SpeechANNA LORCK (Labour—Tukituki): Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise as a member of the Finance and Expenditure Committee and I do so also as a regional local MP—MP for Tukituki. I think it's really important when we speak to this 2022 Investment Statement that we bring it back home; bring it back home to what it actually means on the ground in the regions like Tukituki. We want to talk about how we can see the Government spending its money—money during the COVID-19 shut down lockdown all those things that went on—how did we keep our economy going?Now we've heard from the National Opposition. You would think that New Zealand according to the National Party isn't going anywhere. They've questioned every investment this Government has made. They've questioned whether we should have spent as much money as we did investing with businesses keeping workers employed doing those things that help make this economy go round. They've talked of how the debt level in New Zealand is so high. Well it's lower than Australia's it's lower than the US and it's lower than Canada's. So I think New Zealand is actually in a very very strong position to recover and recover well.Look at our unemployment level. Look at how well we've been doing in the regions. Look at how well we've been doing—loads of jobs—and I'll tell you how that happened. It happened because for the first time in over a decade—under National did Hawke's Bay see any investment in regional economic development? Tell me how much Hawke's Bay got in regional economic development under the National Government.Chris Bishop: Absolutely bucket loads.ANNA LORCK: No no. Under the National Government the Matariki Regional Economic Development Strategy got zip. Hastings got zip.Chris Bishop: That's not true.ANNA LORCK: Yes that's right. Hastings got zip.Tangi Utikere: How much?ANNA LORCK: Zip. Ask how much the National Government put into the regional hospital over that decade. How much in capital investment? How much? Nothing. Nothing at all. Just like Mr Brownlee said one day Nothing. Nothing at all."Now in contrast what has this Government been investing? What can you see in this Investment Statement on what has been going into the regions? Let's talk about housing. Let's really bring it home: housing for Hastings. Now we've asked—I asked—the Minister of Housing today a question in the House on how many of the 10000 new home builds that come under the investment that's in this statement—how many houses have been built in Hastings? So far we've built 157 public houses in Hastings. That's right Mr Bishop—157 houses. Guess how many the National Government built. How many do you think they built? Six. Six houses and they sold off and got rid of 192 houses. How about that for performance? How about that for outcomes for Hastings? But here we are investing in houses in Hastings building them with young apprentices coming on board. Business is booming and we're getting on and getting the job done. That's because we are investing in infrastructure.Now the National Party are saying terrible things on the other side; how can they defend that? How can the National Party defend six houses and pulling down 192? And back to the business of this Investment Statement because along with delivering 157 public homes just in Hastings we've also got another 133 being built. How many did the National Government build? Six. That's what they built—six. How much money did they put into the hospital—capital investment? Zip—zip. And the Labour Government through this has invested over $100 million so far. That's what happens when you back infrastructure. According to the National Party you don't want any infrastructure investment. You didn't even invest in the regions. In fact I found a front page cover of Hawke's Bay Today with the two mayors of Napier and Hastings saying National hasn't been investing in the regions and this Government backs the regions.Actually the mayor at the time who went out and asked the Government "Where's our money?" was the former National MP Lawrence Yule. So when he was the mayor—Hon Member: Great guy.ANNA LORCK: That's right—that's right. When he was the mayor along with Bill Dalton they were demanding investment in the regions. But oh no not the National Government—they don't believe in infrastructure investment. Not in the regions; never have. And the proof is in the pudding.Let's also talk about what we are investing in those shovel-ready projects because when it comes to business plans Mr Bishop we have them in spades. We had our business plan ready to go shovel ready $39 million right into building an Olympic swimming pool in our regional sports park—never would have seen that under National; not even ready to do any investment—and from that we created another 100 jobs. Let me keep going on the investment that's come into the regions of Hawke's Bay. Like Hawke's Bay Hastings saw $9 million in the middle of the COVID lockdown to get one of our roads under way. Why did we get that? We had a business plan shovel ready ready to go—one of the first off the mark. So when it comes to shovel-ready projects in our region of Hawke's Bay that's investment in here; that's what we're talking about.Then let's talk about the spend on investing and backing business because on this side of the House we believe in business. We absolutely do but not over on that side. They say that business is "soft soft soft". And that's what you call "business". The Leader of the Opposition Christopher Luxon called businesses "soft". I can tell you as a business owner I know how hard it is to get out there and get businesses cracking. I've worked with businesses; I back businesses. That's what we've been doing and that's what we've seen. These jobs these infrastructure projects that the National Opposition are against—they say that that's not doing things for the region. Well I can tell you jobs growth employment—booming; economic performance—strong and going for it. That's what you see in the regional economies where we do have diverse markets. That's what we do. We use entrepreneurial spirit. We use number eight wire thinking and we get the job done.Maureen Pugh: Treasury doesn't agree.ANNA LORCK: When you come back and you look at—Treasury loves Hawke's Bay. Treasury loves Hawke's Bay. They love coming and visiting Hawke's Bay. I can tell you that they'd love to come to my region. In fact Treasury can come to Hawke's Bay anytime—anytime they like—and when you look at this as I've said this is where Treasury does the hard work and yes we have been working and investing.Let's talk about schools; that's another one. Let's talk about schools because under the National Government we got nothing for schools—not even in Havelock North. Oh that's right right at the end after a local campaign they finally built eight more classrooms. That's what they came up with. On this side of the House we've invested millions into our houses infrastructure—Simon Watts: No you haven't.ANNA LORCK: Again infrastructure—yes we have. Sixteen million dollars to make projects and schools ready to go. That's what we've been doing. We get on with the work and we're not negative—not like National; nasty National; negative down in the dumps. We over here know how to back the regions. We know how to back business. We do the mahi. We grow jobs. Madam Speaker I commend the Investment Statement to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): The question is that the motion be agreed to."