van de Molen TimTIM VAN DE MOLEN (National—Waikato): Thank you Madam Speaker. Look this Infrastructure Funding and Financing Bill here we are third reading—well done we're all in agreement. But I wanted to touch on a couple of points I suppose and this bill really is providing that platform now and I'd like to acknowledge what the Minister said there. There is a real need for this sort of vehicle and actually under the last Government as well we had the Crown Infrastructure Partners the special purpose vehicle and also the Housing Infrastructure Fund really trying to develop more of a pipeline. I think that pipeline is something that is critical for giving a bit more certainty to industry and to the construction sector as well when they're looking to get on board and do some of these projects and to the local territorial authorities—I mean they're trying to plan the path of investment over the next 10 20 30 years and when we look at that I think we can all accept we haven't got that balance right in the past. Just last week or I think it was only a week ago as it goes so fast here at the moment Judith Collins announced a massive infrastructure plan for the National Party of $31 billion over the next 10 years. That sort of vision is exactly where we need to be—Hon Phil Twyford: Relevance. TIM VAN DE MOLEN: —in giving a bit more confidence to the sector. The relevance—the Minister's not quite sure about the relevance of investment in infrastructure. But I can absolutely assure him that there is huge relevance. Giving that confidence to the sector is a critical part of that and this bill helps with that. So I do commend him on the work he's done in this space as well. There is a massive need particularly now particularly in the situation we find ourselves in—this is not where we thought we would be as a country only six months ago yet here we are. We have a massive economic challenge ahead of us and infrastructure will be a part of the solution to that: investing in infrastructure creating jobs and stimulating local communities as a result of that infrastructure investment as well. We're well aware of that on this side of the House—the party of infrastructure—and always have been. It's great to see the Government now trying to claim that mantle as well. It's quite cute—good on them—but the reality is it sits strongly here with the National Party. But with this particular model there were some concerns raised around whether it was going to end up with projects popping up ad hoc without the planning or support of those local authorities. But with the mechanisms in place for the different levels of process or structure that an applicant has to go through to be able to proceed under this bill I think it puts the right measures in place to limit that so you're not going to end up with someone raising a private group to go and build a particular project whether it's water storage or a rail or a road project or any other community infrastructure or environmental infrastructure. Those will be more closely aligned obviously with what the territorial authorities expect. The other aspect of concern alongside that was around well these special purpose vehicles—if they're having to do their own thing they're borrowing at a slightly higher cost because of an increased risk profile. They don't have the same ability to achieve funding that local government and central government does and therefore the overall cost of that infrastructure goes up as a result. Yep I understand that argument. Fortunately we're in a situation now where interest rates are at historically low levels and so that margin is much lower than it might have been previously. That is a consideration. But I think on the balance of it the ability to get these projects up and running to actually get them across the line outweighs what may be a relatively minor cost increase in the scheme of the overall value that a project like that would provide. There were just a couple of key changes that were made through the select committee process as well that I thought were worth mentioning. One of those was around the eligibility of infrastructure including the land purchase price for whatever particular project it is and that's often a major part of a purchase depending on the type of project but a roading project for example would require a significant amount of land purchased through that corridor. So it's good to have that now included under the eligible costs and also to have it tidied up—or tightened up I suppose—around what happens with surplus levy and the excess levy as we progress through. So the intent of this vehicle really is to get some new infrastructure happening. Once it's done we'd shut that special purpose vehicle down and invest that infrastructure in whichever is the appropriate authority to have it. So it's a case of tightening up those surplus and excess levy requirements in regards to investing them back to council if there's a surplus or a requirement to actually chase up some that haven't been paid yet and then the local authority or whoever it is vested in can pick up that mantle. So overall I think we're in a good place. I agree with the Minister that there is a need to give some clear indication around infrastructure investment. I think this bill does it. It certainly shows there is a strong intent to see more investment in infrastructure and just signalling that alone I think is a great move. We need to be giving those sorts of indications to industries so they can get on and start gearing up with their workforce and their equipment to provide some of these projects so that the local authorities can plan alongside that and—just coming back to that huge suite of projects that Judith Collins announced—that sort of vision then enables others to start looking at again Well how do we fit in with that? What sorts of models or vehicles or infrastructure might we need to piece in to work with a longer-term vision like that?" So I'm delighted we've got that plan in place and this mechanism will enable others to support that investment as well. Thank you."