Penk ChrisCHRIS PENK (National—Helensville): Thank you Mr Speaker. It's with pleasure that I rise to contribute to the general debate and I ask myself in the context of being the member for Helensville what the actions of the Government will have in store for my electorate. Obviously general themes are to be canvassed in this debate but all politics—it's almost a truism to say—are local and so I want to focus on a couple of specific examples that I think will act as benchmarks for the performance of the Government. By looking at those setting a line in the sand now—a west coast beach sand perhaps—we will be able to see if there is a great difference between the rhetoric and the reality we'll be able to judge the difference between the walk and the talk and to check the flips and the flops—I would say the yin and the yang" but I know the Minister of Housing is not fond of Chinese-sounding words—and we'll be able to see the before and after of the Government formation and in three years' time exactly what that looks like. So on the subject of the opposite pairs we could talk about open and closed in the context of Government. We could talk about shut or open in the context of a gate for immigration arrivals. We could talk about the yea or the nay in reference to a proposed referendum on the Māori seats. We could talk about above or below being the figures of a hundred thousand homes and a billion trees. Or we could talk about those being perhaps in the context of the private sector rather than the public sector and the credit being claimed by the Government already for the work of ordinary New Zealanders taking a risk—they'll take everyone else's good work indeed. So in the context of all that as promised I'll raise a few issues for the consideration of the Government that pertain directly to the Helensville electorate—first passenger rail beyond Swanson Station. This is an area of intense concern to the electorate although I appreciate not necessarily to all members of this House but as the House of Representatives as the Government they will be responsible for the issues and the outcomes that actually speak to the daily lives of the individuals in my electorate and indeed every other electorate in this nation. So there's the tunnel that precludes the passenger rail that is desired by those residents. I hope that the Government will take as liberal an approach to safety considerations being carefully considered in relation to that tunnel as they are in relation to the Pike River mine re-entry and I hope that "pike" doesn't have another meaning in the context of backtracking on promises in that regard. In the commitment of the Government or at least its parties in relation to the election campaign and the things that we heard from them on the campaign trail in relation to public transport I hope those things become real for the people of Helensville and that we can rely on that in good faith. It's too soon to say whether the Government will or won't and I am genuinely open-minded about the fact that there may be some constructive work done by them on that. I would like to work with them in good faith to achieve those aims for the people of Helensville and I invite them to do so. Another measure on which I think we'll be able to judge the success at least so far as the people of Helensville are concerned is that of kauri dieback or "ka-oo-ri" dieback—say it however you want it will be pronounced "extinct" soon enough if there is not proactive action by a Government whose parties on the campaign trail talked about being passionate advocates for the environment. They talked about being its great defenders and I will look forward very much to seeing that they do that or if not then they will have that kauri gum if not blood on their hands. So again an open invitation to work constructively on these very serious and indeed urgent issues and it will be very interesting to see if the rhetoric does indeed match the reality on that one. Similarly in terms of communications the relevant Minister has talked about the Government wanting to leave no one behind and believing that digital means are a fundamental way of it being able to achieve this. So I say to the Minister and indeed her Cabinet that it will be very welcome indeed if areas like Bethells Beach and Coatesville in the Helensville electorate are able to rely on that and it is not merely the flip to be followed soon enough by a flop as in so many areas. Finally on the subject of water quality west coast beaches are among the worst in the Auckland region—and therefore I suspect in the country—in relation to some issues that are traditionally local government. So in fairness I must say to the Government that not only have they not been in long enough to have affected that but it is an area traditionally not in their realm. However if the rhetoric and the reality are to be matched in relation to the water quality—criticisms that they had been making in Opposition in relation to dairy farm streams and others—then I look forward very much to them achieving a great deal in that regard and we will be watching them very very closely indeed."