Strange JamieJAMIE STRANGE (Labour—Hamilton East): Oh it's a pleasure to follow that speech from the next Leader of the Opposition. I support Simon. I think Simon would do a good job—SPEAKER: Order! The member supports Mr Bridges".JAMIE STRANGE: Mr Bridges Mr Speaker—Mr Bridges! And I think when the next caucus meeting comes Mr Bridges should sing that song "Yesterday all our troubles seemed so far away but now they know they're here to stay but I believe in yesterday." So just a little bit of advice for the Hon Mr Bridges there.But I'm not here to talk about the National Party. I'm here to talk about the economic recovery from COVID because as we heard from the Hon Michael Wood when you compare the economic response that New Zealand has had led by this Government by our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern by Minister of Finance Grant Robertson we are fairly well placed. Look there are still a number of challenges that we're facing but when you compare it to the other countries of the world we are in a way the envy of some of those countries. Now we must continue to be vigilant and I encourage the team of 5 million to continue doing that as we're on this journey together. We have an economy that is doing well. When I look at some of the industries particularly the building and construction sector—building and construction is booming across the country and the reality is they are wanting to scale up. There are challenges around the supply chain that obviously we are collectively working on some solutions there but the demand for the building and construction sector is very strong and that links into some of the aspects that the Government has done in this area.First and foremost I'd like to talk about housing. Simeon Brown: How's the Hamilton bypass going?JAMIE STRANGE: Housing is a long-term challenge that we are dealing with. It has taken many years to get into this situation of this housing shortage. But we are working on—Nicola Willis: How many KiwiBuild houses?SPEAKER: Oh dear.JAMIE STRANGE: —increasing that supply of housing because the important aspect around housing is—people often say "Housing health education—which one's more important?"Simeon Brown: How many KiwiBuild houses?JAMIE STRANGE: But the reality is if you don't have people in warm dry healthy homes then education and health aspects cannot be wrapped around that.Simeon Brown: How's KiwiBuild going?SPEAKER: Order! Will the member resume his seat. There's a requirement for interjections to be rare reasonable or funny. Simeon Brown's meeting none of the criteria. JAMIE STRANGE: Thank you Mr Speaker. The housing acceleration fund announced by this Government is going to have a significant impact in this area: $3.8 billion across the country to fund infrastructure for new housing. In terms of the context of the Waikato region I've had a number of conversations with the councils in the area and they are speaking positively around this because the reality is it's difficult for rates to fund growth. The councils need money to put the infrastructure in the ground. So as a Government we are partnering with councils with developers through Kāinga Ora the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and other Government agencies to deliver housing at scale. Now who's going to build these houses? Obviously we need people to build them and it's encouraging to see the trades and apprenticeships up across the country. For example Wintec the local polytech in the Waikato region their domestic enrolments are up 28 percent which is the largest single increase they've ever had. So that's 28 percent. If I look at Waikato University they're up 10 percent in terms of domestic enrolments. Vision College which is a private training establishment their enrolments are up quite significantly and particularly in aspects around the Youth Guarantee and working with young people who school hasn't worked for and they're bringing them into Vision College and putting them on trades courses. So we've got a lot of young people coming through and not just young people; people of all ages coming through in the trades. And that's really exciting to see because previously people have often not looked at the trades seriously enough in terms of whether or not it is suited for them. I think there's a lot of people who are very well suited to the trades and it's encouraging to see them come through.The aspect around Māori housing is an important one and it's an aspect that this Government are tackling head on. We know that Māori are less likely to own their own home and are more likely to face homelessness. That's why we're delivering a thousand additional new houses for Māori funding repairs for whānau most in need and partnering with iwi to accelerate housing projects. In terms of the local context the Tainui iwi they're just about to start the inland port project and they've got aspiration in terms of the housing area as well. They've got some capital and they want to link in with the Government. That's just a local example. But there'll be a number of iwi who will link with Government to help deliver housing. I could go on but it's probably enough for now."