Bayly AndrewANDREW BAYLY (National—Hunua): Thank you Mr Speaker. It's a pleasure to be talking in the general debate. I thought today that I might talk about building and construction.As some of you may have noticed I questioned the Minister for Building and Construction earlier in question time. I think the issue that's very much at the forefront of everyone's mind at the moment is the issue around procurement. It is a very very important issue around the way that governments both at central level and local council level and also the way that companies and individuals go around procuring building and construction projects.I do acknowledge that the Minister is at least looking at better procurement in the government sector but the issue I really wanted to raise is that I just think if you spent 10 minutes talking to the construction sector—as I have done on more than a few occasions—it doesn't take long for you to hear from them about what the real issues are in this sector. I think for the Minister to pick up one cudgel which is around procurement and particularly to be talking about the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment Government procurement guidelines—which I've read and they run to probably a hundred pages—and to say that that is the panacea for the New Zealand building and construction sector at the moment and that is the most important thing we need to focus on I've got to say that I think it is somewhat misguided.For me taking into account all those conversations I've had with business owners and developers and people who are actually putting their money on the line and picking up the risk of doing those projects whether as the person writing out the cheque or as the building constructor who hires carpenters to do the project or in fact the contractor who is helping to lay a road—those issues that affect those people are numerous. The first one I think is that in that sector alone—the building and construction sector—all they want to hear from you is the issue of certainty certainty and certainty. The first thing that a Government can do is actually help with its procurement time lines in terms of very clearly setting out what its procurement is over the next few years.I think the greatest uncertainty at the moment is that unfortunately the Government has ripped $5 billion of roading projects out from the regions and is putting it into a new tram in Auckland which will in reality take 18 months to be worked up and designed before it's even tendered. That $5 billion that's been ripped out of our regions including the $500000 that's come out of my Mill Road project south of Auckland—so we've got what's now called Redoubt Road not Mill Road. As my good colleague down in front here Jami-Lee Ross the spokesperson for infrastructure has quite rightly highlighted ripping that type of procurement away from people is unbelievable and you can see it in a number of the big roading projects—the one in the South Island going from Christchurch to Ashburton. It's already started and now has stopped in its tracks. So the first thing this Government should be doing is being much clearer about the procurement pipeline that it's putting forward and to work with parties to achieve that.The second thing is around skills. The Minister has made some announcements and one of the most recent announcements was around micro-skills. Well I've got to say first of all that was trialled and piloted under the National Government so it's great that this Government wants to present a New Zealand National Party initiative. But yes it's good for the industry—the micro-skills. But I understand the Minister's got a working party looking at the skills deficit and all that sort of stuff. Nine months into this Government she should know what she's going to do.I haven't heard anything about consenting issues around the country. We've got 78 councils. We all know that the issue around the time delay in getting consents is still a perennial issue that hasn't been resolved. But worst of all is the time cost of those consenting issues because when developers put their money on the line and they have to sit around for months waiting for the consent that affects the project viability and ultimately the cost of houses that are built or the building that is built.Then also it's the issue around new products. So I haven't heard anything about new products. I'm very concerned about it and I wish this Minister would focus on the important issues in the industry.