Scott Alastair: Annual Review Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeScott Alastair: Annual Review Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 13 April 2016. Volume:713;Page:10483. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ALASTAIR SCOTT (National—Wairarapa): Those members say that they care about small businesses but they do not. They say that they care about families and children but they do not. They say that they support farmers and provincial towns but the Opposition does not. I will tell you what: we on this side do care and we can prove it because we vote for it.Here are a couple of examples. The free-trade agreements—the free-trade agreements that give the opportunity for New Zealanders to take part in an international market place. They are an opportunity for exporters to produce high-value products to export to growing economies.The other example of how we prove that we support families in communities is that we support irrigation projects. There was a question on this in the House today and again we demonstrated that we support these projects because not only do these things increase productivity across the land that we farm—that we put horticulture across or vineyards or whatever it might be—but these projects also give a huge amount of value to the social benefit of the communities. They give social benefits by providing sporting and recreational facilities. There are environmental benefits through the higher minimum flows that irrigation projects will bring to waterways and by the stringent regulations that these irrigation projects will be run under. The irrigation projects I would have thought would be a key part of any Green Party policy quite frankly because these things are going to be fantastic for the environment.The free-trade agreements and the irrigation projects are just two examples of initiatives that we have on this side that demonstrate that we support families businesses and provincial towns and if we can do those two things in tandem we will raise the standard of living for all New Zealanders. We will have the GDP that allows us to invest in such things as broadband which continues to roll out through the provinces and through the towns of New Zealand.I would like to focus a little more on the balance sheet of the Government. We talk quite a lot about the income statement and we quite often talk about surpluses and so on but in fact we should be thinking about the long term. We should be thinking about the balance sheet of this country—in particular the liability side. That is exactly what we are doing with Minister Tolley’s announcements where she is going to be focusing on the million-dollar kids—the kids who are most in need. We know who these kids are. We know where they live. We know their backgrounds. We know that with the backgrounds that they have they will cost the taxpayer a million dollars. So it makes common sense. It is very sensible to invest in that cost which will eventually have long-term benefits not just for the families involved and not just for the communities that are involved but for the taxpayer—for the benefit of the balance sheet.There is a huge number of other initiatives that will be brought up today but those things that I talked about at the beginning—the free-trade agreements and the irrigation projects—are but two very pragmatic very sensible initiatives. I really cannot for the life of me understand why the Opposition will not support them because those things bring about increased productivity. It is not just about dairy; these irrigation projects will increase and diversify land use. They bring in seed companies from Europe that can develop their seeds with reliability which is brought about by irrigation projects. With that comes highly skilled jobs with that comes increased GDP and with that comes increased taxes to the Government which enables the Government to do what it should be focusing on—that is supporting those most in need. Thank you.