Dyson RuthFinance and Government Administration SectorHon RUTH DYSON (Chairperson of the Government Administration Committee): I am delighted as chair of the Government Administration Committee to follow the highly memorable member Stuart Smith who has just resumed his seat. I want to acknowledge other members of the committee. We have had a lot of turnover in personnel over recent times. We have just lost Brett Hudson and today we had the pleasure of Todd Barclay sitting on our committee. So I know that a number of members will now want to be present at our next meeting—10 o'clock next Wednesday room No. 5. See you there!Some of the issues that we deal with that I want to touch on in my contribution are sport broadcasting and civil defence. We have got quite a wide brief in our committee but those are the three that I just want to touch on given that we have such a short time to contribute. But before I get into the detail of those I want to talk about the increasing concern that I get not just from my constituents but from people around the party that New Zealand is feeling a bit rudderless at the moment. We lost John Key as the Prime Minister and now we have got a new Prime Minister but someone who is clearly not a leader.It is a bit like—where is Bill English taking the country? I do not think he is up to dealing with the issues that we are confronting and those issues are real and serious. I am not even sure that he cares about them or that he understands them. Things like the fact that in the next generation of New Zealanders there will be a really high percentage who will not be able to afford to buy a home—I do not understand how that is acceptable—The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): I am now going to interrupt my friend and colleague and ask her to come to the report of the committee.Grant Robertson: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I do not want to take up too much time in this debate but this section covers finance and Government administration and I can assure the Chair that in the discussion of Treasury and the Government accounts which appears on page 11 of the consolidated document this exact topic that my colleague was about to talk about—homeownership—was discussed in some detail.The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): While I thank my other friend and colleague for his advice and will not condemn him for arguing with the Chair if the member who was speaking had referred to that I might have been convinced that she was speaking to the report of her committee.Hon RUTH DYSON: Speaking to the point of order can I just ask for a point of clarification. So when we are doing this in a sector but you are a member of a specific committee is your ruling that we can discuss only—The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): No no. If the member can refer to the other committees' specific points that is fine too.Hon RUTH DYSON: Thank you Mr Chairperson.I want to move on to the issue of sport which the presiding officer may find of interest and this is specifically before the Government Administration Committee. One of the concerns that has been raised during the appropriations debate in this round is the fact that the Labour members and the Green Party members too I think had a clearly expressed view that the National Government's sports policy and its investment have been far too focused on the elite and high-performing sports at the expense of participation in physical activity. We know that the Government has turned away from much in the health area. We know that it is no longer concerned about obesity. It is no longer concerned about many preventable conditions that are increasingly costing our health services money but it has also done the same thing in the sports area. So the policy and the funding investment going to the high performance and elite—which of course we all love to celebrate—is at the expense of broader participation.The other area of considerable concern is that of civil defence. We have seen responses in a number of our civil defence situations that caused our committee extreme concern. The most recent was the tsunami warnings related to the Kaikōura disaster. I want to pay a tribute to everyone who responded to the needs of people not just in the Kaikōura quake but obviously in my home town of Christchurch through our series of quakes as well. This is not a criticism of them in any way in the same way as it is not a criticism of the civil defence structure and the response to the Port Hills fires but it is very clear that our civil defence system needs a major shake-up. I am pleased that we have got a cross-party group working on that and I hope that it comes up with some serious recommendations that are then able to be followed through on.There is a lot that this country needs. There is a lot that is being ignored by the current Government. Mental health cries out for better support as does the rest of the health system. We have seen abuse—abuse is not too strong a term—of some Government funding tragically through the recovery organisation in Christchurch. I hope the new Minister is able to step up to the mark with the new recovery organisations and ensure that that culture that was bred under the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority structure is not replicated under the new recovery agencies. We have had total inaction on Government projects particularly the anchor projects in our city. We need a bit of leadership and our city is looking to the new Minister for that.