Jones ShaneHon SHANE JONES (Minister of Forestry): It is time to inject some optimism time to inject some facts into this—well to the extent that it's a debate it's contesting ideas because the ideas that I'm about to elaborate upon lie at the heart of the legislation empowering this side of the House to take stewardship with $97 billion worth of expenditure. Our economy is about $300 billion so let's just very modestly go through some of the highlights. A key feature of New Zealanders' sense of wellbeing is whether or not they feel secure whether or not they feel confident that in the event—God forbid—of some element of criminality some offences committed then they can call the police or they can see a greater level of visibility in terms of our police force. Now these kinds of developments and these issues don't loom large in terms of the media's coverage of what we're doing but the numbers do not lie: an inordinately larger number of sworn police officers trained police officers. Now it is a sad indictment that as we pick up the pieces from the last regime we've inherited in that particular area an awful legacy of neglect to come to terms with the drugs and the P culture. Now I give this speech obviously as a Cabinet Minister but also as a Māori. If there's an area where we wished there had been a more robust approach and a host of more critical interventions in rural New Zealand we are now left to pick up the pieces because Lord knows the downside of having allowed the gang culture and the P culture to spread is very very costly and it's cruel and having more police officers actually is a key feature in terms of dealing to the supply side. I want to now turn to the infrastructure space. For a long period of time—in particular the last regime of nine years—they had an infrastructure consultation committee. It was located in some obscure corner of the empire otherwise known as Treasury. It came to this side of the House—and I have to say that as a consequence of the obvious emotional quotient I have I secured the support of the other side of the House to create an infrastructure commission but behind that commission lies a whole lot of infrastructure projects that I will now elaborate upon. For nine years and beyond that KiwiRail was the unknown political cousin economic cousin held at bay in the attic of the National Government. It has now come out into the open. It is now being substantially funded by nigh on $500 million just from the Provincial Growth Fund—of course I'll have more to say about that very shortly—so at long last we're renovating KiwiRail. We're building tracks to the future which will enable the relocation of business and industry and the expansion of employment in neglected areas. We don't have this cult-like mentality that you've got to tarmac your way to prosperity. We think that there's a place for coastal shipping for rail and for roads. We actually prefer the integrated approach which is why in some parts of the country unfortunately there's a lemming-like effect. People are listening and unwisely following empty promises with no pūtea—no money. Now I've heard a number of the rural MPs make these bold promises that they're going to four-lane certain regions into a high quality of prosperity but where is the money? With $4.5 billion and a system that we pay as we go and the promises that were made at the last election I guarantee you'll hear those promises again next year: no pūtea—no money. So if you contrast what this Budget represents in terms of infrastructure: this time around a huge amount of money put aside for KiwiRail. Now I know that there are antagonists and there are people very hostile on the other side of the House to rail. I will gladly contest that space at the end of next year politically but at the moment I'm too busy taking responsibility for driving the development of KiwiRail with my colleagues and allocating the pūtea. It is quite tiring work. Let me just elaborate as to when most recently we've done that.So there are allegations that this is not the year of delivery. Helensville may not loom large in the mind and the consciousness of the other side of the House. Of course part of that town's name Helen does loom large over here but the less said about that the better at the moment. The actual fact of the matter is not only are we remedying historical neglect; we are opening up vast new opportunities. Of course in the paper today I observed that the Provincial Growth Fund has made an allocation of several million dollars to Northport to begin the relocation process of the naval presence and all the assets that it represents out of that valuable site in Auckland. We're starting with our due diligence to effect the relocation of the dry dock facility which will be sorely needed as the bigger vessels come into the naval fleet as we seek to replace the interisland ferries and as we seek to create an Australasian commercial hub for that part of the maritime industry. But that takes boldness. That takes an appetite for risk something that was sadly absent on the other side of the House.Now let's just quickly move through a sum of $3 billion—1 percent of GDP—a massive financial impulse. By the time that this House rises for the next election and in the event that there's munificence in the mind of the treasurer—highly unlikely—I would like to add to that $3 billion and dedicate it to infrastructure as we prepare for the next Budget. But of course those things are shrouded in a level of secrecy denied the other side of the House because we won and they're in Opposition. So you don't get to know that information irrespective of how you exaggerated certain leaks earlier this year. Now that was a tiny episode where people mistakenly thought on the other side of the House that they'd won Lotto. No one remembers that. No one even gives it a second thought—a tiny small episode which has largely been forgotten about.Now what people are focused on out in the provinces is us working very effectively with the leaders of local government—funding their key projects. Just go to Tai Rāwhiti. Go to Southland. For a long period of time despite the National Party complaining unwisely and with great factitiousness—there's no threat to whitebait. The only white-baiting going on down there is trying to pick on the local Pākehās. Now that's probably not a good idea.Southland—handsome endowments already announced there. Then go to West Coast—fantastic endowment. I'm not responsible for the fact that the Mongolians—Simon Bridges' new friends—bought the local dairy company. I didn't do that. He might know about African flu in China given he's spoken about every single thing in his interview about China. Actually I know a lot of backbenchers are angry about Simon for doing that interview.DEPUTY SPEAKER: This hasn't actually got a lot to do with the Estimates.Hon SHANE JONES: Oh very well OK. Well I'll leave that matter to my leader who's probably more authorised to speak about such matters perish the thought.Now let's go further. For the edification of the members of the other side of the House—which may be of some assistance when they go out to the provinces—we have funded artificial intelligence. We often see evidence of it on the other side of the House in terms of artificial attempts to come up with policies and ideas and philosophies that will take the country forward.More recently we've put money into roads because I'm a pro-road politician. We've put hundreds of millions into the roads associated with Te Tai Rāwhiti. That particular area has been starved for a long period of time while the roading money was sucked out of the more provincial marginal areas and plonked right into the middle of the Waikato. They have feasted long enough hard enough richly enough; now we are effecting a redistribution of that roading pūtea. In Tai Rāwhiti it is running up into hundreds of millions. In addition to that we are going to restore the robustness and the usefulness of maritime infrastructure so more Kiwis can earn their living from the interface between the land and the coast.DEPUTY SPEAKER: It'll be nice to see some.