Dowie Sarah: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDowie Sarah: General Debate[Sitting date: 20 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3472. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]SARAH DOWIE (National—Invercargill): It is an absolute pleasure to enter into this debate and frankly it is quite joyous because I am so positive about what this Government has achieved. I will pick up on Mr Chris Bishop’s point about Clare Curran calling us glum. I am a very happy person because I am so positive about this Government and the initiatives that we have put in place the work that we are doing. We are growing New Zealand’s economy we are creating more jobs we are supporting our families—Sue Moroney: Come on paint that smile on Sarah!SARAH DOWIE: —it is beautiful is it not? Wailing and gnashing of teeth because you love it. You love me speaking to you especially about Invercargill. Brace yourself—I am going to talk about Invercargill soon.But first of all I am going to talk more generally about what this wonderful Government is doing for our society. We are supporting our families and our children and of course with our housing policy we are supporting the most vulnerable in our society. If you look back to 2008 what did we have? A bleak future. It was so bleak; it was almost like Mordor looking into some dark bleak clouds. The Labourites had mismanaged the country’s finances the economy was fragile—never mind going into a global financial crisis. Saving for a rainy day I know is a foreign concept to that side of the House. The economy was in a desperate state crime was at an all-time high schoolchildren were coming out of school with no qualifications ill-equipped to enter into life and to get a job and unemployment was spiralling.But now look at us. We are the envy of the OECD the absolute envy. In fact Australians our big brothers—our fiercest rivals—are putting their arms around us now and saying “Hey you’re kind of OK.” They want the Hon Bill English and the Rt Hon John Key to stay. They say: “Help us out please.” We are doing so well. Through financial prudence what have we done? We have grown this economy. We have created 194000 jobs since 2011. And what is that doing? It is getting people into work it is creating wealth for our families and they are doing well.I want to talk especially about putting more money into our health budget—our free doctors visits for children under 13 years of age. What a difference that makes. I am a mother; I have got two. I have been a first-time mother. I know what it is like taking a child to the doctor and having to pay full fees. It is amazing that we can now take our children to the doctor and get them seen to making sure that they have a better quality of life and taking the burden off the parents to take them to the doctor to get them seen to.But there is still work to be done. I mean you hear from the Opposition benches that we are out of ideas and that we are lazy. No we are not. We are not resting on our laurels—not at all. We are dynamic but we also turn to pragmatic solutions. We are not afraid to look at our policies and tune them up and make changes for the betterment of all New Zealanders.One of those policies of course is our social housing policy. As the member for Invercargill I was thrilled when it was selected as one of the first regions for the proposed transfer of Housing New Zealand houses to community providers. It is a sensible move. This is local issues being dealt with by local specialist knowledge providing local solutions for local people in need and that is better for the people in need on the ground in Southland. We have about 360 tenants with medium to long term support needs in Invercargill and about 380 houses. This policy is about delivering services that are key to the tenant—ensuring that social housing is fit for purpose and the right design size and in the right place for those people in need. It is helping tenants to independence and encouraging and developing a more diverse range of social housing providers which will breed innovation and responsiveness to those local tenant needs. It does work.All we need to do is look at the UK model. For example the Shepherds Bush Housing Group in west London began with four flats in 1968 and now has over 5000 properties under management. They offer a wide range of services covering everything from dealing with domestic violence something that is really important—Chris Hipkins: Has the member read this before?SARAH DOWIE: —absolutely I have—employment assistance budgeting advice health services and more. Again those are community focused community solutions to community issues. So I am thrilled as the member for Invercargill to endorse this policy. I am thrilled with the way this Government is managing this economy and helping our people—all New Zealanders; families and children—to success.