Simpson Scott: Address in ReplyText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSimpson Scott: Address in Reply[Sitting date: 28 October 2014. Volume:701;Page:276. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel):It is a pleasure to be back here in the 51st Parliament of New Zealand and to be giving the first speech in this Parliament that I have had an opportunity to give. I want to commence by congratulating you Mr Deputy Speaker and the other presiding officers on your election to office and on the good work you do on behalf of the Parliament of New Zealand.It is a great pleasure and honour to be back for the third term of this fifth National Government. It is an enormous privilege and an honour to be representing the very fine and most beautiful electorate of Coromandel. Indeed I want to thank the Coromandel people for their generosity for their support and for their endorsement of my second term in this place. They have in fact humbled me by the level of support they have given me and I am very delighted to be back here being their face their voice in this special place. I want to restate my personal commitment to the people of Coromandel that I will be a strong and reliable advocate for them in this place and I recommit myself to another 3 years of hard work and dedication to Coromandel and its people.We live in a very small intimate and precious little democracy. It is a participatory democracy. It is a democracy that has an unbroken tradition going back 160 years now. In that 160 years there have been something like 1400 MPs who have come through this place. That is actually not terribly many when you think about the length of time we have been operating as a democracy.Part of what makes our democracy so special is as I say that it is a participatory democracy. It is a democracy that requires volunteers to actively be involved in campaigning to support their parties to take a view to take a position on issues of the day and to be involved in the great contest of ideas that is an election campaign. So when we had the election only a few weeks ago it came as no surprise to me that thousands of people all around the country decided to get involved and to become part of that campaign. I want to acknowledge participants volunteers and activists from every sphere of the political spectrum actually in terms of being involved.One of the things that always fascinate me is that a number of our fellow country folk just say: “Oh well I’m not interested in politics. It doesn’t matter. I don’t care.” Those are the people whom I find most frustrating in terms of our democracy because they should care. It is important and they should take part in it. I have a much greater personal regard for those people of a differing political opinion from mine who at least have invested some time effort and energy in coming to a view and who are prepared to stand up defend it and go out and argue for it even if it is not something that I support. So I want to thank the volunteers I want to thank everybody who participated and I particularly want to acknowledge and thank not only my fellow contestants in the constituency of Coromandel but all of those who offer themselves for election to public office—win lose or in some cases come close to a draw. Standing for Parliament is a big deal and it is a big commitment but it is important for the sake of our democracy that in fact people do offer themselves to Parliament.I want to just comment on a couple of things in relation to how this Government—this third-term Government the fifth National Government—is going to assist the good people of Coromandel. I particularly want to raise and take up a point that the Hon Nikki Kaye made only a few minutes ago about the importance of access to fast internet and fast broadband. One of the policies we went to the election with was to get up to speed more than 80 percent of New Zealanders having access to ultra-fast broadband. That means that in my community there will be towns like Te Aroha Whitianga Thames Paeroa Katikati and Waihī that will be eligible for contention in terms of further ultra-fast broadband roll-out. That is going to be a big process and I know that those communities will be stepping up to the opportunity and the challenge that is offered by the benefits that come with ultra-fast broadband.Further there is going to be increased spending in the extension of the Rural Broadband Initiative and another $150 million will be invested by this Government in extending that Rural Broadband Initiative. In my electorate farmers understand how important it is to have connectivity—good reliable connectivity. Business folk do as well. Thank you very much. I look forward to participating in this Parliament.