Scott Alastair: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeScott Alastair: General Debate[Sitting date: 12 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5721. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ALASTAIR SCOTT (National—Wairarapa): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. In this country we are all either immigrants or descendants of immigrants whether we can track our ancestry to the waka or to the sailing boats of the early part of the 1800s—whether we are of European descent or of Chinese descent. That is how long the Chinese have been in this country—for more than 200 years—and I think that it is a disgrace that the Labour Party has picked out people with Chinese-sounding names and is blaming that group of Kiwis for a housing shortage.Hon Maggie Barry: It’s a disgrace.ALASTAIR SCOTT: It is a disgrace—playing the race card and picking on a group of people that has been here for hundreds of years. Perhaps if you look at the statistics in fact the people who are buying more houses—Dr David Clark: Tell the truth.ALASTAIR SCOTT: I will tell you the truth.The people who are buying houses in Auckland look more like Mr Twyford. I would be betting that the people who are buying houses in Auckland are white and male. That is what I would be putting my money on. They will be people who have chosen to live in Auckland. They will be people who have moved perhaps from Christchurch bringing their tools of trade and they will be working on the large—[Interruption] They may not be moving into a very desirable place. There is lots of work going on and they are going to Auckland for work. These are the people who are going to be moving to Auckland and more recently in this generation—whether it is Australians Americans Somalians Afghans Filipinos—they are all coming and choosing to live in New Zealand. They bring the skills and the finance. They contribute to our economy. They create jobs they pay taxes and they are welcome. In the Wairarapa we have chefs teachers movie producers and winemakers—all recent immigrants. They are all contributing to the local economy. New immigrants will now find it easier to come to Masterton to set up home because this Government is giving a greater number of credits to those who apply to live in New Zealand away from Auckland. This is fantastic for the regions.The dairy sector is going through a rough patch. I can assure you though that the sky is not falling in. Sheep and beef production has good days and bad days. The wine industry has had good days and bad days. The kiwifruit industry has had bad days and good days. There are swings and roundabouts and the sanctimony from the other side treating people like they are idiots is just not appreciated. People who are in business understand that there are risks. People understand that there are commodity cycles. People understand that there will be good years and there will be “less good” years. It is important for the Government that it creates a framework for business people to operate within—not to tell them how to operate or to subsidise their business but to create a framework that they can operate their businesseswithin. So that is why we have not put the agricultural sector in the emissions trading scheme as opposed to the Opposition which would suggest that. There is no capital gains tax as has been flip-flopped around by the Labour Party. There is no water tax or anti-irrigation theme which is what the Opposition is promoting. There is I can assure you strong research and development in the Primary Growth Partnership programme which is all about agriculture and primary production.Last but not least we do support free-trade agreements. We want our products to be sold throughout the world and we want to open up markets for our primary producers. That is the solution to increasing jobs and increasing wealth for all New Zealanders. The Governmenthas recently announced for the dairy sector an investment if you like of half a million dollars to support mental health in the rural sector. That is something that the Government can do and has done. That is more than 100 rural-focused mental health practitioners which is very much appreciated by the rural sector. Having a diversified resilient economy enables us to invest in the future. I am pleased to continue to support this Government in the things that it does for the rural sector.