3. Fiscal Strategy—Capital Expenditure and DebtHon AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) to the Minister of FinanceFiscal Strategy—Capital Expenditure and Debt3. Hon AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) to the Minister of Finance: How much capital expenditure is this Government forecast to spend in the period 2018-2022 compared to the previous Government over these same years and how much of the difference is funded by an increase in debt?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): According to the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) this Government is forecast to invest $41.7 billion through net capital spending over the next five years. On the basis of the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update (PREFU) the previous Government's final five-year plan forecast $30.5 billion of net capital spending to June 2021. The previous Government's published forecasts do not go out to 2022.In answer to the second part of the question Governments have always handled capital and operating spending through a mixture of revenue and debt and there is no breakdown of which type is used for the various operating and capital projects that we are investing in.Hon Amy Adams: Do we take it from the Minister's answer to the primary question that he is unaware that the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update 2017 in the Fiscal Strategy Model does show the previous Government's planned capital spending over the period 2018 to 2022; and in fact that the value of that spending over the same period used by the Minister is in fact $33 billion?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I refer the member to page 34 of the PREFU entitled Core Crown Capital Spending" which shows a table that goes from 2017 to 2021 a five-year period representing $30.5 billion.Hon Amy Adams: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I asked the Minister a very straight question which referred to the PREFU Fiscal Strategy Model. Quoting some other part of the PREFU doesn't answer that question. It was a very specific question about a very specific part of the PREFU—whether or not he was aware of it. Simply referring to something else entirely doesn't address that.SPEAKER: If it was a primary question I would have insisted that the Minister answer it but when members bring relatively detailed areas from quite a general question I don't think there is an expectation that Ministers know every chart of a previous Government's document.Hon Amy Adams: In his answer to question No. 3 in the House on Tuesday when he claimed that the previous National Government was spending $30.5 billion in capital over the next five years why did he deliberately use different time periods to compare the spending intentions of the previous and current Governments given that this information was available to him in the PREFU 2017?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: What I did was compare this Government's five-year plan to the last Government's five-year plan. In the period for which we are responsible we're going to be investing the best part of $42 billion. You know the member can find another table in the PREFU that might say $33 billion rather than $30 billion. What that makes clear is this Government is investing significantly more whichever number she uses.Hon Amy Adams: Are the specific financial years he used to compare the previous Government spending and the current Government spending the same?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I just answered that in the last question. I used the five years that we are responsible for and the five years that the previous Government were responsible for. I'm surprised the member thinks that this is the big hit of her first week as Opposition spokesperson.SPEAKER: Order!Hon Amy Adams: Given that on a direct comparison of time periods the number the Minister gave to this House on Tuesday was out by more than $2.8 billion why should New Zealand have any confidence in him as the Minister of Finance?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: New Zealanders will have confidence in me as the Minister of Finance and in this Government because we are going to make the investments in our hospitals and schools to make sure that they are not run down and aged and that previous Government should take a look at itself in the mirror and ask itself: why did those things happen? Because they failed to invest in the capital needs of New Zealand.Hon Amy Adams: Why does he keep claiming he is simply paying down debt more slowly when he is in fact increasing New Zealand's debt by $10 billion in just three years from $59 billion last year to $69 billion by 2020?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: What I am claiming is that we will reduce net debt as a percentage of GDP to 20 percent within five years of taking office the same measure that the previous Government used; the measure of percentage of GDP. The previous Government never used the cash measure. What we are saying is yes there may be a little more borrowing in the short term so we build some houses and actually repair our schools and hospitals."