Tabuteau FletcherFLETCHER TABUTEAU (Deputy Leader—NZ First): Thank you Mr Speaker. Before I get to the body of my contribution I'd like to do two things. First I'd like to acknowledge the families affected by Pike River and the mine re-entry—the families who have loved ones still in there. I would like to acknowledge them and their perseverance and acknowledge the suffering that they have gone through over these years. I'd like to thank all of those people who have enabled the re-entry and I celebrate that this I hope will be a victory for these families fighting tirelessly for answers. The second thing I'd like to do is to acknowledge the Opposition's release of their foreign policy document and say that actually we were quite looking forward to questions from the Opposition to the Minister of Foreign Affairs arising from their foreign policy document. But sadly there was nothing forthcoming—when I say sadly" I mean "amusingly". This is an exciting time for this Government but unusually—unusually—what I'd like to do first in the body of my contribution is acknowledge the work of the member opposite Mr Goldsmith. I'll tell you why. As I follow him—well he hasn't been out in the regions. As I follow my Minister Minister Shane Jones and I go out myself into the regions and the provinces I have these awkward conversations with what sound like National supporters or—I'm going to put it this way—probably they were previously National supporters asking me questions about the member in National from the big smoke who's never been in the provinces and doesn't know anything about our regions who is attacking the Provincial Growth Fund. It's an enjoyment of the job I tell you because what we are seeing in the provinces is the Provincial Growth Fund making a real tangible difference already. I would say that the members opposite who are actually based and have seats in the provinces sit silently because they've either been there themselves and been a part of it or they are actually seeing first-hand if they get out and about the benefit that the Provincial Growth Fund is making not only to the provinces but to the economy as a whole. They sit there silently and it is confusing their membership I have to say. The Opposition would have New Zealand suffer through the vagaries of the world economy right now. We've heard from our Minister of Finance that the world economy is going through a downturn but one of the things that this Government is doing and it is doing well is in our fiscal stimulus package. The Minister of Finance in question time today acknowledged just what a difference the Provincial Growth Fund is making complementary to monetary policy and the Reserve Bank. But with what this Government is doing through fiscal stimulus in the economy we are going to ride this world economic downturn high and don't take my word for it; take the word of the OECD which came out with their report today speaking of 2.5 percent growth and then in 2019-20 heading into the 3 percents—probably 3.2 to 3.5 percent. Now that is a strong New Zealand economy and I want to thank the businesses in our region for that because they are making a huge difference right now. You'll forgive me for reading some statistics here but in the primary industries trade figures are incredible. Over 70 percent of New Zealand's merchandise exports come from the primary industries and the food sector. Primary exports are booming. The Ministry for Primary Industries' latest Situation and Outlook for Primary Industries report showed that revenue for the year to June 2019 is now forecast to reach $45 billion to $47 billion which is 7 percent higher than at the same time last year. Mr Brownlee spoke about jobs. Well let me tell him this: New Zealanders have seen an increase of 70000 jobs in the economy over the last year. That's what we are seeing in the New Zealand economy. New Zealand goods and services exports have increased by 10 percent in dollar terms in the last year—10 percent in dollar terms—and 6 percent in physical goods exports. I see that I had a whole page of good news but I only just got to there so thank you very much."