Dowie Sarah: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDowie Sarah: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 24 March 2015. Volume:704;Page:2493. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]7.SARAH DOWIE (National—Invercargill) to the Minister of Transport: What progress has the Government made on its Accelerated Regional Roading Programme?Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Minister of Transport): Great progress is being made. First up the Government is committing up to $80 million to accelerate five critically important regional projects in Northland the East Coast Taranaki Canterbury and Otago as but a few examples. Work is already under way on the East Coast to improve and make safer opportunities for passing on State Highway 35 north of Gisborne at Panikau Hill and Wallis Hill. Work is also under way on the reconstruction of the historically dangerous Normanby overbridge in South Taranaki. I visited it with my colleague the Hon Chester Borrows. And of course work on the Akarama curves realignment project in Northland is under way. Once completed these projects and others will provide safer and more reliable road journeys for motorists in the regions.Sarah Dowie: How will the Accelerated Regional Roading programme improve single-lane bridging infrastructure in the regions?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Well bridges are important. That is why the Accelerated Regional Roading programme includes a number—quite a number—of bridge upgrades as but a couple of examples show. Work to replace the single-lane Kawarau Falls Bridge near Queenstown with a new two-lane bridge is planned to start in the middle of this year and I look forward to being part of that. Also investigation work has been accelerated for the replacement of the single-lane Motu Bridge near Gisborne as well as the single-lane Taramakau road-rail bridge on the West Coast of the South Island.Denis O’Rourke: When will the Minister come clean with the people of Wellsford Te Hana and Northland generally that the Government actually has no route through the Dome Valley and no idea whatsoever when construction could begin on the Wellsford to Warkworth section of the new motorway?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: The member is talking nonsense. We have been over this last week and it is old news. I will not rehearse the arguments suffice to say that we on this side of the House know that we back the regions with in fact billions of dollars’ worth of projects that matter in those regions whereas on the Opposition side all we hear is carping because outside of two or three main cities they do not care.Denis O’Rourke: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. This question was specifically—Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! The member will resume his seat. [Interruption] The member will—[Interruption] I have got a very good mind to ask that member to leave the Chamber but I will not because he would get an advantage on the rest of us to actually watch the cricket. When the member starts a question with “Why won’t the Minister come clean” he can expect the sort of answer he got. He would be better after question time to go back and make his questions far more concise and without that sort of innuendo.