McCallum GrantGRANT McCALLUM (National—Northland): I'd like to begin by acknowledging the members of the gallery who have been victims of abuse in State care. Your bravery is very humbling.Yesterday was a great day for Northland the electorate that is miles above the rest. Our great Minister of Transport the Hon Simeon Brown confirmed that the coalition Government is accelerating work on the four-lane expressway to Northland. The importance of this project to Northland cannot be overstated. It is why five local businesses chipped in $50000 each to pay for a study by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZEIR) which I have here. They looked at the benefits of a four-lane highway to Northland.It is why I made it a main focus of my maiden speech. It is something that unites Northland. Why? Because Northlanders know the benefits it will bring. It will help to change the deprivation map from the highest levels of deprivation in the country to some of the lowest. It will address our high unemployment rate and in particular our youth unemployment rate which is currently the worst in the country at 16.3 percent.The economic numbers revealed in the NZIER report are compelling. The expressway will boost New Zealand's GDP by over $1.2 billion per year by the year 2050. How will this critical piece of infrastructure achieve this? Firstly it will provide a resilient reliable and safe means of transport to the north and to New Zealand's largest city of Auckland. The importance of this was once again demonstrated at the weekend when a slip on the Brynderwyns closed the road for about eight hours. This following on from the recent four-month closure of the Brynderwyns to fix the damage after Cyclone Gabrielle sent a message that Northland is hard to get to and it's difficult for people to do business here. Well for Northland to grow that has to change. The four-lane expressway will help to do that. It will allow Northland to capitalise on the new dams that are being built near Dargaville and Kaikohe. Northland will become the food basket for Auckland. It will make it easier for tourists to visit us and enjoy our great attractions be it stopping into the Kauri Museum admiring Tāne Mahuta enjoying the breathtaking beauty of the Bay of Islands and the Hokianga and of course the final journey over the soon-to-be-opened Mangamukas to the awe-inspiring Cape Reinga.Northland is the birthplace of New Zealand. It is where the Treaty that helped define us was signed. In 2040 we will celebrate 200 years since its signing. It will be great to welcome New Zealanders to these celebrations after they have driven on that new four-lane highway.Yesterday was a great day for Northland for another reason. As the local MP I met with Transpower. Some of you may have noticed recently that we had a power outage in Northland. A pylon fell over after a few too many nuts were undone. This caused the entire north to shut down. It cost a lot of people a lot of money and once again damaged the north's reputation. So I met with Transpower on behalf of the people of Northland and requested compensation. The acting CEO John Clarke is taking my request back to the board. I look forward to his response. Transpower owes Northland. This was not an act of God; it was an act of incompetence. This outage did reinforce the importance of quality resilient electricity infrastructure and generation. A study will soon be under way to determine what is needed to make Northland self-sufficient in electricity. The completion of the carbon-neutral geothermal plant at Ngāwhā will be critical. This along with solar and wind developments will make Northland not only self-sufficient in energy but carbon neutral as well. So I say to New Zealand move to Northland. Move to Northland now. We are a region which will welcome you we will embrace you and inspire you to get ahead.SPEAKER: Thank you.GRANT McCALLUM: Come and enjoy our great—you're welcome Mr Speaker. Come and enjoy our great lifestyle our beaches our fishing and our unique history. We are united and we are miles above the rest—yes. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.