Dean Jacqui: Address in ReplyText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDean Jacqui: Address in Reply[Sitting date: 28 October 2014. Volume:701;Page:277. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki):It does come as a surprise to me—but a very welcome surprise. Indeed I would welcome some guidance from my whip on just how I am going to focus my speech but actually it is not going to be that hard to focus my contribution to this debate because what we campaigned on leading up to the election was an agenda of stable government. I think that with the support of the New Zealand public we have truly been given the mandate to deliver on that promise of stable government. In fact the Hon Bill English as the Minister of Finance not only has steered this ship very well for the past 6 years but promises to do so again for the next 3 years and New Zealanders up and down the country can be assured that this Government will be delivering on its promise of building the economy and looking after all New Zealanders.I want to actually focus particularly on one area of the New Zealand economy that is of particular interest to me and that is tourism and regional development. In terms of regional development something that I am very proud of in the last two terms of Government has been the development of the New Zealand national cycle trails programme. I can recall standing in this House on several occasions over the past few years talking about the benefits of the cycle trail to the local economy of Central Otago. I noted at the time that the Otago Central Rail Trail was making a significant impact on some of the small towns of Central Otago.I recall that as I was saying this and talking about the small town of Lauder the small town of Middlemarch and the small town of Ranfurly which were enjoying something of a renaissance there would be gales of laughter coming from the other side of the House. Those members were going: “Oh come on. What’s $7 million to Central Otago? That’s nothing. We live in Auckland and we’re much bigger than that.” Well the joke is on them because not only have Central Otago and those small communities benefited from that investment by the Prime Minister which was his initiative back in 2009 but so has the rest of New Zealand. So the laugh is on them because Labour the Greens and New Zealand First did not get it. They did not understand that regional economic development has to start from the ground up. It has to start by a Government investing in the infrastructure to enable growth in the regional economies.Hon Annette King: Who invested in Whale Watch Kaikōura? Look at a real success—Whale Watch Kaikōura.JACQUI DEAN: You see the Hon Annette King still does not get it. The Hon Annette King over the other side of the House still does not get it because—I do not know where she lives. Is it Hutt City or Wellington or “city slickers”—who would know? But regional development is well understood by the members on this side of the House for a very good reason and it is that we all live in the provinces. If you have a look around at our fantastic new line-up of MPs you will see that a good deal of them come from the provinces. Why is that? Because the voters in provincial New Zealand appreciate and understand what good government represents and have voted in vast numbers for those very members. So it stands to reason that in terms of regional economic development of course Labour does not get it. Of course the Greens do not get it. How could they? They do not represent rural and provincial New Zealand.So let us talk just for a moment about the ultra-fast broadband initiative. Let us talk just for a moment about rural broadband investment into our regions and what a great benefit that is going to be having for the agribusinesses throughout New Zealand. Let us talk about the investment into schools and into hospitals by this Government. Let us talk about the work that the Minister of Education the Hon Hekia Parata is putting into modern learning environments for our young New Zealanders in the cities because yes we care about them as well but a lot of it is going into provincial New Zealand. I am so proud that my small towns in the seat of Waitaki are benefiting from all this investment being put in by this Government. We stood up and we promised stable government before this election. We stood up and we have delivered.