O'Rourke Denis: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeO'Rourke Denis: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 03 May 2016. Volume:713;Page:10662. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]8.DENIS O’ROURKE (NZ First) to the Minister of Transport: Is the Government committed in the long term to a sustainable railway network for New Zealand?Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Minister of Transport): Yes because after years of under-investment this Government has invested nearly $4 billion in rail and is committed to investing more as appropriate.Denis O’Rourke: With a 60 percent increase in road freight since 2000 and with thousands of additional trucks expected on State highways in coming years how will the Government ensure that rail takes a much greater share of the national freight burden in the future?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: I suppose we could arrest people who do not use rail but frankly we are allowing these different modes to play to their strengths. Rail does have a real strength over the long-haul and bulk commodities and in the last year it has in fact seen its proportion of freight as exports go up. I think that as we see more big ships and as we see more inland ports it will continue to be able to play to the strength that it has.Denis O’Rourke: In addition to the four options in the KiwiRail commercial review for 2014—the trimmed network the separate islands network the upper North Island network and exit—will he request consideration of an expansion and improvement option for the whole country; if not why not?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: The member may not like the fact but we have invested nearly $4 billion. That is comparable to what we have invested in the roads of national significance which he and his mates next to him—the Greens—love to hate so much. We are investing and we continue to do so with projects that stack up.Denis O’Rourke: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I specifically asked whether the Minister would—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The question was so long it would be very easy for the member to address any part of it. If the member asks a short sharp question I can help him get a straight answer. Supplementary question?Denis O’Rourke: The question was not long—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member will resume his seat immediately. I have ruled. I am giving the member a chance to complete his questioning; if he does not want to we can easily move to the next one.Denis O’Rourke: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: If it is a fresh point of order I will hear it. If it is any attempt to relitigate where I have just got to I will be asking the member to leave.Denis O’Rourke: I am simply asking: if that question was too long—Mr SPEAKER: I have dealt with that matter. I am asking Denis O’Rourke to—[Interruption] Denis O’Rourke will leave the Chamber. I gave him an absolute clear warning. [Interruption] Order! The member will leave.Denis O’Rourke withdrew from the Chamber.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. My colleague asked the question: if it was too long then how would you have phrased it yourself? Can I just finish my point of order. I have barely spoken a few words—Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! The member can raise a point of order in line with the Standing Orders and I will hear it but he had better do it succinctly.Rt Hon Winston Peters: That is precisely what I am doing. My colleague asked the question—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! This is a point of order—[Interruption] Order! The member will resume his seat immediately. This is a point of order and I want to hear it without any interjection from my right-hand side.Rt Hon Winston Peters: My colleague asked: if the question was too long then how would you have phrased it? I think that he was seeking some clarity because if the question was too long you would have ruled it out at the very start when he finished asking the question. That is why my colleague was a bit—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The honourable member will resume his seat. I have been relatively lenient in light of the way the—[Interruption] Order! The member is very likely to be leaving the Chamber and joining his colleague. I have been relatively lenient with questions coming from New Zealand First today but when those members ask a—[Interruption] Order! If the member interjects again while I am on my feet he will be asked to leave. I have been relatively lenient but when a question is as long as that it is very difficult for me to actually decipher the specifics of the question and therefore I ruled that the Minister had addressed the question. Mr O’Rourke took exception to that. I warned him that if he continued to relitigate a decision I had made then he would be asked to leave the Chamber. He did then immediately relitigate the ruling I made.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: If it is a fresh point of order—[Interruption] Order! No the member will also resume his seat. I have ruled on that matter. The member is going to raise a fresh point of order but if I consider that it is in any way an attempt to relitigate the decision I have just made which the member does not have to like but must accept I will not hesitate to ask the member also to leave the Chamber.Rt Hon Winston Peters: First of all it is a fresh point of order.Mr SPEAKER: What is it?Rt Hon Winston Peters: That is why I am raising it. It arises from your comment that you have been lenient on New Zealand First in question time today. As a matter of clarification could you point out on what occasions and at what time have you been lenient on us?Mr SPEAKER: That is effectively an allegation of bias and that is a contempt of this House. The Rt Hon Winston Peters will also leave the Chamber. [Interruption] The Rt Hon Winston Peters will immediately leave this Chamber. [Interruption] Order!Rt Hon Winston Peters withdrew from the Chamber.