Court SimonSIMON COURT (ACT): Thank you Mr Speaker. Firstly I'd like to acknowledge those people in the gallery who have travelled from Auckland and Northland in particular to hear the Government response to the report on abuse in State care which will follow this general debate.The reason I mention Northland in particular is because Northland is often described as the roadless north". A strong economy a strong community depends on strong connectivity. The recent announcement that the Northland roads of national significance will proceed using a progressive public-private partnership (PPP) model should give some hope to those people living in Northland in particular who have to travel long distances on difficult roads that this Government is going to help solve those long-term problems.We're going to start work on the first of three stages of that road. The Warkworth to Te Hana stage: we're going to get going on that so that the people of the North their local government all of those private sector investors can put their own money on the table with confidence and get on with making their own investments to support development in Northland.The PPP approach to delivering the Northland roads of national significance is critical to drive maximum value for New Zealanders and deliver that connectivity much sooner than otherwise. In my infrastructure under-secretary role I'm driving the work on developing policy to update New Zealand's public-private partnership model which it's fair to say hasn't always delivered what the New Zealand Government clients need what the contractors need or what the users of public infrastructure need. That's why it's ime for an update.ACT certainly championed this innovation from Opposition. We appreciate the discipline the efficiency and the expertise that those who want to participate in the private sector side of public and private partnerships bring to these important public infrastructure projects like Northland's roading connection.But public-private partnerships are ultimately about recognising that the expertise brought by the private sector has always been available to us it's just that Government hasn't necessarily been a very good client or very good at asking for things and getting good value for money. That's why we expect public-private partnership to deliver not just roads but in time potentially other important social infrastructure for regions like Northland like schools and like hospitals so we can make the taxpayer dollar go further and we can deliver this infrastructure for the people of Northland faster.It's not just finding the money and finding the contractors to build roads and buildings we also need change in the way we consent infrastructure. This Government has committed to replacing the Resource Management Act with a system based on property rights and what that means not just to the Government that might want to build a road but also say to a business that wants to develop or extend a port to provide economic opportunities and social enhancement for the people of the North. By reforming the Resource Management Act making it easier to get consents to enable infrastructure this Government intends to provide far more economic opportunity for communities like that in Northland.It would be fair to say that when I heard a decision a week or so ago that commissioners had declined to consent a port in Northland and that that was going to be a constraint on the economic development of that region it's very disappointing. Now we've got a bit of time to consider how we fix that. This Government is committed to replacing the Resource Management Act though by July 2026.In summary Northland is New Zealand's jewel in the crown when it comes to natural beauty and its enormous human capital its potential to be an economic powerhouse hitherto untapped. Sitting next to me is my colleague Mark Cameron a dairy farmer from Ruawai who tells me regularly how much more efficient and productive Northland could be if it had better roading connectivity. The Northland roads of national significance are going to deliver that to the region so is the work we're doing to fund and finance it for our PPP programme and replacing the Resource Management Act with a system based on property rights. Thank you Mr Speaker.The debate having concluded the motion lapsed."