SpeechHon SHANE JONES (Minister of Forestry): That was a speech of concession where that South Island member Amy Adams has already acknowledged they will not win the upcoming election. Rather they are continuing a campaign of sleaze—of bare-faced falsehoods about the party that I belong to. I want to set the record straight. This party believes in jobs and industry. This party in the form of my good self from time to time has attracted support from figures in industry. Those gestures of support are declared. That is how democracy is expected to work. But no what do we hear earlier today? We hear during the course of Mr Carter's contribution very defamatory things not only said about elements of the party I belong to but associated with people no less august than Graeme Hart. I challenge that member to go out of this House and repeat what he said in the middle of the debate on the Forests (Regulation of Log Traders and Forestry Advisers) Amendment Bill. He won't because he will discover he does not have short hands and long pockets; he will have empty pockets. That gives an indication and I warn the other side of the House: do not run a campaign in so far as I am concerned with that level of taint and that level of stigmatisation. Be careful about the Pandora's box of woe you open yourselves.Now let's talk about things far more constructive to the future of the country: $3 billion on top of $12 billion a perfectly clear long-term pipeline of certainty for this particular sector in the economy that comprises over 13 percent of GDP and touches the lives in a fiscal sense of 500000 New Zealanders. Who has brought that to the fore? It was brought to the fore by a philosophy and a boldness to do what the other side of the House has never done in their political economy model: a willingness to leverage the Crown's balance sheet to ensure we are endowing post-COVID the economy with infrastructure with assets and with facilities to smooth the path for future investment of a tertiary and secondary nature. This party this Government has been willing to pour that level of fiscal stimulus through the education system through the infrastructure spend through housing through rail and through roads and what do we hear in response? Apocryphal stories about tax rates. Let's not forget about the GST hike back in 2008. Let's not forget about how deeply grossly at variance that act was with what was campaigned on. We're far too clear-sighted we're far too four-square in our approach to delve into that level of muck. That is the side that has decided through Mr Carter to run a campaign characterised in that fashion. I give him fair warning: do not go outside this House and make those allegations or you will be returning back to the South Island in a state of penury. I am very disappointed that the context of a very simply occupational licensing regime bill called the Forests (Regulation of Log Traders and Forestry Advisers) Amendment Bill was defaced through such contributions. Of course that bill has itself been catastrophised by the proxies operating on behalf of the foreign owners of the forestry sector—owners I might say that have been supported by this side of the House in liberalising and simplifying the overseas investment criteria for forestry purposes; owners and stakeholders in an industry that members on our side of the Government who have deep provincial exposure have been willing to stand up for. Well I give fair notice—I give fair notice. After the election campaign all bets are off. If that element and their approach of not only stigmatising but distorting think that there is not a response we will respond positively to the farmers and the other calls of community leaders in rural New Zealand.