Ōtaki to North Levin projects. Will the Minister commit to at least $258 million being spent on the Melling Interchange programme and will he commit to the project starting in 2022 as was promised throughout the entirety of 2020? Third question: will he commit to at least $817 million being spent on the Ōtaki to North Levin four-laning which is one of the most dangerous sections of State highway in New Zealand? His own data shows that 135 deaths and serious injuries will be prevented over five years from the four-laning of that road. Will he commit to that project starting as intended in 2025?"
Woodhouse MichaelHon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National): Thank you Mr Chair. I want to commence my questions to the Minister in respect of the New Zealand Upgrade Programme which was announced during the annual review period in January last year $12 billion – odd of which $6.8 billion I think was of transport and $5.8 billion of roading projects. There's been some recent publicity that there is equivocation now on the degree of commitment to that and this I guess is the opportunity for the Minister to clear that up. There is concern—and the Minister has acknowledged—the baseline estimates that informed that announcement may now need to be revised and there was equivocation when the Minister was asked about what that meant for those projects and whether any of them would be delayed past the Government's original time frame or cancelled altogether.Now the Prime Minister when she joined the Minister of Transport in this announcement was very clear that the upgrade was spades in the ground within a year. I accept that that's not going to be possible for all of the projects—and indeed there are spades in the ground on some of them—but there are some really really big projects that I think could be at risk and I think it behoves the Minister to give the House and the committee sort of an articulation of where that risk might be recognising that he can't breach any budget constraints.
Mallard Trevor; Rurawhe AdrianSPEAKER: I declare the House in committee for further consideration of the Appropriation (2019/20 Confirmation and Validation) Bill.ANNUAL REVIEW DEBATEIn CommitteeDebate resumed from 4 May on the Appropriation (2019/20 Confirmation and Validation) Bill.CHAIRPERSON (Adrian Rurawhe): Kāti rā tēnā tātou. [If I may greetings all.] The House is in committee for further consideration of the Appropriation (2019/20 Confirmation and Validation) Bill. This is the debate on the financial position of the Government and the annual reviews of departments Offices of Parliament Crown entities public organisations and State enterprises as reported by select committees. There are five hours 11 minutes remaining in this debate. New Zealand Labour has two hours 58 minutes remaining New Zealand National has one hour 20 minutes remaining the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand has 34 minutes remaining the ACT Party has 25 minutes remaining and Te Paati Māori has eight minutes remaining. Members will recall that Standing Orders 356(2) and (3) have been set aside so there will be no sector-specific debates. All annual reviews are available for debate but only specific Ministers will be available each day to respond. The Government has indicated that the Minister of Transport the Minister for Social Development and Employment the Minister for Economic and Regional Development and of Tourism the Minister of Housing and the Minister of Energy and Resources the Minister of Immigration the Minister of Corrections the Minister for Māori Development and the Minister of Police will be available today. Each debate will be led off by the chairperson or another member of the select committee that considered annual reviews most closely related to the Minister's portfolios. At the conclusion of the debate questions will be put noting the committee reports on annual reviews and on provisions of the Appropriation (2019/20 Confirmation and Validation) Bill. There is no amendment or debate on these questions. When the committee was last considering the bill the question was that the report of the Finance and Expenditure Committee on the annual financial statements of the Government for the 2019/20 financial year be noted. Dr Duncan Webb had the call should he wish—nope. OK. We have the Hon Michael Wood in the chair.
Amended Answers to Oral Questions — Question No. 7 to Minister 7 April
Little AndrewAMENDED ANSWERS TO ORAL QUESTIONSQuestion No. 7 to Minister 7 AprilHon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Health): I seek leave to make a personal explanation under Standing Order 366 to correct the record in relation to oral question No. 7 on 7 April 2021.SPEAKER: Is there any objection to that course of action? There appears to be none.Hon ANDREW LITTLE: On 7 April 2021 I advised the House that all information historically published through the Office of the Director of Mental Health and Addiction Services' annual report is publicly available. I did that on the basis of advice from the Ministry of Health that this was the case. Ensuring transparency of the performance of the health and disability system through the publication of data and information is very important to me. This includes providing the public with robust timely and fit for purpose data about the performance of the mental health and addiction sector. On Friday afternoon last week I received further advice from the Ministry of Health that at the time of my statement seven discrete pieces of relevant information were not publicly reported through other avenues. Today is the first opportunity for me to correct the record in the House. I seek leave to table a briefing from the Ministry of Health in which the Director-General of Health advises that information provided to me was not correct and apologising to me for this.SPEAKER: Is there any objection to that course of action? There appears to be none. It can be tabled.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.
Petitions Papers Select Committee Reports Introduction of Bills
Mallard TrevorPETITIONS PAPERS SELECT COMMITTEE REPORTS AND INTRODUCTION OF BILLSSPEAKER: No petitions have been presented. I present the report of the Controller and Auditor-General entitled Management of the Wage Subsidy Scheme. That paper is published under the authority of the House. Select committee reports have been delivered for presentation.CLERK: Report of the Economic Development Science and Innovation Committee on the petition of Kamal Badawyreport of the Education and Workforce Committee on the petition of Charlene Whytereport of the Governance and Administration Committee on the petition of Shane Fisher-Van Der Veeninterim report of the Petitions Committee on petitions related to COVID-19 immigration and border policies.SPEAKER: The Clerk has been informed of the introduction of bills.CLERK: Drug and Substance Checking Legislation Bill (No 2) introductionPlant Variety Rights Bill introduction.SPEAKER: Those bills are set down for first reading.
