Mark Ron: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMark Ron: General Debate[Sitting date: 25 March 2015. Volume:704;Page:2581. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]RON MARK (NZ First):I move That the House take note of miscellaneous business. On Sunday there will be the final match of the Cricket World Cup and the Black Caps will make history and we in New Zealand will all be rightfully proud of that performance. But the curtain-raiser for that match will be played on Saturday and it will be played in Northland and it will be played as the Northland by-election in an electorate that has been held by National for over 77 years—and that too will produce a result that will be historic.Last week I spoke in the House and I warned this Government that rural provincial New Zealand has woken up to the fact that it has been taken for granted by National for too long that it has been forgotten and that it is becoming increasingly of the view that it is time to send this arrogant Government a message—a message. And indeed the very next day—after I warned long-time supporters and card-carrying members of the National Party that rural provincial New Zealand was angry at the cuts to funding assistance for rural roads at the cuts that are coming through the one-road network through the forced amalgamation of rural provincial New Zealand into super-cities—on the front page of the Dominion Postout came Sir Brian Lochore. And his message very poignant very clear and very fundamental to the National Party was that they have had enough—had enough. In fact the message was so profound and so clear that the same day at a meeting in Wellington of the district councils’ chief executive officers the chief executive officer of Wellington said: “God has spoken.” Unfortunately the only people who are not hearing the message are in this National Government.So on Saturday a very clear message is going to come because the “Force of the North” will enable Northlanders to send that message. And let us be clear: these are not card-carrying members of the New Zealand First Party. They are not card-carrying members of the Labour Party. They are National Party people. [Interruption] We know that this message is very clear Gerry—Mr Brownlee the Hon Mr Brownlee—we know it is very clear because Christchurch MPs have been sent up to Northland to help pull the hoardings down because the campaign has imploded has it not? It has imploded.So what has happened up there? I know one thing that has happened is that the National Government said Winston Peters had “zero chance of winning”. Those were its words. John Key said that. National was so arrogant that it said: “We’ve got 16000 votes. We can’t possibly lose this.” Arrogance—arrogance at its best—supported by the policy of “Simple Simon Bridges Over Troubled Waters” which in actual fact—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member will use the proper terminology when referring to members in this House.Hon Simon Bridges: Yes that was hurtful.RON MARK: There we go. So what does it mean? It means that after 77 years people have woken up to the fact that the lowest median income in New Zealand is in Northland; that there are over 800 one-way bridges Mr Bridges—800 not 10—that there are 1100 kilometres of unsealed roads in Kaipara; that 70 percent of the roads in the far north are unsealed; and that there is a rail line that is so bad that it takes 5 hours to shift goods south to Auckland. Forget 4G because most people up there cannot get cellphone coverage just like Greytown actually by the way—try to get cellphone coverage in Greytown. It is a place where the indicators that ought to be good are down and where the indicators that are bad are up. This is a place that after 77 years of National Party representation has its indicators upside down.And the promises—well they have flooded out of Wellington since the by-election was announced and since Winston Peters entered the race. What is this party not going to do with new roads new bridges and broadband? Well heck it is only because Steven Joyce has not had time to rewrite the policy and to put it out there.And what else has National learnt? It has learnt that it has got a candidate whom the National Party people do not actually want. They would have preferred a farmer. It has learnt that it has got a candidate one of whose greatest attributes is that he can lift heavy things—he can lift heavy things. Take all these billboards that have appeared all over the place—billboards with “Hoss Cartwright” on them. And we know what that message says: “Look he’s a lovely boy and he’s a gentle giant but he ain’t particularly bright”. How do we know that he is—