Coleman Jonathan: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeColeman Jonathan: General Debate[Sitting date: 18 March 2015. Volume:704;Page:2357. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister of Health): I move That the House take note of miscellaneous business. There is a lot to look forward to in New Zealand right now. We have got the Northland by-election we have got National continuing to deliver for families and of course we have got the Cricket World Cup quarter-finals.I am looking forward to welcoming my new colleague Mark Osborne into Parliament when he turns up here on Tuesday 31 March after a great win in Northland. But what a lively place it must be in Northland right now for the Labour candidate because the Labour candidate has no backing from the Labour Party hierarchy. Andrew Little does not even want her to win and that must be a terrible place to be. And have you seen any Labour Party MPs up there? No. Where has David Cunliffe been? He has been stuck up the kauri tree in west Auckland. But in the end he decided he might be more use on the ground although his leader had a slightly different opinion. Where has Phil Goff been? He has been off campaigning to be the mayor. They are not backing her at all. Meanwhile Winston is wandering around promising to take action—flying around in a helicopter promising to take action on the closure of fictional health centres which were never even opened. So it is all pretty strange up there. It is getting pretty wild.But what I can say is that National is delivering for families in Northland. There is no question about that. If you look at the area I am responsible for—health—there has been a huge increase in what has been going on up there. Last year 8500 Northlanders got elective surgery there. We have been really tackling the tough problems of rheumatic fever—a 25 percent decrease in the rate there over the past year. The initiatives around healthy homes the health promotional activity the free sore throat clinics the drop-in clinics the throat swabbing—we are really focused on these tough problems in Northland. I can also say—you heard my colleague Steven Joyce today talking about this—that there were 7500 new jobs in Northland last year 600 of which are full time. Northland’s economy grew by 5.1 percent last year—that is the highest rate in New Zealand. So it is all go-ahead in Northland. Of course we have also got the Pūhoi to Wellsford road coming up; we have got the broadband initiatives which are going to extend fibre-optic cable to places like Kaikohe Kaitāia Kerikeri. There is a lot to look forward to in that part of the country: Treaty settlements are going ahead up there the Twin Coast Cycle Trail—that is going to inject $20 million into that economy over the next 5 years; 250 new jobs for Northlanders. There is a lot to vote for positively in that part of the country.Of course there is the outlook economically in New Zealand—3.2 percent growth. That is massive. Wages grew 15 percent over the past 5 years and there were 80000 new jobs in New Zealand over the past year. Inflation is at 0.8 percent while weekly average wages grew 2.5 percent over the past year. Unemployment is only 5.7 percent—much lower than in Australia. And of course we know that Kiwis are flocking back here. Meanwhile the balance of payments deficit—that has shrunk to 2.6 percent of GDP and is getting smaller all the time. We are going to hit surplus this year—that is under control. We are heading to 20 percent of GDP by 2020. It is looking good but we are continuing to focus on families so that 300000 houses are insulated nationwide under this Government. There has been an increase in paid parental leave. We are providing breakfast in schools. In education Hekia Parata is providing leadership basically by bolstering the teaching profession. Early childhood education investment has been doubled. Homestart programmes are getting young Kiwi families into new homes. We have reduced ACC levies. So in short Kiwi families are much much better off. And of course there is the progress in welfare. [Interruption] What does that mean Mr Speaker?Mr SPEAKER: That means you have 1 minute to go.Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: Oh rightio. I thought it was the finger—never mind. We have had 48 percent fewer teen mums on benefits since 2009.Mr Speaker I know you will agree the Black Caps have started winning since the change in portfolio. It has been quite remarkable. The Cricket World Cup has been great for New Zealand. John Key and Brendon McCullum back themselves. They are on the front foot. Andrew Little is like someone going out to face the West Indies without a box on—hesitant fearful wandering around the crease. New Zealanders back winners. They back John Key. They are backing National and go the Black Caps on Saturday for a great world cup quarter-final.