Obituaries — Rana Waitai
Mallard TrevorOBITUARIESRana WaitaiSPEAKER: Members I regret to inform the House of the death on 8 May 2021 of Rana Waitai who represented the Te Puku o Te Whenua electorate from 1996 to 1999. While in Parliament Mr Waitai acted as chairperson of the Justice and Law Reform Committee and a member of the Māori Affairs Committee. I desire on behalf of this House to express our sense of loss we have sustained and our sympathy with the relatives of the late former member. I now ask members to stand with me and observe a period of silence as a mark of respect for his memory.Members observed a period of silence.
Rurawhe AdrianTUESDAY 11 MAY 2021The Speaker took the Chair at 2 p.m.KARAKIA/PRAYERSDEPUTY SPEAKER: E te Atua kaha rawa ka tuku whakamoemiti atu mātou mō ngā karakia kua waihotia mai ki runga i a mātou. Ka waiho i ō mātou pānga whaiaro katoa ki te taha. Ka mihi mātou ki te Kuīni me te inoi atu mō te ārahitanga i roto i ō mātou whakaaroarohanga kia mōhio ai kia whakaiti ai tā mātou whakahaere i ngā take o te Whare nei mō te oranga te maungārongo me te aroha o Aotearoa. Amene.[Almighty God we give thanks for the blessings which have been bestowed on us. Laying aside all personal interests we acknowledge the Queen and pray for guidance in our deliberations that we may conduct the affairs of this House with wisdom and humility for the welfare peace and compassion of New Zealand. Amen.]
Thursday 23 June 2022 - Volume 760
11. Question No. 11—Arts Culture and HeritageWILLOW-JEAN PRIME (Labour—Northland) to the Associate Minister for Arts Culture and HeritageQuestion No. 11—Arts Culture and Heritage11. WILLOW-JEAN PRIME (Labour—Northland) to the Associate Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage: What is the Government doing to mark the first Matariki public holiday?Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN (Associate Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage): Mānawatia a Matariki Mr Speaker. Tomorrow the Prime Minister and the ministerial delegation will attend a traditional hautapu ceremony to celebrate Matariki at Te Papa and many of my other colleagues will be attending Matariki events around the country. There will be a live broadcast of Matariki festivities at Te Papa across almost all media channels beginning at dawn with the hautapu ceremony and giving all of Aotearoa the opportunity to understand the traditions and to be a part of creating our new own ones right here at home. Te Arawhiti's Matariki Ahunga Nui fund is also supporting 60 groups undertaking Matariki kaupapa across the motu. They range from marae-based wānanga that explore traditional Matariki ceremonies to albums promoting Matariki waiata that tell the stories about connection to this place our stars and our relations across the Pacific.Willow-Jean Prime: How will the Government support Matariki celebrations in future years?Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: Budget 2022 made available more than $8 million over four years to embed celebration of Matariki into Aotearoa New Zealand's national fabric over the long term and to support community celebrations for Matariki across the country. With the many events across Aotearoa to mark this first Matariki public holiday and with the high level of enthusiasm for Matariki across the land our collective knowledge and celebration of Matariki will develop and grow each year and I look forward to the Government taking an active role to support this kaupapa and mātauranga Māori - based event.Willow-Jean Prime: In her capacity as the sponsor for Te Pire mō te Hararei Tūmatanui o te Kāhui o Matariki/Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Bill can she confirm what stars Matariki is comprised of?Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: Mr Speaker I can: Waitī Waitā Waipunarangi Tipuānuku Tipuārangi Ururangi Pōhutukawa Hiwa i te Rangi Ēi Matariki. Tēnā koe.
9. Question No. 9—ImmigrationDr JAMES McDOWALL (ACT) to the Minister of ImmigrationQuestion No. 9—Immigration9. Dr JAMES McDOWALL (ACT) to the Minister of Immigration: Does he agree with the Prime Minister's statement yesterday that nurses are on a fast track to residency" and does he further support her statement that nurses have "guaranteed residency"?Hon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister of Immigration) (remote): To the first part of the question: yes. To the second part of the question: also yes provided the criteria are met which will be set out in immigration instructions fairly shortly.Dr James McDowall: Does the Minister understand that there is no such thing as guaranteed residency and if so how can he possibly support the Prime Minister's statement? SPEAKER: Well no—Hon MICHAEL WOOD: I can support—SPEAKER: The Minister can answer the question even though it started with an assertion that it shouldn't have. Hon MICHAEL WOOD: Well I can certainly support the Prime Minister's statements and the policy at hand because we've taken a policy decision here to provide a far quicker and more certain pathway for nurses than has previously been available including under the last Government of which that member's party was a member.Dr James McDowall: If it is guaranteed residency does that mean neither the nurse nor any family members on the application will be subject to character or health requirements and that the policy won't change at all within two years?Hon MICHAEL WOOD: Well as I've said in my answer to the primary question this will of course be subject to immigration instructions and basic and reasonable expectations. I'm sure for example that the member wouldn't expect that we would provide residency to people who engaged in criminal activity.Dr James McDowall: Does he agree with the Prime Minister's view that migrant nurses should be bonded to nursing and if so why won't he use section 50 of the Immigration Act to accomplish this whilst simultaneously granting nurses fast-track residency?Hon MICHAEL WOOD: I think that with these matters it is always a sensible place to start to determine what the problem is that we're trying to overcome and in this case it's trying to make sure that we have sufficient nurses to meet New Zealand's needs. Therefore it is a reasonable and rational policy to ensure that when people come here to work as nurses for at least some period of time they do work as nurses. SPEAKER: Question—Dr James McDowall: Supplementary?SPEAKER: No. The member's leader has used quite a few questions over the last couple of days."