Smith StuartSTUART SMITH (National—Kaikōura): Mr Speaker thank you very much. For those that have tuned in today they'll be wondering what's going on. But none the less I wanted to begin my contribution by really focusing on the things that matter and by congratulating the Black Ferns who won a gold medal this morning—well done to them. I personally didn't get to see the game but it was fantastic that we've finally got off the naught and got a gold so well done to those ladies. There's been quite a bit of talk about tax cuts and I'm going to talk about them because actually it is a great day today. A lot of people are actually very excited to get their tax cuts: 83 percent of New Zealanders are getting a tax cut today and 94 percent of households are getting a tax cut today and that really is making a difference. It is a rather dull dreary winter at the moment I'd have to say and to have a bit of sunshine brought into people's lives with a bit of extra money in their back pocket will be welcomed right across the spectrum. I have heard from a lot of people who have been looking forward to this. The cost of living has really bitten hard on New Zealanders and it's made it very tough for Kiwis and their families. We're getting inflation under control and that's a long hard job to do that but we are getting there. Bracket creep is an insidious thing. It's something that successive Governments have allowed to continue on and I'm looking forward to the day when we can actually have that indexed to inflation so that people are not having a thief in their back pocket by way of bracket creep which has been happening for a very long time. Today is also the day that the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act has been—well what is it: 11 pages. It has been scrapped in the last 24 hours. It's phenomenal the perverse effect that that had on people who were applying for loans. I had a person in my office who was very upset about the intrusive nature of the questions that were asked by banks when that person was going for a loan. She told me that she felt very embarrassed and ashamed by the questions that were being asked and I think it was an absolutely appalling piece of legislation. Yes it was well-meaning. It was there to try and prevent people from pay-day loans mostly—to stop people from getting in over their heads. But to actually go through people's payment records from the bank about what they were spending and to question their spending choices—it was really intrusive and totally unnecessary. So I'm very pleased that that has actually gone as well as there being the updating of the responsible lending code which was what I was referring to earlier. But all politics is local and I want to focus on something in my electorate. The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) have put forward $20000 of funding for the New Zealand Veterinary Association to go towards animal welfare work in the Hurunui area. Despite what the weather is like here today in Hurunui there is a significant drought going on. There is very little in the way of feed and very little in the way of soil moisture and stock are under significant pressure. Having that support from the local vet to ensure that there are no animal welfare problems or to be able to get ahead of them is going to be welcomed so much by my constituents. Farmers are out there in the bad weather doing their work and actually despite what most people think they love their stock. They really feel very hurt if they are not able to look after them in the way that they would like to and they can't really get rid of stock that easily. They have gone through in some cases and scanned those ewes that have got twins and triplets and have sent them to the works because the ewes wouldn't be able to raise those lambs and would likely be at risk of milk fever. So this additional help from MPI through the vets will be very very welcome and I'm sure that my constituents are looking forward to that. It is a big worry because there's very little in the way of snow out in the back country. Now that may have changed in the last 24 hours but we all should be concerned about that because that drives the lake levels that secure having the lights remaining on in New Zealand and given that pernicious ban of oil and gas exploration we now are very much short of gas to secure our electricity supplies. So with that Mr Speaker have a great day.