Scott Alastair: Annual Review Debate — In CommitteeText is subject to correctionScott Alastair: Annual Review Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 29 April 2015. Volume:704;Page:2977. Text is subject to correction.]ALASTAIR SCOTT (National—Wairarapa):Thank you for the opportunity to take a short call on the infrastructure services theme. Specifically I am going to talk about connections—connectivity—and that specifically relates to the internet. And then if I have some time I will talk about roaming. Some facts: ultra-fast broadband is now in 2200 schools including 1000 rural schools. Most of the schools in my rural electorate are connected. Over 231000 households have access to rural broadband—and I say “rural” rather than ultra-fast broadband—but there is more to do. So we are planning to raise the percentage so that more than 75 percent of Kiwis—stepping up to 80 percent—have access to ultra-fast broadband. We are also aiming by June next year to connect rural Integrated Family Health Centres.So what does that mean? What does that really mean for the people in my electorate? Well when we get internet ultra-fast broadband in say Carterton or Dannevirke it will not be for the work that people can come to those places to do. It is not going to be about creating work driving trucks or work in retail. People will be going there to export services. It will be about what work can be done from that town. So it is quite a different approach. For example just recently I was at Dannevirke High School judging an entrepreneurial competition amongst year 13s. There were about a dozen entrepreneurial teams and more than half of them invented or created products that one could not touch—they were all internet-based. They were all out to service the world from Dannevirke. There are guys in Dannevirke who have Chinese customers—an accounting firm has Chinese customers and customers on the west coast of America. That is possible only because of their access to the internet.Minister Adams has initiated the bid to raise the percentage of uptake from 75 to 80 percent and I am pleased to say that all five of my councils are participating in that process. They know that the internet will make a difference to the people in their communities. Because it is all about productivity is it not? This internet—this connection—was not even around 10 years ago. If we think about the world it is now a much smaller place not just because of the internet but because of travel. Travel has become cheaper. Just think about 25 years ago when I jumped on a plane to go overseas goodness me the price of that airfare has not changed a hell of a lot. Communications have become cheaper. You could not make a toll call from London to New Zealand—it was just too expensive—but now we can text instantly.Communications have become cheaper faster and more efficient enabling us to conduct business on one of these phones. These phones were not even around 10 years ago. These are the enablers of the future. These things will increase productivity and free up people to be more creative and to provide income and wealth for themselves and their families. These smartphones and technologies like them are the steam engine of centuries ago when manual labour was automated and weaving became a mundane process and became automated because of steam engines. This is what we are going to see and we will continue to see simply because of the access to market driven by the internet.We will be able to conduct our business from anywhere in my electorate. Martinborough Carterton and Masterton are very commutable to Wellington. Fast speeds enable architects and movie directors—and they do—to live in the Wairarapa to spend a couple of days at home and then to see their customers in Wellington a couple of days later. This is the way we are going to develop our rural electorates and towns. This enables the private sector to get on and create products that are able to be sold to the Chinese or the Koreans and accentuate promote and support the free-trade agreements we have with those countries.