Robertson Grant: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRobertson Grant: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 02 June 2015. Volume:706;Page:4169. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]9.GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central)to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by his statement in Budget 2014 “the share sale proceeds saw $4.7 billion go to the Future Investment Fund and we said we would spend $1 billion of that on schools and a further $1 billion on health”; if so as at Budget 2015 how much has been allocated to health and education from the Future Investment Fund?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance):Yes and a good thing about the Future Investment Fund is that the money going in and out of it is completely transparent. As I said in a Budget press release last month $635.6 million has so far been invested from the fund into education and another $684 million into health and that is not counting of course the other investments such as the investment in ultra-fast broadband which is a key technology to advancing both of those sectors. There is a further $726 million remaining in the fund without having to borrow. It is too early to say what all the disbursements from the fund will be as the Government will continue to look for opportunities to reprioritise existing capital to recycle more capital and to fund other initiatives from the Future Investment Fund.Grant Robertson: Is it correct that of the $726 million that he just mentioned already $190 million of that has been pre-committed for spending on KiwiRail?Hon BILL ENGLISH: That may be the case. I am pleased the member drew attention to KiwiRail because one of the calls on the Future Investment Fund has been that KiwiRail now requires somewhere between $200 million to $250 million a year—Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order!Grant Robertson: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. You will appreciate that that was a very specific question about the Budget that Mr English delivered only last week. He said he did not know the answer which is remarkable—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member will resume his seat. He was going quite well until then. The member took the opportunity in a supplementary question to mention KiwiRail so I was giving the Minister a chance to respond to that.Grant Robertson: Given that the Budget documents state that there is only $536 million left to allocate from the Future Investment Fund but that he has already committed to spend a further $680 million on education and health is he going to answer this with tricky accounting or is it just another broken promise?Hon BILL ENGLISH: The money will be spent on health and education and if it runs out because of other calls on the Future Investment Fund then we will look at reprioritising existing capital recycling more capital such as the sale of vacant land in Auckland or borrowing to make sure that we do invest appropriately in health and education.Grant Robertson: Is it correct that he has overcommitted Future Investment Fund funding by $424 million?Hon BILL ENGLISH: No and it is a bit rich that the Labour Party is complaining that the Future Investment Fund is too small when it did its best to sabotage the asset sales—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The question was answered right at the start.Grant Robertson: Can I help the Minister out: is 364 plus 316 plus 280 more than 536?Hon BILL ENGLISH: It may or may not be. I was not adding it up but I can assure the member that regardless of his focus on the accounting which makes him sound more like a Treasury analyst than the Opposition spokesperson we will make sure we have enough capital to invest in health and education as required to deliver better services and get better results.Rt Hon John Key: Is it true that if the Opposition spokesman was any good with numbers he would have got them the two times he had a go at the leadership?Mr SPEAKER: Order! That supplementary question will not help the order of this House. Question—[Interruption] No there is no need for it to be answered.