Wagner Nicky: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWagner Nicky: General Debate[Sitting date: 09 September 2015. Volume:708;Page:6437. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon NICKY WAGNER (Associate Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery): It is my pleasure to update the House on what is going on in my region my region of Canterbury and Christchurch. I would like to thank the Minister Anne Tolley for telling us about all the action in her town but we can add more than that.Post-earthquake Canterbury and Christchurch are really buzzing. We have got a region that is really making things happen. It is almost as if the 15000 earthquakes have forced us to think about our priorities to refocus on what is important and to think creatively about our future.Last night I celebrated with the Hon Louise Upston the Minister for Women a magnificent outcome of the earthquakes in terms of what is happening in the construction industry. There is a significant new trend in the rebuild—it is women in trades. The demand for skilled labour has really opened the door for women and they are pouring in. There are 8600 women working in trades in Christchurch compared with 3600 before the earthquakes. What is more there are 500 wildly enthusiastic women in training at the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology all looking forward to getting out into the action. The employers told us last night that women are adding real value to their workplaces. They added value with diversity they added value with more variety in skills and more work and better quality work was being done.But this is just one of the positive changes across the province as new ways of thinking and new ways of working are creating new and exciting opportunities for Cantabrians. If you drive into Christchurch you can feel the buzz of change. There are the signs of construction dozens of cranes thousands of cones high-vis everywhere and more and more shiny new homes and buildings.But I do not really want to focus on the construction of infrastructure beyond noting what has been completed: things like 67000 housing repairs 20000 new homes 75 percent of the horizontal infrastructure and many new buildings and facilities. There are completed anchor projects such as the cricket oval the bus exchange and full steam ahead activity on the Avon Ōtākaro precinct the Christchurch Justice and Emergency Services Precinct and the Metro Sports Facility.That is all great stuff and a fantastic achievement for our city. But I want to talk about the unseen changes in the province and the city: the attitudinal changes the collaboration the hubbing of ideas and services and the positive focus on the future. It is really exciting to see that young people in particular are responding to this new focus and energy. Ever since the earthquakes they have been more interested in education. They are achieving better results. This year 81.6 percent of 18-year-olds are leaving school with National Certificate of Educational Achievement level 2 or more and that is a record in Christchurch and across New Zealand.But beyond school more young people are in education in training and in work than ever before. The unemployment rate for 15 to 24-year-olds is down by an amazing 42 percent and I think it is because these young people are able to see the benefit the immediate benefit of education and training and have identified what they can do to be part of the future of our city and our province.I came across a couple of young guys the other morning. It was very early—far before start time. They were waiting at the gate to their construction site and they were champing at the bit to get in. They told me that it was their first job and they could not wait to get to work. What a great start for their careers. Right across the city we are all engaged in life more in Christchurch. More of us are playing sport more of us are going to arts events and more of us are involved in community projects than the rest of the country. It is as if Christchurch has been inspired and energised by all this change.Yes of course there are people who still have a long way to go to rebuild their lives and we are waiting for them to get back to normal. But we are really focusing on providing them with the support that they need and things like the Residential Advisory Service—the RAS—which is a free legal service for earthquake repairs and issues—