Robertson Grant: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRobertson Grant: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 01 December 2015. Volume:710;Page:8379. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]4.GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) to the Minister of Finance: Does he agree with the Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery that Treasury has an “arrogant bureaucratic attitude” to Christchurch and that the report he released yesterday is “utter tripe”; if not why not?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance): To some extent and I can understand the Minister’s view. He has dealt with the expenditure of over $15 billion in what would be the most complicated set of decisions that any Government or Minister has had to make. Treasury measures these projects against a theoretically perfect yardstick and of course in Christchurch almost no project has been able to follow the theoretically perfect yardstick. The Minister has of course been able to cut through a lot of bureaucratic process make decisions and get things done and that is why Christchurch is in such good shape.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Another patsy.Grant Robertson: It is all about you Gerry. Is Gerry Brownlee correct when he told Radio New Zealand that Treasury which prepares the Government’s Budget “did not appreciate the amount of money the Government was spending in Christchurch”?Hon BILL ENGLISH: I think that is probably right. There are parts of Treasury that do the accounting and parts of it do the project monitoring. It is possible that the people who monitor the projects are not aware of quite how much money is being spent there. Of course you have to go to Christchurch to be aware of how effectively it has been spent.Grant Robertson: In light of those two answers why is he as Minister of Finance overseeing an agency that does reports that he has accepted are “utter tripe” and that does not actually understand how much money the Government is spending in Christchurch; why is he allowing those kinds—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The question has been asked.Hon BILL ENGLISH: The member needs to understand the context which is that the Government is issuing reports on—Hon Members: The context—oh the context.Hon BILL ENGLISH: We have issued reports on 409 projects costing $6.5 billion this year and further detail on 38 projects with more complexity of which the Christchurch project is just one. We are bringing more transparency and accountability to the expenditure of the Government’s capital budgetsthan has ever been seen. In that context if Treasury made one mistake it would be that the red rating should not actually indicate that the project is unachievable because these projects are being achieved.Joanne Hayes: What reports has he received on the performance of the Government’s most complex investment projects?Hon BILL ENGLISH: As I said we have just released the first report Managing Government Investment Projects—an annual report. The $6.4 billion worth of projects willcost over their lifetime $74 billion. We also released the first 4-monthly Major Projects Performance Report which includes our 38 most complex investment projects and the ratings for how they have been conducted up to June last year. As I said the use of the term “unachievable” is not correct because actually the half a dozen projects that had some red rating at some stage will all be achieved—particularly those in Christchurch.Grant Robertson: Can he guarantee today that there will be no further slippage in the time line for the delivery of the convention centre and Metro Sports Facility projects—one of the main concerns raised by Treasury?Hon Gerry Brownlee: What time lines are we talking about? There are no time lines.Hon BILL ENGLISH: As the Minister has said time lines had not been set for those projects which according to Treasury’s perfect benchmark is one of the reasons that they were rated with some uncertainty. Both are now involved in detailed commercial discussions and the member can be reassured that those projects will be completed and that the funding is readily available for them.Joanne Hayes: What steps has the Government taken to improve transparency around the performance of the most complex of these projects?Hon BILL ENGLISH: The reports that have been issued are a major step forward in transparency over the expenditure of billions of dollars because this information had not been available to the Government until recently let alone to the public. We expect that it will continue the pressure for improved performance in delivering projects across the public sector.Grant Robertson: Is not what has really happened here that Treasury has said what most Cantabrians have known for some time: that the rebuild of Christchurch under his and Mr Brownlee’s watch is a complete mess and that the promises of the project will continue to be delayed and fail to deliver?Hon BILL ENGLISH: The member does suffer from the political problem of being completely Wellington-bound and these statements make it evident. I invite the member to visit Christchurch which is—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! Less interjection please. It was a political question that was asked. The Minister can answer it.Hon BILL ENGLISH: I invite the member to visit Christchurch which is in the South Island—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! I rose to my feet a minute ago. There was very loud interjection coming from two members particularly. I asked that it cease. It has not ceased at all. The question has been asked; the Minister now has a right to answer it. Members may not like the answer they are getting but he still has a right to deliver it without the level of interjection that is coming from my left. If it happens again I will be asking a particular member to leave.Hon BILL ENGLISH: I invite the member to visit Christchurch which is in the South Island and the Minister will give him a free lengthy briefing. I also invite him to visit Reg whose house was the 5000th State house repair. He is a very happy customer—one of 5000 in Christchurch who have had their State house all done up.