Jones ShaneHon SHANE JONES (Minister of Forestry): There's always an air of sarcasm arrogance and sneer when that member Amy Adams addresses the House. There's something that speaks of the notion of born to rule". Hard to rule when you're in the wilderness hard to rule when you're in the wasteland. In the wasteland you find feral creatures; those who lack trust those who thought it was a very good idea to undermine constitutional processes and not take responsibility and then hide thinking that they could deface they could undermine one of the most popular Budgets of $87 billion allocated under the rubric of wellbeing.Now given their inability to strike a blow they thought they would go low. Now we know that the Opposition Leader's office left it to the resident hacker occupying the mid to backbenches of National. He's got form in this matter—Mr Bishop's got form in this matter and we know that he's got a very cosy and quite an unhealthy relationship with members of the police force but I'll have more to say about that at a later date. Don't think for a moment we've heard the last of his attack to undermine constitutional integrity around the Budget process.But let me come down to the more meaningful matters to ordinary day-to-day Kiwis who don't want to hear this din who don't want to watch this undignified—don't want to see the politicians on the opposite side of the House not earning their pay. They don't earn their pay when they attack independent civil servants who occupy a particularly important bureaucracy. Unfortunately for them they concede that to be the counter-narrative that would cause them to triumph over us and our Budget—miserable failure—and Kiwis up and down the motu have said "We don't want to see this type of wastefulness in terms of the Opposition's approach to this important document".Now of course the document not only allocates overdue funding in mental health but it reminds us that if we're going to revive the economy we have to focus on the regions and they have found no greater champion than my good self. But I am finding nine years of decay nine years of broken promises nine years of delay. There is only so much that I've been able to do in the 18 months but let us recite some of the modest contributions: nigh on $900 million put aside to drive initiatives in the regions. What are those initiatives? Those initiatives not only are digital connectivity but ensuring that freight goods and services have an option other than tarmac-ing our way into debt.What we have done is provided at long last a robust economic platform for KiwiRail. Now I know there are rail haters over there. I know there are rail baiters over there. But we campaigned on rejuvenating and re-establishing with a place of priority and the pūtea in terms of our broader transport infrastructure and network. And it's very popular. People are going to vote for it because we have already made our political promises that out in the regions we will not let rail decay any longer. But I don't want to steal the thunder of a host of other provincial MPs and the announcements that they will make once we've worked through a process of utter exactitude very very thorough high probity and conveniently those sums of money will favour those provincial areas that need our attention and support.Let me also talk about the importance of David Parker's contribution. Our Government re-established the contributions to what I call the Cullen fund. Now the Cullen fund administrators—one or three of them talked a tad injudiciously to the media but they have learnt that political power resides in Parliament not on their parched documents which they describe as their mandate. Political power resides here and through the Budget—the utter demonstration of political power—Mr Parker has guided us in our thinking and $300 million will ensure that we do not see leakage and seepage amongst that class of entrepreneurial investors because we're sick and tired on this side of the House of funding people such as the rich American who wandered off with the lucre from the last regime. We want those businesses in the technology and the agribusiness sector to stay either in our regions but certainly in the country and we've been prepared to put the pūtea where the mouth is. So in that respect I think that Mr Parker has opened up a tremendous new opportunity which might be regarded as a fellow traveller to the very good work that the provinces are seeing our side of the House do.Now of course the capital budget is something that's near and dear to my heart. Capital enables us to strengthen the long-term infrastructure of the country. Not only has our capital allocation met our commitments for military spending—more to come in that regard—but it has ensured that five years' worth of neglected investment in education can be dealt with—five years out of 10 years. This spurious nonsense that comes in terms of health underspending—look at the last nine years. That's what we're actually fighting in respect of health underspending. So what the capital allocation of $14 billion has done is bought at least two years up front of redressing that historical neglect in the health area. In addition to that as I've already commented on with my characteristic modesty now the Provincial Growth Fund is fully subscribed in terms of the pūtea into the fund and there is nigh on a billion dollars to continue to allocate on the basis of a criteria that will withstand any level of rumour or exacting scrutiny. So I invite the Auditor-General not only to be exhaustive—stay on the right side of the line Auditor-General. Do not comment on political mission; comment on administrative efficiency.Now I'd just like to round up the speech in terms of contributing to that area the last Government gave up on and that is turning the lives of our young people around who are either not in training not in education and often on the couch. Not only have we got the military contributing to that in a significant way—and actually there's a career path there now for them because the size of the workforce if I can use that expression in the military is going to grow substantially. This is a practical demonstration of putting our rhetoric into utter reality. I can't think of a New Zealander that is not proud to have their families associated—and those that aren't proud I don't want to know them—with the military; our uncles our grand-uncles—their deeds are festooned around this House. But not only that we've got Willie Jackson the Minister of Employment taking the fight into the most difficult areas of our rural communities which successive Governments have failed to penetrate working with those families that come from gangs working with those families that have been afflicted by years of drug abuse and other types of social abuse. That's what a Government of compassion should do. That's what a Government who's got equity in terms of one of its key pillars is going to deliver on.Now sure this may not capture a lot of the media attention but let me tell you in the Gisbornes in the Nūhakas in the Wairoas in the Te Kahas in the Ōpōtikis—the areas that were carpet-bombed through fiscal neglect under the last regime—they're now feeling the fiscal love. That particular area is going to be one of the barometers that people will look at as to whether or not we've intervened and turned the lives around of those families that have been in the shadows for far too long.Now naturally I speak with some passion about this because disproportionately they are my people. They are Ngāpuhi they are Ngati Porou they are Ngāti Kahungunu. They could very well be Tūhoe but I'm very cross with them. They opposed the road and they've unwisely believed that their hillbilly priorities for Te Urewera are more important than us tarsealing the road but we'll deal with that and them at a later state because you cannot come forward and preach the gospel of Treaty reconciliation without working with your broader community. I'll have more to say about them at a later date.So you can see there are some very practical earthy interventions in most difficult areas and we're proud to say we're not a Government just for the big end of town—that was the last Government. We're a Government down at the grassroots. We're a Government at the churches at the schools at the rugby clubs and in the community. Kia ora tātou."