Lotu-Iiga Sam: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Lotu-Iiga Sam: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 18 November 2009. Volume:659;Page:7788. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
PESETA SAM LOTU-IIGA (National—Maungakiekie) 
: 
 It is a real privilege and an honour to make the last speech in this general debate. Many on our side of the Chamber have already alluded to the fact that it has been almost a year since our National Party became the Government. It is a real privilege because last November the people of New Zealand said: “We trust you.” We are hugely honoured to have been given that privilege to govern this country. The reason people said that they trusted us was that we have a leader in the Hon John Key who relates to the people of New Zealand. We have a party a set of members of Parliament and a party structure that listens to New Zealanders when we go out into our electorates. 
One of the first promises we made and followed through on before Christmas 2008 was a tax cut package that gave back to New Zealanders some of the money they had earned because we trust New Zealanders to spend their own money. The message from suburbs like Ellerslie and Onehunga is that people want to be trusted with their own money. There are hard-working New Zealanders out there who want to see the Government focus on Government services. 
As a Government we continued on with the retail banking guarantee— 
Hon Lianne Dalziel 
: Who started that? 
PESETA SAM LOTU-IIGA 
:—which has allowed financial institutions both retails banks and finance companies—and the Hon Lianne Dalziel knows this—to lend to those businesses that require capital. So the business package reforms that we have put in place have allowed businesses to carry on employing people exporting goods and services and growing this economy. The National Government was endowed with an economy that had been in decline for the past 5 consecutive years in terms of exports. We came in and set up a package that was friendly to business and friendly to employees. 
We have put together a $7.5 billion infrastructure package which will improve State highways like State Highway 20 which runs through Onehunga. It will improve the traffic congestion and delays that we get in Auckland City and allow people to go about their business in a more effective and efficient way. That package includes I might add $30 million for the restoration of the Onehunga foreshore which is a joint Auckland City Council and central government project. It will beautify the suburb of Onehunga. The Government has provided a $500 million relief package to make life simpler for small businesses and we have reformed research and development. We did that because the people of New Zealand—businesses developers and those who want to get on with their lives—said to us: “We don’t want any more bureaucracy or red tape around consents.” Those consents include resource consents building consents and a whole raft of bureaucracies that were created by the previous Government. This Government was effective in bringing that reform into place. 
I am also reminded of my maiden speech when I stood in the House and reflected on what is important to New Zealanders. I reflected on the education system in this country and that the education system required a lot of work. It requires national standards which will improve the educational standards of our children and of our grandchildren. This Government made an announcement last week of a $523 million investment in education as part of that reform. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.