Scott AlastairALASTAIR SCOTT (National—Wairarapa): Thank you very much Mr Temporary Speaker. Mr Temporary Speaker it's a pleasure to rise on this occasion with you in the Chair. I'd like to pick up on a couple of things the Hon Phil Twyford the previous speaker said. There is absolutely a need for this initiative so it's a very good initiative in my opinion. Mr Twyford talked about a number of other projects and reviews going on. He mentioned Three Waters for example and I imagine the thinking in that review will feed into the commission's work because there is a lot of work to be done in the provinces. I note that the sponsoring Minister the self-proclaimed prince of the provinces is leading this bill.There is an issue in the provinces. There is a demand on local government to raise their standard raise the bar. The bar set by the community continues to rise; the funding available in those smaller communities does not rise with it. The regional towns tend to have lower per capita incomes and of course they've got the infrastructure that they're obliged to maintain and keep up or maintain the upkeep of. So I was very pleased to listen to Minister Jones.Minister Twyford's comments around public-private partnerships (PPP) and the idea that an investor can bring in an investment in a bond—I was interested to hear the words when he said bypassing the local government balance sheet". That was an interesting concept that he dropped into the conversation. That's a very worthwhile thing to investigate. There are a lot of people who have cash who are willing and able to invest in these big projects and small projects whether it's local council regional council small-town infrastructure or big roads infrastructure. So that was a good comment from Minister Twyford. I wonder if the Government will extend the pro-PPP argument to things like prisons—because I know that the Government took that off the table at one point—and whether that would be considered a piece of infrastructure that could be funded by a PPP or indeed schools or hospitals or whatever else you want to include in the conversation. So we'll see where that goes because that is all going to be interesting stuff. There are issues. Even this week in the South Wairarapa District there is an E. coli warning. The water has to be boiled again in the town of Martinborough. This is unacceptable in the 21st century and I wonder whether other than the funding and procurement that the Ministers have mentioned the commission will look into the governance of local government or the structure of local government—not just the funding or the balance sheet but who is running the infrastructure. Who is in control and who is managing the three waters in these towns? I know Minister Mahuta's Three Waters Review is looking into that and I know there are some models that are being proposed but there is an issue. There is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed and so I commend the Government for bringing this commission and at this point we will be supporting it for all those reasons that I have outlined. So it's an interesting discussion. Roading versus rail—you know again it's another example of where funding really is not 21st century. We still fund the roads separately from the rail whereas in reality all we're doing is getting a 20-foot container from A to B. The infrastructure of both roads and rail should be considered together and probably shipping as well. So I think that if the commission can bring all that thinking together—and I also commend Infrastructure New Zealand on their huge amount of ideas and contributions that they make to the discussion—and if the Government and this side can bring it all together I think without politicising it and ensuring that these guys remain independent we could have some very good results if we let those three to seven people do the job. Thank you Mr Temporary Speaker."