Jones ShaneHon SHANE JONES (Minister for Regional Economic Development): Northland is a land of contrasts. In contrast to the very positive uplifting by and large humble Provincial Champion" we have heard from the current sitting member of Northland who has delivered a hate speech to the region he purports to represent—"hate speech" in the sense of not acknowledging that the assistance spread around the regions has been driven by none other than the leadership of John Carter and Murray McCully. Oh things were different in comparison and in contrast to the current member but let me not be deflective.There have been some unkind things said about the stewardship of the fund. The fund as I reflected in the House required the members of the Opposition to understand the Public Finance Act. Now Mr Falloon may have worked for the ACT Party. He may have been a member of the ACT Party. He may have worked for Mr Joyce but he has no understanding of the Public Finance Act. The Public Finance Act requires the steward of the fund to ensure that when investments of a capital nature are made such as forestry we account for a certain percentage of the investment's life. And wanting to cling faithfully to the dictates of the Public Finance Act I answered in that fashion. It is not my fault that the members of the committee did not understand it.Now in respect of the other allocations around the motu—sure the South Island as reflective of a slightly chilly climb down in the South is ordinarily a tad more conservative but they are now fully engaged because they realise it is a once-in-a-lifetime shot in the sense that this is a Government that has opened up the fiscal purse to address historical neglect. Now some of that neglect is in the West Coast but it can also be found further south and the neglect will require not only some fiscal elixir but it will require us where appropriate to change the law. As befits a "Provincial Champion" these perspectives have to be constantly brought to bear. It doesn't mean that one voice carries the day on every given occasion but it does mean that the provinces should have no fear in terms of a loud voice coherently articulating the concerns.Let me carry on with some of the individual initiatives that have been stigmatised by the Leader of the Opposition. Go I say to him to Minginui and tell them that what they have received is beads blankets and trinkets. That is the very place where his colleague the former Minister of Treaty settlements described the living conditions as hideous. I think it's a very low day when the Leader of the Opposition seeks to appeal for the diminishing number of voters of Colin Craig's old party. He will not prosper with that type of stigmatisation that type of demonisation. In fact the real demon sits several seats along from him and as the caucus politics grow more feverish he will learn that that is the demon that will possess him and he will not be leading that party into the next election. But I must not digress too far. The other matter that I think it's important that we cover is that forestry as a portion of the fund is an overdue investment into an area that has not only been neglected but will be sorely needed in the regions—not only for climate change and other speakers will cover climate change—but to revitalise and bring land back into a higher level of productivity. Now you may think that these matters don't have a certain level of media sex appeal but I have found that they are inordinately of great interest to the media and you can rely on the first citizen of the provinces to continue to do what the other side of the House is refusing to do: be consistent strong advocates. I think it was very cruel of Mr Falloon to deprecate his own former parliamentary colleagues. I can't be held to account for the fact that the National provincial advocates of that time are inordinately more effective more informed and more collaborative. Thank you very much."