Strange JamieJAMIE STRANGE (Labour): Mr Assistant Speaker thank you for the opportunity to speak for the first time in this House in 2019 in the debate on the Prime Minister's statement. I'd also like to acknowledge some of the challenges that are happening in the Nelson-Tasman area. I've got a lot of family members in that area. They're certainly suffering and I'd like to say big thankyou to all the volunteers who are doing an excellent job down there around bringing those fires under control. If you listen to the other side of the House everything sounds like doom and gloom. I know there's a game of cricket on the other channel and people at home are probably tempted to change over to that channel. Well don't change the channel—don't change the channel. I can tell you the score: 229 for 9. So don't change your channel because I'm going to talk in a positive manner about the exciting things that we've got in store for this year. There's an analogy that I think of and it's the analogy of an alarm clock. So from time to time we all need to get up early. We set the alarm clock and the alarm goes off. Under the previous Government the alarm clock went off they pressed the snooze button and they went back to sleep. They woke up again they pressed the snooze button and they went back to sleep and after a while the previous Government stopped even pressing that snooze button. They put their heads under the pillow while the alarm was going. They were not listening to the alarm bells around our regions around housing and around mental health. The nation voted for change and we are giving them change. I'll start by talking about the regions. We have had years of underinvestment in our regions. In 2014 I stood in the Taupō electorate in the south Waikato area and there's huge deprivation down there. There's deprivation up in Northland East Coast and other areas of the country. I'd like to acknowledge New Zealand First for the Provincial Growth Fund and for their vision around the regions. It's a game-changer. It's a game-changer for the regions. For the first time in many years people in the regions are lifting their heads up. They have hope. They're lifting their eyes. The Provincial Growth Fund has invested in 136 projects which are estimated to create 1200 jobs. The key thing though that the Provincial Growth Fund is doing—all that aside—is that it's stimulating discussions in the regions. Business cases collaboration economic activity—people are once again dreaming of what could happen in their regions. They're lifting the heads. Economic activity is beginning to start in our regions and it's only going to increase. I'd like to acknowledge the honourable Minister Willie Jackson for the work he's been doing around the NEETs—people not in employment education or training. Under this Minister the number of our NEETs has dropped from 80000 to 70000. That's 10000 people now in education employment or training—people who weren't previously. Just a final point on the regions there: I'd like to touch on the passenger rail between Hamilton and Auckland. So the New Zealand Transport Association have approved a business case and as a local member of Parliament I'm certainly watching with interest as they engage with the local councils because having diversity within our transport system is absolutely vital and this will improve productivity. People who are travelling between Hamilton and Auckland particularly for business will be able to hop on the train and open their laptops and they'll be able to start working. A lot of productivity is lost by having people sitting in cars on clogged motorways. In the last one minute I'll touch on housing and mental health. This Government inherited a crisis in housing. I know that the Opposition are giving us a hard time but we are taking action. We are taking action. The previous Government had their heads under the pillow while the alarm clock went off around housing. People couldn't get into their first homes. There wasn't the safety net of social housing for them but we are taking action. The final point is mental health. I am delighted and I'm excited that mental health will be a key priority in the May Budget—finally a Government that will take action on mental health. Thank you.