Strange JamieJAMIE STRANGE (Labour): Thank you Madam Chair for the opportunity to speak after the gentleman who shares two-thirds of my name. I would just like to clarify a few things. I'd like to address a few things. The member opposite talked about the Auckland fuel tax. Now I'm sure Tim Macindoe would agree with me—why should Hamiltonians pay for Auckland's infrastructure? Yes Auckland has some challenges up there but why should we pay for their infrastructure? And that's exactly why the Minister has put in the Auckland fuel tax—in order to pay for many of the projects that the National members will quite possibly look to take credit for when they are rolled out. But they key point is there—it is around user-pays.The member opposite mentioned around 10 four-laning roading projects that he says this Government have canned. Well the reality is that those projects were never funded. Yes they were talked about during an election campaign but there was never money put aside for them. Effectively they were pipedreams. And I'll just mention one more thing before I move on to others and that's the light rail up in Auckland. The member talked about light rail effectively not really being something that people would want or something that would be useful. Well the New Zealand Superannuation Fund have expressed interest in investing in light rail. The super fund—a very credible fund; a very important fund for our nation—have expressed interest in supporting light rail. Now they only express interest in projects that are solid in projects that will make a difference and in projects that are well costed and that have a good business case. So I'd just like to mention just a couple of things there.The Minister Megan Woods talked about the tech sector. And I'd just like to highlight for a moment the wonderful things that are happening in Hamilton in terms of the tech sector. We have got a thriving sector primarily based around Waikato Innovation Park which is a wonderful facility where start-ups can come and—CHAIRPERSON (Hon Anne Tolley): I'd just remind the member that you're actually talking about the Estimates right? It's not a general debate about your electorate.JAMIE STRANGE: Sorry Madam Chair. I got a little bit broad there. I am proud of the fact that this Government is investing in the regions and investing in infrastructure in our regions. We have got an infrastructure deficit in our country; we've got a lot of ageing infrastructure. You only have to talk to any council in New Zealand and they'll talk about bridges they'll talk about roads and they'll talk about other key aspects around water and other things that are suffering. So we've got a Government here which is taking a long-term view on infrastructure. It's not a view of Let's just throw a bit of money here throw a bit of money there." No we have got a plan around dealing with the ageing infrastructure and in particular the infrastructure in our regions.I'm proud that we've got a Minister for Regional Economic Development who is absolutely passionate about our regions. As someone who was born in the regions someone who was born down in Nelson and primarily lived around the Waikato region I'm absolutely passionate about investing in our regions. A lot of people in the regions have been sucked into the cities and the regions have been suffering and I'm proud that this coalition Government will be investing $3 billion over three years in our regions. It's around economic growth in our regions and it's around opportunity in our regions. I'd just like to finish in my last minute and a half by moving back to transport. I was very pleased to read in the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport that the Minister is taking a multimodal view of transport. So he'll be looking at roading he'll be looking at rail he'll be looking at coastal shipping he'll be looking at safety and he'll be looking at cycling and walking—a multimodal approach. For example rail is an area that certainly needs a lot of investment and at the Transport and Infrastructure Committee we had the CEO of KiwiRail present to us and say "We need more investment in rail." and this Government as outlined in that Government Policy Statement and as outlined in Vote Transport will be investing more in rail. The National Land Transport Fund is administered through the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) and the NZTA now have the opportunity to invest that money in rail rather than just roading and so we're going to see more investment in rail. We've already seen it around the rail track around Gisborne there and we're going to see it right across the country—that investment in rail. We're going to see investment in coastal shipping. We're going to see investment in regional roads. Just to close I reiterate the fact that this is about multimodal transport and that's absolutely vital. Rather than the obsession with pork-barrel four-laning we're going to see a multimodal approach. Thank you Madam Chair. CHAIRPERSON (Hon Anne Tolley): Just as help for members debating if you look at Speakers' rulings 127/3 to 127/7 127/3 is a very good Speaker's ruling dating back to 1935 that suggests that "The discussion must be fastened on to some item in the Estimates and if that cannot be done generally speaking the discussion is irrelevant and therefore out of order.""