Hayes Joanne: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHayes Joanne: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 07 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3309. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]7.JOANNE HAYES (National)to the Minister for Tertiary Education Skills and Employment: How is the Government investing in more collaborative and innovative research?Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister for Tertiary Education Skills and Employment):This morning I announced the funding of four more centres of research excellence over the next 5 years increasing the number of cross-institutional centres of research excellence around the country from six to 10. All 10 will receive 5 years of funding from 2016 to 2020. Of the 10 that will be funded five are existing centres of research excellence (CORE) and five will be receiving CORE funding for the first time. They provide an excellent collaborative environment for the delivery of world-leading innovative and strategically focused research. The work of all 10 COREs will deliver benefits to New Zealand across a range of areas and will make a difference to the lives of New Zealanders.Joanne Hayes: What areas of research do these additional centres cover?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: Sixteen applications were presented for the four available centres. Three of the four COREs selected were previous COREs that were not successful in the first funding round last year. The successful ones are the Bio-Protection Research Centre at Lincoln University the Riddet Institute at Massey University for food science and human health the new QuakeCore which is the centre for earthquake resilience at the University of Canterbury and the revamped Māori CORE Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga based at the University of Auckland which stood out for the quality and coverage of its research programme. [Interruption] Get a supplementary question. Shh! To accommodate these additional COREs the CORE fund increases by $14.94 million up from the existing $34.8 million to $49.8 million from 2016-17 and does not the Labour Party hate the fact that this Government is investing in science and research?Joanne Hayes: And we are all going to love this one. What other research is undertaken by COREs?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: The COREs support growth in research excellence through the increase in quantity and quality of research and they contribute to New Zealand’s development. Other COREs include the Dodds-Wall Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies based at Otago University the Brain Research New Zealand institute also based at Otago Medical Technologies the existing Maurice Wilkins Centre and the McDiarmid Institute and the new Centre for Complex Systems and Networks which works to develop the methods and tools for transforming data into knowledge. With the increased funding for additional COREs the Government’s total science investment will be over $1.5 billion in 2015-16. That is an increase of more than 70 percent since 2007-08.Hon Te Ururoa Flavell: How has the Māori Party Budget gain for 2014 of $12.45 million over 3 years contributed to maintaining the depth and calibre of Māori research capability within the tertiary sector?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: I would like to acknowledge the Māori Party’s strong advocacy for a dedicated Māori centre of research excellence which has resulted in a process for a—Grant Robertson: Yes after you cut it and then put it back in again.Hon STEVEN JOYCE: Shh! Grant you just—is it not hilarious that Mr Robertson “Mr Fiscal Conservative” has once again never found a bit of expenditure that should ever be changed despite the fact that he tries to hassle Bill English for not balancing the Budget? That is the sort—[Interruption] I should be able to continue on. He will not stop; why should I?Mr SPEAKER: Order! The answer is complete.Hon Te Ururoa Flavell: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The Minister did start but I did not quite hear the rest of the answer.Mr SPEAKER: Order!Hon Te Ururoa Flavell: No?Mr SPEAKER: I am concluding that the question was addressed—maybe not very satisfactorily but we are leaving it at that.Hon Te Ururoa Flavell: Since the successful lobbying by the Māori Party to ensure the continuation of high-quality Māori research what steps has the Minister taken since 2014 to ensure the maintenance of Māori research into the future?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: A range of initiatives actually. Again I would like to acknowledge the Māori Party’s advocacy in this area.Grant Robertson: Get a room.Hon STEVEN JOYCE: The new strengthened Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga will be an institute that delivers—I do not know Grant. It is just one of those things—Mr SPEAKER: Order! Can the Minister just complete the answer.Hon STEVEN JOYCE: The new strengthened Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga will focus on the Māori economy environment and human flourishing which I think is very important. We have also got a range of other areas that we are investing in including the new Vision Mātauranga Science Fund which is investing significantly in the Māori communities the Māori Innovation Fund and the Māori Information and Communications Development Fund. So it is great to see the opportunity to invest in science and research in the Māori research community.