Hide Rodney: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Hide Rodney: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:619;Page:15022] 
8.  
RODNEY HIDE (Leader—ACT) 
 to the  
Minister of Finance 
: Does he accept that investing $2.4 billion on our roading network will increase GDP by $1 billion a year by 2012 as found by the Allen Consulting Group; if not why not? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Minister of Finance) 
: 
 I have received no report to this point on the accuracy of the modelling undertaken so I really cannot comment on that particular aspect. The general proposition that roading will increase GDP is clearly common sense which is why the Government has announced an $18.7 billion investment over 10 years to improve land transport. 
Rodney Hide 
: Given the common sense of increasing investment in our roading network will the Minister commit to increasing the investment in roads to the average of what it was in the 1990s as a percentage of GDP; if not why not? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: I do note that between 1993 and 1999 the value of our roads as a proportion of GDP declined by over 19 percent. This has increased by some 9 percent. 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: When the Minister has familiarised himself with the energy substitution social accounting matrix methodology that has been used by Allen Consulting which shows benefits all round in terms of GDP increased tax reduction of loss of life on our roads as well as being environmentally friendly and if he has assured himself that the findings are correct will he immediately authorise the fast tracking of those projects so that New Zealand can receive the benefits? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: Of course there is an enormous difference between arguing for a general connection and arguing for a specific connection in terms of specific roading projects. I am aware of particular projects that probably do not meet a national interest test in that respect. 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I think perhaps the Minister could just add a little bit more. 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: Maybe the Minister does know that four very detailed specific projects are recommended in the report. I am asking: if he believes in the validity will he authorise them? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: The Minister of Finance does not make decisions about specific roads. 
Peter Brown 
: Does the Minister share the New Zealand First view that it is an absolute disgrace as identified by the Allen report that for the past 11 years the total revenue collected on road-related taxes and user-charges has exceeded the spending on roading by a massive 42 percent and as a consequence this country has suffered immeasurably? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: Briefly no. To expand as no doubt the member might invite me the fact is that the cost of the roading system overall to the economy exceeds just the cost of building roads. That is often missed out in terms of the equation the member refers to. 
Jeanette Fitzsimons 
: Will the Minister be seeking any analysis of the effects of peak oil and resulting fuel crises on the economic projections in the Allen group’s report and is he concerned that by 2012 those new roads could be largely empty as people turn to more cost-effective alternatives? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: Certainly I would expect to get a report and no doubt that will include sensitivity analysis around some of the assumptions. But even if we all take to bicycles we will still need roads to go on. 
Deborah Coddington 
: If his Government is as committed to road safety as it claims will he give back road users more of what he takes away from them and invest just $213 million in rural passing lanes an investment that this report shows will return nearly $900 million in benefits to road users? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: In general terms the priorities are not set by the Minister of Finance. There is a whole process around national land transport strategy and the implementation of that by the Government’s implementation agencies. So it is not for me to comment in that specific sense. 
Peter Brown 
: Is the Minister aware that the report has identified four proposed road infrastructure packages and that it asserts that the Tauranga strategic roading network package will result in the greatest net benefit ahead of the Auckland package; if so—if he has read that—will he give more consideration to helping the Tauranga community which contains New Zealand’s No. 1 export port? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: On the last point a great deal of what makes Tauranga New Zealand’s No. 1 export port actually arrives by rail rather than by road and I certainly have no intention of getting in the middle of a Tauranga-versus-Auckland argument over roading priorities. 
Jeanette Fitzsimons 
: Is the Government commissioning a parallel study to that of the Automobile Association’s lobbying document into whether even more wealth would be generated by completing Auckland’s public transport infrastructure and improving and extending rail infrastructure and services for both passengers and freight? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: I am not anticipating another specific report but as I have said many times those are not exclusive alternatives in Auckland. It needs public transport and it needs new roads as well. Particularly given the limited geographical spread of the rail network within Auckland a great deal of transport will have to go by non-rail means. 
Keith Locke 
: Can the Minister see more effective ways of spending the $1.5 billion of public money associated with the eastern highway—the severely pruned eastern highway—as announced today by the outgoing Auckland mayor John Banks? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: I am always wise enough to leave those kinds of decisions to the voters.