Hayes Joanne: Debate on Prime Minister’s StatementText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHayes Joanne: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement[Sitting date: 10 February 2016. Volume:711;Page:8865. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JOANNE HAYES (National): Ā tēnā koe e Te Mana Whakawā tēnā koutou e ngā mema o Te Whare Pāremata ngā mihi o te Tau Hou ki a koutou katoa.[And so greetings and acknowledgments of the New Year to you Mr Assistant Speaker members of Parliament House and to you all.]I am proud to stand and take a call to support the Prime Minister’s statement for 2016. This is a split call so I have only a few minutes to make my contribution. I want to concentrate on the Government’s investment in Christchurch and particularly in Christchurch East where I am the National list MP. As we all know—some may know; some may not— Christchurch East was badly affected in the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. We lost a large number of our suburbs. We lost all of Brooklands and we lost all of Bexley. One whole side of Avondale was wiped out. A lot of the North New Brighton area has been turned into residential red zone. It is part of the green areas that the Hon Nicky Wagner talked about in her contribution this afternoon on Christchurch to do with the rebuild and the regeneration.All of those people who suffered left Christchurch East. The east suffered a big reduction in its population. We saw school rolls reduced in number. I am sure the people there thought at the time that it was going to take quite a lot to bring Christchurch East back. But I am pleased to say that the work of this Government and its investment into the Christchurch East electorate has been amazing. The area is developing northwards so a lot of the Southshore residents who lost their homes—and some of them are still under negotiation—have left. We have new people coming into the northern area of the electorate. When I say the northern area I am talking about Marshland and the Parklands area. We are finding whole new residential areas just popping up overnight. That is good for the electorate.We have seen the hard work of the Minister of Education on consolidating education in the east and the hard work on the Aranui community learning campus. That proposal went through. It merges three primary schools into the high school at Aranui. Just last year they employed their new principal. His name is Andy Kai Fong. Just recently over the Christmas break we were catching up with my husband’s cousins. One of them is a very good friend of Andy Kai Fong. He said that Andy will make an amazing contribution to the east. Andy was interviewed by the newspaper. One of the things that he said after his appointment—he saw the advertisement he applied for the position and got it—is that it is a chance for Christchurch East to be at the forefront of educational developments locally nationally and globally. The Aranui community education campus is going to be just that because it is going to start from preschool and go right through to secondary school. It is like an area school within a city. For that whole area of New Brighton and Aranui it is going to be a godsend for many of the parents who have young people getting ready to go to either preschool or high school. That is a plus and one of the major investments that this Government has made into the eastern frame.The other areas have been the merging of primary schools. We have seen three new primary schools emerge out of about six other primary schools. That has been an amazing project as well. I was pleased to attend the Waitākiri Primary School opening just recently. There has been $17 billion of Government investment into Christchurch and the east has reaped its rewards there. Regenerate Christchurch is going to be an amazing project for New Brighton and I look forward to being part of that. Thank you very much. I support the Prime Minister’s statement.