6. Question No. 6—Economic DevelopmentCHRIS BISHOP (National—Hutt South) to the Minister for Economic DevelopmentQuestion No. 6—Economic Development6. CHRIS BISHOP (National—Hutt South) to the Minister for Economic Development: Does he stand by all of his Government's policies and actions on economic development?Hon PHIL TWYFORD (Minister for Economic Development): Yes especially our Government's commitment to invest in the infrastructure our economy needs including the Minister of Finance's announcement today that the Government will invest $12 billion more in essential infrastructure the highest in more than 20 years.Chris Bishop: What does it say about the Government's record on economic development that today's figures show economic growth has been slashed tax revenues are down and debt is on the rise?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Well we know that there are heightened global headwinds that are feeding through to uncertainty like the US-China trade war like Brexit and geopolitical tensions. There's no question that these have had an effect on us and all of our trading partners but the forecasts show that the economy is predicted to grow on average at 2.5 percent over the forecast period. That's faster than Australia the UK the US Canada Japan and the eurozone. Unemployment is forecast to stay low business investment is forecast to increase as a result of the Government's announcement today on infrastructure investment and GDP growth is forecast at 2.8 percent next year. In the pre-election economic and fiscal update before we took office it was only forecast to be 2.2 percent in that year.Chris Bishop: What responsibility does he take for the domestic uncertainty weighing on those responsible for driving economic growth?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: None at all. We have a bigger pipeline of capital investment and infrastructure than that Government did. We are currently spending in transport. We are spending $4.5 billion this year. The former Government only spent $3.8 billion on transport. We are the Government of infrastructure not the Government of rhetoric that that party was.Chris Bishop: Well just in relation to that last comment can he name a single major project that has started in the last two years that will drive economic development through infrastructure spending?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Yes the replacement of the Manawatū Gorge State highway. It's a major State highway project. The former Government didn't do it and we are.Hon Grant Robertson: Is the Minister familiar with this graph on net capital spending which shows that in the years from 2009 through to 2017 capital spending stayed extremely low and shows the forecast for an extremely large increase in capital spending in the future?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: I have seen that graph and the data it's based on and I think it shows that some people talk about infrastructure; other people do it.Chris Bishop: Just in relation to that last comment does he stand by that comment in light of repeated commitments to start a light rail project for which nothing has happened in the last two years?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: I reject the premise of the member's question and I remind the member that some of the former National Government's so-called roads of national significance took seven years from announcement until they were built. That Government postponed the City Rail Link in Auckland by five years. They said they wouldn't build light rail in Auckland for another 30 years. We're getting on and doing it.Hon Chris Hipkins: Can the Minister confirm that a significant amount of things like planning and consenting for some of those roads of national significance—like Transmission Gully for example—happened under the last Labour Government?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: That's correct and the former Government on the question of delivery of roads distinguished themselves on a record of promising ghost roads and bridges that they never ever built.