Wood MichaelHon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister of Transport): Thank you Mr Chair and I'm very pleased to make some opening remarks in this debate and I'll respond to Mr O'Connor's questions as well in due course. Firstly can I just thank Mr O'Connor as the chair of the Transport and Infrastructure Committee and indeed all the other members of the committee who are here in the Chamber this evening for their engagement in the Estimates process. I find this a very constructive committee to work with and actually really enjoyed the Estimates hearing that we held I think it was back in about June of this year. We had a good dialogue about a wide range of issues and I do appreciate that interchange. I've read through the report of the committee as well which I think is a very fair reflection on those discussions and again canvasses a wide array of some of the challenges and opportunities that we face across the transport sector.In terms of the Estimates for the year ahead I just want to focus on a few highlights that I think will be of interest to members of the committee and the public. The first one that I want to touch on is just to give people a sense of the scale of investment that is going into the transport sector because it really is quite striking the increased investment that we're seeing. This is reflected very helpfully on page three of the committee's report where they identify that the increase in appropriation going into transport between years 2018-19 and 2019-20 was a 15.9 percent increase. But then the increase between years 2019-20 and 2020-21 the Estimates that we're considering now was a further 48.8 percent increase. So that's an increase over two Budget cycles of an appropriation from $4.768 billion to $8.222 billion. So we are seeing that under this Government there is a significant investment that is going into the transport sector.Probably what's most significant about it from my point of view—and this is very much about the Government's objectives as set out in the Government policy statement on transport—is that it's going in across the modes in transport. We've got to look after all the modes. So we see significant investment going in over this year and the next three years of the National Land Transport Programme inter-road maintenance. Record levels going in there to deal with a real challenge and a very important issue right across New Zealand but particularly for our rural communities. I'm really pleased with the outcomes that we're going to see there.But we're also seeing investment going into the other modes. As the chair of the select committee just said a significant investment going into rail. We're beginning to see some of the fruits of that things like the Trentham station opening that we saw this week; the fact that over the last month it's been confirmed that we now have daily services on the Napier to Wairoa line to bring logs from that part of the country to the port taking many truck movements off the road. So that multi-modal investment is really beginning to bear some fruit.Mode shift is an explicit part of our policy and this is reflected in the appropriations this year. We do see significantly more investment going into public transport and also into walking and cycling. There is simply no way of New Zealand reaching our ambitions to reduce emissions if we don't give people real transport choices and the opportunity to travel around New Zealand in a range of different ways: better public transport good quality walking and cycling options and in our bigger cities mass rapid transit as well.But we do also recognise that a large number of New Zealanders now and in the future will continue to drive vehicles. And so that's why in these appropriations there are also important investments that are going into the critical area of how we improve our existing and future vehicle fleet. That's why investments in Budget 2020 in the Clean Car Standard the Clean Car Discount and work to establish a new biofuels mandate are enormously important. These investments will palpably reduce the emissions that come out of our fleet. This is enormously important. As Mr O'Connor said before transport is 47 percent of New Zealand's carbon dioxide emissions. We don't decarbonise New Zealand we don't get to net zero and we don't play our part in limiting catastrophic climate change unless we address it in transport. So these investments are important and they've got to start now because if we don't make them now it's only going to get harder into the future.As the chair of the select committee said important investments are going into a number of significant infrastructure projects which are reflected in the appropriations this year as well. Auckland light rail and Let's Get Wellington Moving are two that I'm sure will be of interest to members of the committee and that we'll have a discussion about this evening. That investment in mass rapid transit is absolutely essential from my point of view. This is the main kind of trunk line of how we give people the opportunities to move around our growing cities to have frequent reliable public transport that gives people opportunities to move around to access work to access housing to access education without always being car-dependent.The investment in the New Zealand Upgrade Programme is also enormously important and members of the committee will be aware that that programme was rebalanced this year. It is important to note that it wasn't just rebalanced but actually there was further significant investment that has gone in through Budget 2020. And the overall appropriation for that programme has increased from $6.8 billion for the whole programme to $8.7 billion to enable us to deliver really critical projects. And it is now moving ahead. Six projects in that programme are completed 10 are under construction 14 are in detailed design and consent and more than 900 New Zealanders up and down the country are employed in those New Zealand upgrade programmes as well. So it's been an important part of the economic recovery as well.The final comment I want to make is on some of the investment that's going into some of the challenges we face in the New Zealand supply chain. International supply chains are under enormous pressure in every country around the world because of the impacts of COVID and imbalances in the supply particularly of sea freight around the world. New Zealand is not just not immune but is particularly exposed to that as a small trading nation at distance from our markets. So it's been really important that we step forward with a range of policies and support. I note that the Ministry of Transport—and I acknowledge the Secretary for Transport Peter Mersi who's here tonight—have played a huge role here but there's also been a direct role for the Crown to come in and provide funding and support. The key policy here I'll draw the attention of the committee to is the Maintaining International Air Connectivity scheme which has been absolutely essential in enabling critical airfreight to continue that would not have been able to happen given the collapse in the international passenger market for air traffic. So that's been a hugely important investment and a key part of the appropriations this year.So those are some opening comments and I think a few key things that might be of interest to members of the committee and I'm very happy to take questions. And just for the benefit of members of the committee I'll probably just allow a couple of questions and contributions to come from members and then I'll pop up and provide answers.