Strange JamieJAMIE STRANGE (Labour): Mr Chair thank you for the opportunity to take a call in this debate. As a member of the Governance and Administration Committee I'd like to acknowledge our chair Brett Hudson for the work he does there and I'd just like to elaborate on a few of the things that we've been focusing on. It's an exciting time to live in New Zealand. We've got a coalition Government who are working well together and who are tackling the big issues out there and at the same time running regular surpluses and keeping the Government's books in a strong position. I'd like to start on one point: the Provincial Growth Fund. The Provincial Growth Fund—as someone who lives in provincial New Zealand even though we are the fourth-biggest city probably soon to become the second-biggest city but the fourth-biggest for now—is an investment in our regions by this coalition Government. I'd like to acknowledge the work that the New Zealand First Party in particular have done on this. People in the regions are once again lifting their heads. After years of under-investment and after years of seeing their towns slowly move into a state of huge social challenges they are starting to lift their heads they are starting to dream and they're starting to see what's possible. They're starting to see the potential in the regions and we have a Government who are investing in the regions through the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) and also other mechanisms. So what the Provincial Growth Fund is doing is it's encouraging groups to get together to form business cases. Groups right across the regions—Simeon Brown: Name two. Name two groups. JAMIE STRANGE: I could name many across many areas there sir—right from agriculture right across to the arts to all sorts of areas. Groups in the regions are coming together to dream. They see that we have a Government who are taking them seriously. We heard from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) about M. bovis. So M. bovis was a very serious issue that affected our country. I'd like to acknowledge the work of Minister Damien O'Connor in this area. I'd like to acknowledge the Opposition who also signed on to a point. Hon Willie Jackson: No. JAMIE STRANGE: We have to be fair there Mr Willie Jackson. But we had a Government who had a decisive response to M. bovis. Now if we didn't choose to eradicate M. bovis the issues for our economy would have been long-lasting but we took a bold step to eradicate it. Now why did we do that? Because our cows they aren't in barns; they're in paddocks and when they're in paddocks they're under a lot of stress. That means they produce high-quality milk which for us as a country is obviously a strength for our economy. But if those cows have M. bovis the stress that they're under in the paddocks can have exaggerated effects on them. So we took leadership and we're working hard on this issue. The DPMC have been playing a leading role. I'd like to get to the centrepiece of the next few weeks—what everyone's talking about is the Wellbeing Budget. I'd like to acknowledge the Minister in the chair the Hon Grant Robertson. For many years we've had a lack of investment in our social services. Health education—they've been run down. They've been run down and that's why New Zealand voted for change because they could see it quite clearly. We have a Government who cares about people who put people first. One of the key aspects of this Budget will be around mental health. Mental health affects everyone. Right from business through education right across society the mental health of people is so important. I'm excited as the Wellbeing Budget comes forth. We've already heard a few announcements. We had an announcement today supporting St John Ambulance. We have a Government who is listening. There's a lot going on. I've talked about the PGF I've talked about M. bovis the Wellbeing Budget—I could go on but I'm going to leave it there and let someone else have a bit of a chat.