Bennett David; Wood MichaelHon DAVID BENNETT (National): The Minister the Hon Michael Wood in select committee last week said that there were a number of electric vehicle ute alternatives that would be available in the next year. In fact one of them he said was being trialled in New Zealand at the moment. Is that vehicle that's being trialled going to be available next year?Hon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister of Transport): The member is referring to the Rivian which is being road trialled in New Zealand. And as I said to the member the other day it will be up to the manufacturer and distributors when it comes on to the market. What I did say to the member is that the sector itself has said that they're working hard to get supply into the New Zealand market in the next year. And the signs are very good. For example just this week we've seen that the Ford Ranger range is likely to include a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle that will be available on the international market by next year.Hon DAVID BENNETT (National): Yeah but that's on the international market. We're dealing with the New Zealand market which is a right-hand drive market. Is the Minister still going to stand by his statements even though car manufacturer after car manufacturer has come in front of the committee disputing his very facts?Hon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister of Transport): Yes I stand by my comments and I note that because New Zealand doesn't manufacture cars cars for the New Zealand domestic market come from the international market.Hon DAVID BENNETT (National): Yes they come from a market that is based on the Australian manufacturing criteria which isn't the Ford Ranger and other vehicles that he's talking about. Will he stand by those comments in the face of complete opposition from the sector which says that there are no alternatives to a ute in the near future on the electric basis?Hon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister of Transport): I've already responded.Hon DAVID BENNETT (National): He won't respond—OK. When the Minister makes decisions around projects does he take an environmental impact assessment—or business case effectively—on those projects when he evaluates the spend that he makes especially on something like the Auckland rail?Hon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister of Transport): All of the investments that the Crown makes go through our normal processes: business case processes regulatory impact assessments and more recently climate impact assessments.Hon DAVID BENNETT (National): So when he makes bold statements around the environmental impact of a project what basis does he have to use and what reporting can he do? Because nothing in the business case would indicate that there is science around the environmental outcomes that he actually advocates for?Hon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister of Transport): Well I've just indicated that the Government uses climate impact assessments to make those decisions all of which become available after Cabinet has made its decisions. I'm not sure which project the member is referring to?Hon DAVID BENNETT (National): So if the member looked at the train from Hamilton to Auckland for example that's a diesel train. How would that pass any climate impact statement?Hon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister of Transport): Well for the same reason that a diesel bus will generally be more climate friendly than all of the passengers who travel on that bus would be if they travelled by vehicle. It's a more efficient mode of transport.Hon DAVID BENNETT (National): Is it a more efficient mode of transport when there's limited patronage on that train—that actually a bus would cover anyway?Hon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister of Transport): I'd encourage the member to carry on down that line. His constant bagging of that project is I think probably going to add another 2000 votes to his opponent's majority at the next election. It's a very popular project in Hamilton and I'm very pleased that we've made improvements to it that have been announced over the last couple of weeks that I think will increase patronage further.Hon DAVID BENNETT (National): That popularity is showing through the patronage isn't it Minister? So Minister when he talks about Transmission Gully—and last year he had to make an extra payment to the contractors because of the COVID lockdown—what is the stage of negotiations with contractors now under a new extra payment to reflect the last lockdown that we've had?Hon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister of Transport): Well as the member probably knows the arrangements for delivery of Transmission Gully were established under the previous Government. There's a very interesting report that was released several months ago that reveals how flawed that process was and how the desperate rush to set up a public-private partnership (PPP) meant that the project was under-costed and that was why we had to come to the rescue and provide significant extra funding for it this year. The nature of the PPP of course is that there is a contract with Wellington Gateway Partnership. There are currently commercial negotiations with the partner around claims that they have around the effect of COVID restrictions and I think members of the committee would appreciate that it would be inappropriate and unwise of me to comment on what might be happening in those commercial negotiations before they've concluded. But Waka Kotahi is working very hard to bring them to a conclusion and to make sure the project gets opened.