Peck Mark: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Peck Mark: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:615;Page:10831] 
MARK PECK (Labour—Invercargill) 
: 
 I say to anybody who might have—unfortunately—tuned in at that particular time that one of the reasons that member focused on Mr Hughes is that he had already been defeated by him in one election as well as losing to Judy Keall twice. I say to people who may be listening that when listening to the Opposition they might think everything is doom gloom and despondency. I thought it would be good to remind members for a moment what the most important part of the Prime Minister’s statement was today. I will quote from her speech— 
Hon Roger Sowry 
: Talk about the schools in Invercargill. 
MARK PECK 
: I will do. I will tell that member something for nothing. At least Ministers on this side of the House have the guts to front up as opposed to members on the other side of the House not one of whom ever fronted up when there was an issue affecting their electorates. 
Hon Roger Sowry 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It is quite out of order for a member to use that sort of language in the House and I ask you to reflect on that. I wonder whether you will allow it because once one member starts using it others do. As the member knows when he was in Invercargill recently he was told to take his little chicken act away. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Under Standing Order 84(3) points of order are terse and to the point. I had already called the member to order. 
MARK PECK 
: Can I say— 
Hon Roger Sowry 
: Have you taken your chicken act away? 
MARK PECK 
: If that particular little member opposite wishes to trade insults there is a lot more about him that we could say. But we restrain ourselves on this side of House because like Dr Brash we believe in debating the issue. Poor old Dr Brash really has no particular vision. 
I want to go through what Helen Clark said today: “Our Government’s core mission is to build a confident and dynamic nation based on an innovative growing smart economy which can deliver more jobs more opportunities and higher living standards together with the resources to fund world-class public services especially in health and education and world-class infrastructure. The nation we seek to build is creative; it looks after its environment; it values diversity and tolerance; it takes its responsibilities under the Treaty of Waitangi seriously; and it is a good international citizen.” That is a Government I am proud to be a member of I have to tell the House. 
When I look at what is happening around the nation and particularly in my region I see a level of confidence that was never around in the days of the previous Government. The saying that used to go around in Invercargill before the change of Government in 1999 was: “Last out please turn out the lights.” But that is not so any more. Business is booming in Southland. We have a domestic economy that is quite well diversified now largely thanks to the very good efforts of the Southern Institute of Technology the diversification into more horticultural products and the growth of the dairy industry. 
On the back of that there was a time when Lockwood Smith was berating this Government for lowering the dollar. I remember when he came into the Chamber and said: “The dollar’s down to 39c; oh woe is us.” and farmers in my electorate were so pleased they said to me to keep the dollar there. Of course we see the dollar rising at the moment. But the issue now and the thing that farmers understand is that the important particular indicator in that area is the crossover rate with Australia. We still have quite a decent competitive advantage against Australia and our farmers— 
Rodney Hide 
: Go ask the farmers. 
MARK PECK 
: Well I can say to the member interjecting on me that I went to see the farmers in Lumsden the other night. There is a drought in Lumsden. The Hon Bill English did not even bother to turn up but I fronted up. I got out of a caucus meeting went home and went to that particular meeting because it was important. The prosperity of farmers in my electorate is important for the south. I say to members opposite that they can go on about doom gloom and despondency all they like but this Government is determined to ensure that we have a very strong economy—an economy that delivers to our people. 
I remind members in the House that after a couple of reasonably rough periods Southland recorded the strongest rise across the regions in the last quarter. That is on top of continual increases in the productive capacity of Southland over a period of time. As my friend David Parker will know there is a multiplier effect in these things. The more we improve our economy the better it is—the better it is for local people in Southland. The higher the wages the more people are employed. It is lovely to go to Southland now and to be told by people from Tuatapere: “Please don’t have us on Mr Maharey’s list of places not to send people because our area’s growing.” It is growing so fast they cannot find people for jobs. 
There is a skills deficit in Southland at the moment. We cannot do all the building that needs to be done. The building consents in the north of the city were sufficient to save the two rural schools. The two rural schools were saved because the number of building consents is so high and because there is a population growth in the city at this juncture. 
Let me tell members how the south has turned round. There was a population decline in Southland—a very marked population decline. What we are now seeing and have seen over the last 3 years is a net population increase in the south. It has been built on some very positive work done by the local community and supported by this Government. This Government has built a new hospital for that city and it is due to be commissioned. This Government supported new horticultural opportunities which had only ever been panned by the National Party. That party did not like the fact that we were prepared to enter into partnership with those who wanted to set up new opportunities in horticulture. We all know that value added in in agricultural projects is where the future is. We know that commodities will be condemned for always being price-takers and we know that adding value is important. This Government supported that initiative. 
Southland was one of the first areas to take on Project Probe and the broadband was rolled out recently in Tuatapere. The Leader of the Opposition as he was then did not even turn up to celebrate Project Probe with the local people. The beauty of it is that 95 percent of Southland’s business sector is now supplied with broadband. This is exciting stuff—on top of fully funded fees. 
Here is another issue for the people opposite. The fully funded fees stand on their own two feet from this year. What does that mean? It means that with the exception of foreign fee-paying students 100 percent funding is coming from the Government. That is able to happen because the Southern Institute of Technology is a growing and vibrant institution that has been well looked after by its management and well supported by this Government. 
We have 5000 students at Southland’s polytech. That is good news but members opposite do not like good news. They cannot stand it. We have 5000 students—3500 equivalent full-time students—and it is going to get even better. The polytech is projecting to have in excess of 5000 equivalent full-time students in the next 2 years at a time when many other polytechs have had to search their souls about whether they should form partnerships with other organisations. I say that this growth has occurred because of the Southland attitude. We will not lie down and we will not give up. Southland is a busy vibrant and growing place. 
I have one of the most unique problems that any member from Invercargill has ever had. I have had to deal with immigration issues. At the time when I first became a member of Parliament nobody ever came to see me about immigration—nobody. It was not an issue. People were leaving. They were going overseas. Now I have highly skilled individuals coming to see me about their immigration issues. I have hospital representatives coming to see me to help them get doctors to come and work in the hospital. That is good economic news and it has been built on the fact that this Government has managed its economy well. It has made sure that the nation’s accounts are in surplus. We have made sure that we have put away for the rainy day when those members opposite retire. We will have to look after them because Lord knows they will never be on the Government benches again. We have made sure that we deal with the issues in the marketplace the small businesses and so on with all due respect and tolerance. 
It has been fascinating to be part of this Government. It is a good Government and it is about time the message got out. This Government has delivered to the people of New Zealand and it has only just begun. This is not as good as it gets; it gets considerably better. The announcements from the Prime Minister today in her speech are a very clear reflection of the fact that we are making good progress. It is for everybody to know that if this country were ever to change direction we would go back to the failed policies which poor old Mr Brash remembers well—at a time when most of us were not even born.