Young JonathanJONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth): I am very delighted to rise and speak today after my colleague the Hon Maggie Barry and what she has talked about is very significant for New Zealand's future. It is always a good thing—it is a great thing actually—when external reviewers can back up what you have been saying for some time. That means that people who are objective and who are outside of whatever system you operate in can verify through their external measures the validity of your statements.Just toward the end of last year New Zealand was ranked first in the world in 2016 by the Legatum Institute's global prosperity index. That means that this nation and this Government have been transforming our national income into social gains effectively and efficiently better than anyone else. That is what the external reviewers said. They covered 149 nations totalling over more than 104 different measures. This is their quote—this is what they said. They said that New Zealand has been the best deliverer of prosperity in the world for the last decade and so strong is its prosperity delivery that it ranks first in the prosperity index above 26 countries with greater wealth at their disposal. Twenty-six countries have more money per capita than this nation yet we surpass them all in terms of prosperity of our citizens. That is because this Government is efficient this Government is effective and this Government has great policy settings that benefit the people of this nation.We determined to have better public services for our people. We determined that the end user in a sense the general public is going to receive the greatest benefit of what this Government is able to produce. The institute said that there are challenges in the world. We know that Donald Trump wants to make America great again. The truth is that American prosperity has stagnated over the last decade and even countries that were less badly affected by the financial crisis like Australia have seen prosperity decline over the past decade.That is why many New Zealanders are coming back from Australia into New Zealand. They see that this is a country where they can get ahead where they can find employment and where they can find a future for themselves and their families. New Zealand's vital signs of health are strong. We are rated first in the world for prosperity first in the world for ease of doing business first equal for anti-corruption and second for quality of government and we intend to make that a first.We are on track to reduce Government debt to around 20 percent of GDP by 2020 when we can then resume contributions to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund. We were one of the first developed countries to get back into surplus after the global financial crisis with a $1.8 billion surplus posted last year. As the Hon Michael Woodhouse said on 1 April we are seeing the minimum wage increase and we are seeing ACC levies decrease. That is more benefit. That is more money in the back pocket of hard-working New Zealanders. This Government is proud of that. We want to see the benefit come through to our people.Prosperity is a state of being wealthy of having a rich and a full life. Let me just bring some quotes that have come out in this last week that give us the reason why New Zealand is increasingly becoming a prosperous place. We have the provisional result of 85.2 percent of 18-year-olds achieving NCEA level 2 or equivalent in 2016 which is an overall lift in achievement of 11 percent since 2011. We are doing far better in our educational achievement than ever before. So that is congratulations to students to teachers and to parents on the hard work that they are doing.But the standout achievements in Māori and Pasifika communities have to be noted. An estimated 74.7 percent of Māori achieved NCEA level 2 or equivalent—up from 57 percent. It is a 30 percent lift. In the Pasifika community it is a 22 percent lift. We know that higher educational achievements are very much part of the pathway of success for people as they come into employment and a lifelong career in the workforce. In my closing remarks I say that this Government is doing a great job for New Zealanders and the world sees it.