2. Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update—Fiscal RiskHon STEVEN JOYCE (National) to the Minister of FinanceHalf Year Economic and Fiscal Update—Fiscal Risk2. Hon STEVEN JOYCE (National) to the Minister of Finance: Is he confident he has met all his responsibilities under the Public Finance Act 1989 in relation to his Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update released last Thursday?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): Yes and for the benefit of the member that means it's legal not pretty legal".Hon Steven Joyce: When did the finance Minister formally advise Treasury that the Government was no longer considering a public-private partnership for Dunedin Hospital and that it would be funded from the Crown's capital account?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I don't believe I have made a personal formal acknowledgment of that. It is the Government's policy view that we should fund health and education capital expenditure as a public good.Hon Steven Joyce: Can the finance Minister explain why Treasury did not include a specific fiscal risk for Dunedin Hospital in the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) a project likely to cost between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion even though it meets the requirement he signed on 7 December to inform Treasury of all material implications under the Public Finance Act?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I am advised by Treasury that this is considered under the heading "Other Capital Cost Pressures" on page 84 of the HYEFU similar to how such projects have been treated in other updates.Hon Steven Joyce: Can the finance Minister explain how it didn't warrant its own listing as a specific fiscal risk and is he suggesting that it's going to be less than the other risks—for example the clothing allowance for unsupported children and orphans which did manage to make the threshold for inclusion as a specific fiscal risk last week?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: As I said in the House yesterday the specific fiscal risks and how they are categorised are a matter for Treasury. Treasury advised me that they consider this under the "Other Capital Cost Pressures" on page 84.Hon Steven Joyce: When did he formally advise Treasury of the Government's commitment to additional rapid transit projects in Auckland at a cost of up to $15 billion as he stated in his recent speech to the Auckland chamber of commerce?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I don't believe I have formally advised that but that is covered in the specific fiscal risk section around the Auckland transport alignment process. And I would like to say that the member should de-stress a little about this because we have—Hon Steven Joyce: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The member had answered the question; there's no need for the gratuitous political—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: The member's absolutely right and right from the beginning of his answers today Mr Robertson has been giving more than is necessary. [Interruption] And the member will stand withdraw and apologise for interjecting while I am on my feet.Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I withdraw and apologise.Hon Steven Joyce: Does the finance Minister recall signing the disclosure agreement that appears on page 1 of the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update in which he clearly states that the contents of the document are his responsibility; and is he now at all concerned that he has failed to meet his obligations as the Minister of Finance under sections 26U(3) and 26V of the Public Finance Act to disclose all circumstances that have a material effect on the fiscal outlook?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: No I am not concerned at all. I signed that in good faith as other finance Ministers have in the past including I presume the member when he put forward the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update (PREFU) which also didn't include the commitment to Dunedin Hospital made four days before the PREFU."