Scott AlastairALASTAIR SCOTT (National—Wairarapa): Thank you Madam Chairperson. It gives me pleasure to speak on the appropriations for a few minutes and at the outset I'd like to highlight a couple of changes that it seems this Government has made to the regime that was in place only six months ago. We're going to have fewer irrigation projects. This is a real concern. The Government has decided to not support irrigation projects and I have two of them potentially in my electorate of the Wairarapa. This is a real shame because irrigation projects can do so many good things for so many people in provincial New Zealand. We're talking about primary production but we're also talking about social and environmental good. We're also talking about security of supply of water to the towns—to the urban people in those smaller provincial towns that we have around the country. So it's very disappointing to hear though that we have a Green Party who is concerned about climate change and we have a New Zealand First Party that talks about provincial support yet we have a Government that has eliminated wiped out and is no longer going to support decent-sized irrigation projects that support rural communities. We've also got a fuel tax. Now that is going to hit rural New Zealand harder than your urban commuter who is going to jump on a train or walk or use public transport. In provincial New Zealand there is far less public transport. People use their cars and drive further. That funding that tax on fuel to support Auckland's roads is a blight on provincial New Zealand. Then we've got the dairy sector. That is going to be in the emissions trading scheme (ETS) Mr Parker has said. The animals in the dairy sector will be in the ETS—therefore making New Zealand's dairy sector less competitive on the global market. That is a real shame. That demonstrates that this Government does not support the primary sector. It does not support regional New Zealand. The Primary Growth Partnership—other speakers before me have spoken of this. Clearly that money that was targeted at research and development to support the future of our primary sector is being stripped away and is being grabbed for the benefit of Mr Shane Jones'—what does he call it?—Provincial Growth Fund. He calls it a provincial growth fund. It is not a provincial growth fund. It is a lolly scramble. It is an ability for him to gift money to his favourite projects. It is a slush fund that has little criteria little oversight and little accountability. Just so people know that is where the Provincial Growth Fund money is coming from. It is coming from the Primary Growth Partnership money and it is coming from the Crown irrigation fund money. Hon Shane Jones: New money new money. ALASTAIR SCOTT: That man—that Minister—is going to spray it around to his mates without any accountability without any thought about investment and without any thought of whether it's debt or equity and I've mentioned that to him before. We've also got the issue—I'd just like to come back to the fact that research and development is important in this sector. We had a question in the House earlier talking about tax credits versus Callaghan Innovation and we can argue about the amount. But nevertheless we know that that is the way forward to address some of the climate change issues that we've just talked about—emissions from animals—and it also is the way forward to increase productivity on farm. It's really important that that fund is continued. Not every project is going to win and not every project is going to have positive results but it is that investment—and I focus on the word investment"—that is so important to develop research and development for those primary sector industries rather than having it given to a propagation outfit for a few trees or a roundabout or a set of lights or a netball court that might be called a Provincial Growth Fund activity. So the provinces are disappointed in what this Government is doing. Hon Shane Jones: News of the World.ALASTAIR SCOTT: He talks about supporting the provinces but we know—well the analogy for me is three sheep chasing their tails in a yard."