Parata Hekia: General Debate 
Parata Hekia: General Debate 
[Volume:667;Page:14215] 
HEKIA PARATA (National) 
:  
Tena koe e te Mana Whakawa; huri noa i to tatou Whare tena tatou katoa. Ko te kupu tuatahi he poroporoaki tenei ki a Ta Archie Taiaroa ki a Jim Nicholls hoki. Ki a raua tahi haere haere oki atu ra. Hoki mai ki a tatou tena tatou katoa. 
[ 
Greetings to you Mr Speaker; and to us throughout our House greetings to us all. The first statement is this farewell tribute to Sir Archie Taiaroa and to Jim Nicholls as well. To both of them I say depart farewell rest there. I come back to us so greetings to us all 
.]  
I just wanted to pay my short respects regarding the passing of Sir Archie Taiaroa and Jim Nicholls both of whom are being mourned across the nation today. 
In turning to this general debate this afternoon I am delighted to have the opportunity to join with this team on the Government benches to talk about the great story we have to tell in terms of our economic plan. This morning in the Mana electorate I attended two events that in parenthesis tell the kind of story that this Government is interested in supporting and growing. The first was about how we deal with young people whose lives are going off-track and how we help them to rehabilitate and restore themselves to the opportunity of being positive participants in society. This meeting took place between Waitangirua and Cannons Creek in the Mana electorate. Then just down the road I attended the graduation of the Computers in Homes programme where 57 individuals and their families had completed a 9-week course. As a result of that they have the opportunity to get a job or improve the job they have. This Government is interested in providing incentives and support for people to get into work. 
Earlier this week I also attended a very vibrant and dynamic meeting of women in business in the northern end of the Mana electorate. These women have started their own businesses or are growing their businesses. They remain confident about and feel very buoyed by the strong structural platform that this Government has put in place and the kind of direction we are going in. 
Tomorrow the Venus Club another club for women in business will be launching in Porirua which is in the central part of the Mana electorate. Again we have actual practical examples on the ground of people who have become more and more confident about the economic plan that this Government has put in place. 
I want to tell a fuller story about the area from Porirua to Paraparaumu which are the two boundary ends of the Mana electorate. We so often are condemned to hearing the most negative exceptions about those areas and I want to try to put the narrative in place that tells us a fuller story. Yes there are some dire situations that individuals and families are experiencing in terms of their housing and health conditions. Those situations are directly related to the shameful deferral of maintenance that that Opposition the Labour Party oversaw during its 9 years in Government. When we had the best of economic conditions it failed those people as the State landlord. The Mana electorate is reaping the consequences of those irresponsible and shameful behaviours. This Government is determined to turn that round not only in that area directly but also in terms of how we can assist families in the Mana electorate through the tax cuts that are coming into being on 1 October. 
I can tell this House that in 2009 the worst of economic times in this country the Porirua City economy outperformed the Wellington region and New Zealand. [ 
Interruption 
] If the yabbering members opposite are interested in facts rather than their versions of stories they might take the time to listen. Porirua City is very proud of the achievements it has made economically. It is very proud that the real value-added GDP growth in Porirua was 2.1 percent while in the Wellington region it was 0.1 percent. 
Hon Lianne Dalziel 
: What a load of nonsense. 
HEKIA PARATA 
: I will not be shouted down by members who are naysayers and who want to cast the most negative version across Porirua and the wider Mana electorate. Employment growth there has been 3.7 percent while in the Wellington region it has been 1.9 percent. There has not been very much growth in the small-business units but more staff have been taken on. The introduction of tax cuts on 1 October will benefit a wide range of families in the Mana electorate.