Curran ClareCLARE CURRAN (Labour—Dunedin South): All I can say is that Alastair Scott walks around with rose-coloured glasses on in the Wairarapa Simon Bridges walks around with his fingers in his ears and Steven Joyce—one of these days he will fall off his wall and all the king's horses and all the king's men will not be able to put him back together again. Everywhere across New Zealand—everywhere—this Government is failing the regions. Many regions' economies are shrinking with incomes and employment falling. It may be of interest to members that of the hundreds of constituent cases that come through my office 26 percent of them come from outside my electorate. Of that 26 percent most of them come from Clutha-Southland which is the electorate next to mine. Most of those cases are housing-related and health-related exacerbated by low incomes and unemployment and this tells me two things: (1) that the local member is not doing his job and (2) that people are hurting. If you do not believe me then how about this? Southland is in recession. Southland's economy shrank by 9.9 percent last year. The average household income in Southland fell by $49 a week in the last year. The number of people who are unemployed in Southland has more than doubled since 2008 under National. Southland's homeownership rate fell 4 percent between census 2006 and census 2013 which is the biggest fall in the country from over 73 percent to under 70 percent. The Otago economy has stalled with zero percent growth in the March 2016 quarter and of course Otago includes Queenstown and Central Otago which are growth areas. But its economy as a whole has stalled. The average household income in Otago fell by $98 a week in the last year. In the meantime in both Otago and Southland $94 million has been cut from the Southern District Health Board since 2010 and last year nearly 3000 people in both of our regions—Otago and Southland—were denied operations after being referred by their GP.I went and did a survey of parts of Clutha-Southland given that so many people were coming into my office with cases—Milton Gore Balclutha Lawrence and Kaitangata. Guess what the majority of those people said? They said that the issues they were most concerned about were growing inequalities and the gap between rich and poor not enough available jobs affordable housing and access to health services. These regions are hurting. They are really hurting. There is not enough opportunity in these regions for young people. There are not enough opportunities for people for employment to give them hope in their lives. This leads me on to my next point which is around infrastructure given that this is the Estimates debate around infrastructure. I want to touch on another vital aspect of regional economic development that could provide a kick-start to our regions but which this Government is sorely neglecting and that is rural broadband which is absolutely holding back regional New Zealand. I have got two communities quite close to Dunedin that have written very well-written reports pleading for resources to help them kick-start their connectivity one on the whole of the Otago Peninsula and the other includes the whole of the Strath Taieri which includes Middlemarch and Hyde. Both are areas of strong tourism: ecotourism on the Otago Peninsula and the Strath Taieri which is the beginning of the Otago Central Rail Trail. Neither of those communities can get any funding despite Amy Adams' claims about rural broadband and how fantastic it is and how much it is delivering to rural New Zealand. They say how much this is holding them back as communities—not giving hope to young people to get jobs holding back their core industries and farmers not being able to log on. These issues are holding these communities back.