Upston Louise: General Debate 
Upston Louise: General Debate 
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LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupo) 
: 
 I am proud to be part of a Government that despite members on the other side of the House being so aggravated about this is delivering on its promises. I will talk specifically about delivering on our promises in relation to infrastructure. I will not talk about Budget 2010 providing $177 million for new school property and I will not talk about the $69.3 million that has gone into providing more prison beds. Instead I will talk about the infrastructure spending that is creating jobs in my electorate—yes it is creating jobs in the Taupo electorate—through energy generation transmission lines and roads. 
I will start by talking about the geothermal power stations in Taupo. They are absolutely taking off. The recent one that was launched by the Prime Minister was the Nga Awa Purua geothermal power station which is a great project. It is a joint iwi project with a $430 million budget. It is a joint-venture partnership with the Tauhara North No. 2 Trust. For the benefit of the technical people out there it has the largest single-shaft geothermal turbine in the world. More important it will provide electricity for 140000 homes. When I talk to people in Taupo about what that means for their community they tell me it is about the number of people who have been gainfully employed in the construction of infrastructure. But that is not all. Mighty River Power has started work on its Nga Tamariki geothermal project and on 1 July Contact Energy is opening the Te Mihi geothermal power station. 
Of course once we have generated electricity we need to get it to the homes that need it. That is why there has been a significant investment in transmission lines. If we look at two of the projects in my electorate alone—part of $3.3 billion worth of spending on the grid upgrade—we see that the Wairakei Ring will be completed by 2013 at a cost of $98 million and the North Island grid upgrade involving 186 kilometres of lines will be completed by 2012 at a cost of $824 million. 
Infrastructure is very important in keeping jobs in my electorate. Let me look at roads. The National Government has identified roads of national significance because we recognise that it is important to get this country moving. We believe in building for the recovery. I want to use the example of the Waikato Expressway and in my electorate the Cambridge Bypass. That road has been talked about since the 1960s but finally under this Government we have a commitment to build it construct it and finish it within 10 years. We will give it money unlike others in the House and it will occur. It is 11 kilometres long. The East Taupo Arterial highway is estimated to have had direct employees in the construction phase of over 200. That has cushioned the effects of the recession. It is creating jobs which are vital in our economy. I am very very confident that the infrastructure projects up and down New Zealand will provide us with a brighter future. Let us look again at the East Taupo Arterial highway. It is 16 kilometres long including a very complex engineering feat over the Waikato River and over a Contact Energy power station. If members are ever in the district they must look at this project. 
These infrastructure projects are really important. Whether they are in electricity generation and transmission roads rail prisons hospitals or schools we are building them. Those members opposite sit there and they are all very quiet now because they realise that we are actually delivering on our promises. We are building infrastructure we are creating jobs and more important this John Key-led Government is building the economic recovery.