Peters Winston: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers Questions to MembersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumePeters Winston: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members[Sitting date: 10 February 2016. Volume:711;Page:8841. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]9.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) to the Prime Minister: Does he have confidence in the Hon Steven Joyce; if so why?Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister): Yes I do have confidence in Minister Joyce who is both hard-working and effective. I would say after he released the Northland report last week and went up to Northland to do that—not only did it have 58 initiatives in it but I dare say that Minister Joyce now knows more about Northland than the member does. In actually having been there once this year he has probably been there more than the member has—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! This is the very last warning to Dr Megan Woods. If I hear her interject again I will be asking her to leave.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Seeing as the Prime Minister put it at issue is it not a fact that I have spent more time in my electorate in the space of just 9 months than he has for the whole time he has been an MP in his electorate?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Not if you count time in your electorate being on a boat fishing.Rt Hon Winston Peters: How—Hon Member: Well that didn’t go anywhere.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Of course it did not go anywhere because it is not true.Mr SPEAKER: Order! Less interjection from my right-hand side and when the member—I call him for a supplementary question. Could we have the supplementary question?Rt Hon Winston Peters: How can he have confidence in a Minister who launched the Northland economic plan and is so proud of it when it catalogues National’s record: the unemployment rate there is 3 percent above the national average nominal GDP—all in this book—per capita is 32 percent below the national average and 20 percent of the population is living in deprived areas. Why is that a cause for pride?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Just to give a flavour of the facts that the member has quoted which are not factually correct: the unemployment rate in Northland fell actually in the December quarter from 8.2 percent to 6.2 percent. It is certainly not new that Northland is a deprived part of New Zealand but this is a Government that has actually been looking to do a number of things to change that position and if the member wants to support them including potentially more mining in Northland reform of the Resource Management Act in Northland more tourism activity a whole bunch of other initiatives that were included in the document—58 in total—we look forward to his support. But as per normal he will—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The answer is long enough.Rt Hon Winston Peters: How can this 58-point plan even touch the surface of Northland’s needs when Mr Joyce confirmed that there are no monetary or fiscal changes to give it effect or any plans for seven of the 10 two-laned bridges that he talked about or the enhanced taxpayer-funded cellphone tower coverage or the ultra-fast broadband or for that matter the Wellsford to Pūhoi motorway? Where is that in his—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The question has been asked.Rt Hon JOHN KEY: It is good to see the member is now supporting the Wellsford to Pūhoi part of the motorway. We look forward to that. The member should know actually that the Minister is not responsible for monetary policy in New Zealand but when it comes to so many other initiatives like ultra-fast broadband and rural broadband and the likes the Government is involved in that and in terms of upgrading the infrastructure of roading and bridges. But I would just make this simple point: if we just want to have a point-for-point comparison it is 58 to zip because this Minister has come up with 58 initiatives for Northland and the “member for fishing” has come up with zero.Rt Hon Winston Peters: When he and his colleague Mr Joyce were in Northland albeit briefly and promised 10 two-laned bridges taxpayer-funded ultra-fast broadband and extra cellphone coverage paid for by the taxpayer and the Pūhoi to Wellsford highway did they not plan to give it any funding to make it happen? Because if it was the plan where is it in his master 58-point plan?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: We are good as a Government—I am prepared to accept that—but even we do not think we can build roads bridges and ultra-fast broadband without putting in money. So yes there will be money following those initiatives as there already has been. And actually that report indicates that we decided to put $4 million into the Hundertwasser project in Whangarei. There are 58 very bold and good initiatives in this plan and the member should either come up with his own 58 or get on the bus and support it.