Goldsmith Paul: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Goldsmith Paul: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 12 February 2013. Volume:687;Page:7692. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
2. 
PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) 
 to the  
Minister of Finance 
: What progress is the Government making in its infrastructure investment programme and how will this contribute to building a more productive and competitive economy? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance) 
: 
 In 2009 the Government set out a significant long-term plan to pick up investment in infrastructure in order to accommodate a growing economy. In 2009 we set out projects and funding for 5 to 7 years ahead. Among those projects where very significant progress has been made is the roll-out of ultra-fast broadband; the near completion of the national grid upgrade; the Waterview Connection and the Waikato Expressway roads are well under way; significant investment in rolling stock ferries and rail track upgrades has occurred in KiwiRail and there is very significant progress on metro rail investments in Wellington and Auckland; and just recently the Government announced the first $80 million for water storage and irrigation projects. 
Paul Goldsmith 
: Why is infrastructure investment a priority for the Government in the current tight fiscal environment? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: It has been a priority really for three reasons. The first is that when the New Zealand economy was in recession extensive Government investment in large-scale projects provided many jobs and helped many New Zealanders through that difficult period. Secondly we want to get ahead of the curve of economic growth rather than having infrastructure bottlenecks as New Zealand’s moderate economic growth continues. Thirdly it has turned out that with the earthquakes in Christchurch we have needed all the expertise and focus that the Government has brought to infrastructure investment. 
Paul Goldsmith 
: What results have been delivered from the Government’s large infrastructure investment programme? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: Well there is any number of results. I will take you through just a few of them. By the middle of this year around 300000 business and homes will be able to connect to ultra-fast broadband and around 1300 schools and 30 hospitals will have fibre at the gate. The first school in New Zealand to be built under a public-private partnership has opened at Hobsonville. The new prison at Wiri will get under way as the first public-private partnership which will be a big step up in terms of rehabilitation of our imprisoned population. And the Government is planning to build more than 2000 State houses over the next 2 financial years as we continue our efforts to fix up the mess that the Labour Government left in our State housing portfolio. 
Hon David Parker 
: Why does the Minister think it is fair that New Zealanders have to pay $1.5 billion more in petrol tax and ACC to make up for his Government’s shortfall caused by low growth and uneconomic spending on National’s highly political roads of national significance? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The reason road-user charges and petrol tax have risen is that in pursuing policies—for instance those advocated by New Zealand First and taken up by National 15 years ago—we have a dedicated road funding system which is user-pays. They pay for the maintenance of the roads and they pay for the capital expansion of our roads. And because we are spending more on a programme that everyone supports except the Opposition which is against everything to do with jobs and the economy those charges have gone up a bit. 
Paul Goldsmith 
: How will the Government improve the management of its substantial infrastructure assets? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: Although it is certainly worthwhile to focus on new projects and the funding of them it is actually more important that we improve the management of the extensive infrastructure that is already in place because after all most New Zealanders will be using existing older infrastructure not new infrastructure. So the Government has set out in the 2011 National Infrastructure Plan six guiding principles to improve the management of existing assets and also to improve decision making for future investment to ensure that the billions of dollars we take off taxpayers and New Zealanders to spend on infrastructure through PAYE payments every week we spend wisely.