3. Question No. 3—FinanceNICOLA WILLIS (Deputy Leader—National) to the Minister of FinanceQuestion No. 3—Finance3. NICOLA WILLIS (Deputy Leader—National) to the Minister of Finance: Is he confident that taxpayer money is being spent appropriately and delivering value for New Zealanders during a cost of living crisis?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): Yes—in the context of a period of time when the COVID pandemic has disrupted the operations of all businesses and Governments. As signalled at Budget 2022 our spending decisions continue to focus on delivering value for money and maintaining funding for core public services. The economic environment in which we are operating has shifted since the period when Government spending increased during the COVID emergency to save lives and livelihoods. In our decisions at Budget 2022 the Government looked to strike the right balance between returning the level of Government spending following the COVID emergency to more normal levels continuing to invest in public services and infrastructure and supporting New Zealanders facing cost of living pressures.Nicola Willis: Was it acceptable for the Minister of Transport to politicise transport funding decisions by asking Labour MPs to nominate transport projects in their electorates to receive taxpayer funding without doing the same for non-Labour electorates?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The member is incorrect in the assertion at the beginning of her question.Nicola Willis: Is he aware of other occasions when Ministers acting in their ministerial capacity have explicitly asked their caucus colleagues to bid for taxpayer dollars for projects in Labour-held electorates to the exclusion of the rest of the country?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: In answer to that member's question I'm certainly aware of the former Minister of Transport Simon Bridges offering to build 10 bridges in the Northland by-election in the hope of making sure he got a National candidate elected; that didn't work out so well.Nicola Willis: Why in the middle of a cost of living crisis is the Government prioritising the spending of $370 million on a merger of Television New Zealand and Radio New Zealand when neither the Minister responsible nor the Prime Minister can give coherent reasons for why?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: In terms of the actual expenditure on that project in the current financial year I believe the number is somewhere around $20 million. The spending that the member is talking about is what happens over coming years. From this side of the House's point of view it's important that we continue to invest in all of the services that New Zealanders need. Public service broadcasting is one of those things that will require funding however it is organised.Nicola Willis: Why did he ignore advice from Treasury to not use funding from the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund to manage the impact of ongoing spending and instead chose to raid that fund to pay for yet more three waters consultants?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I reject the assertions in the member's question. What we did at Budget 2022 was close the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund and do as any Government would do: make a decision about where to reallocate that funding to.