Reti ShaneDr SHANE RETI (National—Whangarei): Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. It's a pleasure to stand for the first time and speak in this new Parliament. I would like to start by thanking the people of Whangarei for asking me to be their voice in Wellington and I commit to working hard for them and for the people of New Zealand. I also want to acknowledge my adversaries who competed in the seat especially the member Shane Jones who has been returned to the House and I want to wish him well. I also want to encourage him to not to lose sight of what matters to Northlanders or more specifically not to lose sight of the wood for the trees. The Leader of the Opposition spoke yesterday about holding this Government to account—[Interruption] Yes eventually you will get to it but that's OK. The Leader of the Opposition spoke about holding this Government to account and the benchmarks and the baseline that we will be watching. I would extend that and localise that to Northland. What are the benchmarks that we are looking for in Northland? What are we starting with? Well during the campaign the people of Whangarei and the people of Northland told us that jobs and the economy were their number one issue so let's look at some of the independent measures of those metrics and where the Government passed the baton on to the next Government. I use that analogy deliberately because there is evidence to show that in any Olympic race when you pass the baton on 10 percent drop the baton and I'll come to petrol prices later. Let's look at some of those economic metrics for Northland—first of all the latest ASB regional dashboard. Northland is third overall for economic growth. Of all of the 16 regions it is third overall and it has moved up to five stars—the top that you can be as the ASB regional dashboard assesses it. Here's the challenge then to the Government. Here's the challenge. Here's where we're starting: maintain a five-star economy in Northland. There's the challenge. ANZ job ads in Northland to June this year—176 new job ads. Here's the challenge: do better than 176 new job ads. Thirdly unemployment—very important figures from Statistics New Zealand. They are quite fresh—no more than a few weeks ago. Northland is down to 6.6 percent the lowest in two years. There's the challenge: do better than 6.6 percent. House prices are also somewhat a measure of economic success. As house prices go up generally confidence goes up and it reflects economic growth. How has that been for Northland? Well it is really interesting. We've tended to be a region that sinks quickly and rises slowly. When we're battered by various economic forces that tends to be our trend. So the inclination might have been that if there is any buffeting of the economy Northland would suffer. But in fact if you look at the Infometrics report from two or three days ago where they identify 10 regions that might suffer adversely from falling houses prices Northland is not in that 10. Probably for the first time for a wee while we are not going to be the region that takes the hit first and recovers slowly. Now people also told us that infrastructure was important and roads are important and there are several roads that impact Whangarei directly. First of all is the road of national significance from Pūhoi to Whangarei and let's break that into segments because it is actually important. There's Pūhoi to Wellsford—that has started. Te Hana to Whangarei—that is under consultation. I want to focus on one part of that: the Whangarei to Marsden link which is part of the $500 million four-lane announcement that we made. Now the four lanes from Whangarei to Ruakākā or Marsden has a cost-benefit ratio of 1:5 and parts of that are actually quite high—in fact Toetoe to Whangarei is 3:5. The importance of that is that this is a busy segment of road. It is very busy for several reasons. First of all we have all the freight coming down from the North that comes down on that road. Secondly we've got explosive population growth in Northland. Quite aside from what one of the other members spoke about earlier in the day we've got explosive population growth particularly in Bream Bay and particularly One Tree Point. They're coming to Whangarei and they are using that road. The other component to having such a high benefit-cost ratio was the safety factor. It is very sad that in the past week we have had three deaths south of Whangarei on that exact segment of road—the segment of road that we want to turn into four lanes reflecting the fact that we think infrastructure is important. My point here is that I would strongly encourage this Government to continue those four lanes from Whangarei to Ruakākā and to Marsden Point. If they truly believe that the port is that important they will see this segment of road as being fundamental to servicing the port and so I would strongly encourage them to do that and to maintain that with some rapidity. Now in our hands clearly Whangarei—and I heard it commented that it is one of the towns or Northland more specifically that is a zombie town. That just can't be possible. It can't be possible and I think it shows a lack of respect for people who have worked so hard to get the region to where it is. We heard the Prime Minister talk about regional development and how important it is so we've got some licence to explore that. First of all let's look at population growth. At least 1500 people a year are moving to Northland. We think this year it is probably going to be 4000. We're a popular area now—yeah? Statistics New Zealand is also confirming that that is going to be pervasive. If we look right through to 2038 in the North Island there are seven centres that will grow or will keep growing their population and Whangarei is specifically one of those. Now with a growing population every 2.7 people constitute a household. Each household spends roughly a thousand dollars of household expenditure in the Whangarei economy and it cycles through the Whangarei economy. It is spent on housing it is spent on food and accommodation and it is spent on transport. Unfortunately the transport component has gone up significantly lately—particularly actually since this Government has been formed. You see the international environment has seen us as risky in this new Government and consequently the New Zealand dollar has fallen. A consequence of that is that petrol prices have gone up. On 31 October they were at an eight-month high and yesterday the main port price was reported as the highest in three years. So that's going to hurt the household expenditure of people in Whangarei. What I also want to briefly comment on is rail—clearly a topical issue for Northland—and I want to reiterate a few things. First of all if there is a business case for rail I will support rail. Secondly the mantra—or the narrative if you like—that we have from KiwiRail is that if there are commercial quantities of freight at commercial rates KiwiRail will carry that freight. So those are a very simple couple of parameters that will certainly have my support and I'm sure the support of some of my colleagues taking in mind the fact that the corridor was designated 20 years ago or more and no Government—no Government—has seen fit to institute that rail. No Government—it didn't make sense in our hands; it won't make sense in yours. But again if you can show that business case you will have my support. So it is a pleasure to be back in the House. It's a pleasure to be on this side of the benches. Looking across I'd like to acknowledge some of my whanaunga—Willow-Jean Prime tēnā koe. She is actually wearing the korowai that I wore at my maiden speech because we share the same hapū. So tēnā koe to you Willow-Jean. Again I look forward to the rest of this term and to holding the Government to account. Thank you Mr Speaker.