Dowie SarahSARAH DOWIE (National—Invercargill): It is a pleasure to make a contribution in this general debate in support of the Government—a Government that is sensible a Government that is unified and a Government that is stable and is delivering for all New Zealanders. As part of that it has economic growth forecast at 2.4 percent unemployment forecast to drop to 5.2 percent and it is bringing Crown debt down to 20 percent of GDP by 2020. Is it any wonder that we are the envy of the OECD? We certainly are through our stable management the envy of the OECD in a world in which some of our larger more traditionally stable democracies are facing some incredible turmoil and New Zealand is leading the way in stability and growth.I want to take the time to address some statistics with regard to me being a regional MP and leading the anchor state of this country—Southland. There was a Northerner—a member opposite—who addressed this House last night and claimed that Southland was in recession. My goodness if producing 14 percent of New Zealand's total export receipts is being in recession then she must be a monkey's uncle. If an employment rate of 74 percent—when the national average is 65 percent—is not doing well then I do not know what is. Yes we can acknowledge that dairy is volatile at this stage. In fact it has dropped in our export statistics from 32 percent to 26 percent. But tourism is up and we are still boxing economically above our weight for New Zealand—producing I say again 14 percent of New Zealand's total export receipts.Why is that? I am very proud to be a regional MP in this Government because this is a Government that is looking at the economy as a whole and is providing initiatives to help grow the regions. We are looking at capitalising on our strengths and we are diversifying our markets and diversifying our economy further. How are we doing that? We are investing $2 billion in ultra-fast broadband to connect our businesses to the rest of the world so that they can easily make connections and easily do business and get into new markets and stabilise their existing markets. That is so important in places like Southland where we are removed from larger centres. But look you have got lower overheads in Southland and you are connected—and so you can do business and do business well from anywhere in New Zealand.I also want to talk about the potential in Southland. I recently came back from a trip to Norway—a conference that celebrated the success of aquaculture and best practice. I learnt about best practice in aquaculture and what it can produce—jobs revenue and money for its people and for families in Norway. Southland has been signalled as a potential place to grow aquaculture through our strategic group our Southland Regional Development Strategy (SoRDS) Group which is leading the charge there. But the Government has come in behind the SoRDS Group and behind Ngāi Tahu and the Ministry for Primary Industries is leading some research to look at the viability of sites around the Southland coast to increase our share of aquaculture. At the moment we produce 20 percent of New Zealand's aquaculture and we believe that we have the natural climatic advantages and the environmental advantages to be able to expand that. The statistics at the moment are that for every hectare of aquaculture for finfish you are producing about 20 jobs and about $20 million worth of revenue. Southland wants a slice of that. Southland wants to capitalise on that. Southland wants to grow with that.Southland is doing well. We are not in recession. We box above our weight. The northern member of the Opposition from Dunedin should realise that.