SpeechHon DAVID BENNETT (National): Thank you Madam Speaker. That was Stuart Nash the Minister for Economic and Regional Development. It took him to the last minute to actually talk about economic development and there's a lesson there for Stuart that I think he needs to understand. It's not the Government that's actually going to make these—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! Order! Hon DAVID BENNETT: —businesses plans work. It's businesses—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! Order! The member will refer to other members in the House with their full name.Hon DAVID BENNETT: The Minister Stuart Nash. It's not Government that will determine the transformation of New Zealand business; it's actually businesses themselves and if he doesn't understand that he will never achieve anything in that portfolio. When we look at his thing that he promoted at the last Budget the Regional Strategic Partnership Fund that was his big thing to take away and replace the Provincial Growth Fund with. That was $200 million that was to be spent in New Zealand regions for businesses. Guess how much he's spent!Hon Members: How much?Hon DAVID BENNETT: Zero—not one application has been approved by his mates in Cabinet. None of his applications have been approved. Now to Stuart Nash's credit he apparently has taken something to Cabinet. He won't actually specify what he's taken to Cabinet. He's actually taken something there—stay Stuart Nash stay—but he's up to zero in his approvals. So what does it matter? Where's this regional economic development? Where's the money when the country needs it most? This is a country in a very difficult part of its history. It needs the Government to actually fund and help businesses if that's what they want to do. But there have been zero applications approved under the new regional fund which was glorified in the Budget as the Labour Party's answer to the Provincial Growth Fund. The late—well the past Minister in that area Winston Peters would actually be turning in his up in Auckland thinking about what this actually means if his great Provincial Growth Fund has been replaced by a fund that's had zero applications approved.Now the last hours of this debate have been pretty sickening—listening to Labour members singing the praises of the Prime Minister. They all must be wanting to get on that plane to go to that Harvard speech and to see the Prime Minister amongst all the other lefties of the world talking about how they've done so well and Pat me on the back." and "Praise me." and "Have I been the greatest Prime Minister?" and "Have I done this for New Zealand?"—all those things that the Labour members have been saying. But let's put some facts on the table: New Zealand is an isolated country at the bottom of the world where it was always going to be difficult for COVID to get to New Zealand in the sense that we have seen it in places like Sweden where they don't have the opportunity to do what we did. In Europe and America they just didn't have the same scenario that we did.Now the other Minister over there is shaking his head and saying no. Well Australia was in exactly the same position as New Zealand—probably even more connected in the world than we are—and they got the same result. We're just a couple of months behind them. You know Omicron's here it's coming. It's here—it's around. People will get it just like you have seen in Australia and the fortunate thing for New Zealand hasn't been the Government. The fortunate thing for New Zealand has been that vaccines have come along and the new strain although easy to catch hasn't had the same effect. That is the scenario in which the gods have looked after New Zealand. It's nothing to do with a great Prime Minister that's actually done anything good; in fact what we actually need to look at is how you utilise the scenario that we are in and make it the best it can actually be for this country. That is where a Government comes into play and that's where this Government has fallen down consistently. They have stopped immigration. They have stopped international education. They have stopped tourism—even if you were going for the high-level tourism that Stuart Nash talked about you could still have done that. They have stopped the New Zealand economy in its tracks. They have used lockdown after lockdown. They have used red settings which are effectively community-based lockdowns. They have taken this country to the slowest point they can do. Now some may say and the Labour members will say that this is in the best interests of New Zealand. It is not used in the best interests of New Zealand. This is a definite plan by the Labour Party to achieve its political purposes. It never wants to see migrants come into New Zealand because it knows they're hard-working people that actually believe in the values of the National Party. It doesn't actually want to see New Zealand have international education in our schools because it thinks that it can control our school network. It doesn't actually want to have tourism—and we heard that from Stuart Nash then. They only want the elite German tourists to come here. They don't want people to come and see what New Zealand is like. That is what has happened under this Government.Let's look at the facts. They have used COVID. They have used it to create their own isolated hermit kingdom as some people have described it but it is the true socialist idea where you control the population you limit a population's ability to understand what's going on in the real world and then you actually control the decision making of people. That's the ultimate plan the Labour Party is engaged in. It is a plan that is doomed to failure. The public have seen through it. You're seeing it in the polls. The people have said no to that approach. They know it will never work. They actually wanted a Government that utilised the strengths of New Zealand at the bottom of the world and when we had the opportunities out of COVID but we would actually take that and make a stronger economy that actually delivers more for New Zealanders. The impact you'll see of the Government's policies is going to be very soon seen by New Zealanders in inflation and other economic tests because by restricting the ability of people to come here and by restricting the goods that came into New Zealand they have effectively bumped up the price of the cost of living for New Zealanders and that is the impact that you see from silly economic policies on the other side of the House.The question for New Zealand isn't whether we had the best COVID response in the world. We were always going to have a good COVID response as Australia did. The question for New Zealand is whether we actually used that scenario that we are in as a country to create the best economic advantage going forward and they have failed on that miserably. They have failed because they are led by ideology because they actually wanted to achieve their political purposes at the same time. That is heart and soul of it. Kiwis are smart enough to see through this Government and they see that.The other part that's the irony of it is that the people that actually saved them and actually spent the money was one of the groups they actually hated the most—that's our farmers. They actually wanted to stop production in New Zealand but they actually found that "Oh we need that cash coming in. We actually do need to have a dairy payout like that. We actually do need our farmers." They have hated them from day one and they have tried to attack them from day one and they now need them like they've never needed them before. They are paying the bills for this agenda that the Labour Party wish to pursue but it's an agenda which will never go far because the worm has turned on that Government. They know it. The next Minister speaking—he knows it. He's been around Parliament long enough. He's seen this happen before. They know what it actually means. Public opinion is now against them. The public have seen through the rhetoric and the sham that is this leadership in Government.The public actually wanted a Government that utilised New Zealand's opportunities and that dealt with COVID appropriately but also meant that New Zealand could take advantage of our opportunities in the world going forward and that's what they would have got out of a National Government. That's the difference between a National Government and a Labour-Greens Government and that's what people know. They understand that and they see that. Whatever rhetoric that will come out of that side and whatever Harvard speeches they may do it's not going to save them from the inevitability of the public knowing that on that side of the House they tried a failed plan that has failed throughout the history of mankind and will never work. We are just another example of how that experiment is a failure and New Zealanders know better than the Government and the Labour-Green parties that think they know it all. Thank you Madam Speaker."