Dowie SarahSARAH DOWIE (National—Invercargill): It is a fantastic opportunity for me to round off this debate as speaker No. 12 of 12 because obviously I get to end the debate conclude it on a note of truth especially in acknowledging what this Government has achieved in 9 years and the fact that this country is a fantastic country. We have moved so far in 9 years under the leadership of this Government and with the help of the New Zealand people.I want to acknowledge that this country is a fantastic place to live work and raise a family. Looking at our economy it is growing at 3 percent—the envy of the OECD—creating 200000 jobs in the past 3 years. Average wages are going up. An average wage at the moment is $59000 increased by $17000 since 2008. We are doing this by diversifying our economy and investing in R & D and Primary Growth Partnerships. We are delivering in the dairy sheep and primary industries. We are investing in manufacturing. We are investing in ultra-fast broadband (UFB) so that our businesses can connect with the rest of the world to sell their wares. International education is booming and a thriving industry as we attract internationals to our world-class universities and polytechnics. And of course we are investing into tourism to show off and showcase our fantastic clean green country and we can do all this because we have got our books in balance and we have created momentum so that we have a surplus that gives us choices to invest across a range of portfolios and deliver for all New Zealanders.I am very very proud of the fact that we are delivering for all New Zealanders. We will not leave the vulnerable behind. We are firmly entrenched in our social investment model and we will continue to analyse the data look at trends look at the drivers of things that are holding back our most vulnerable and invest in them. Let us not forget that we are the first Government in 43 years to raise benefits in real terms. We are the Government that has had a $2 billion families package to put more money in the back pockets of low to middle income New Zealanders so that they have that money to spend. We are the first Government to start reducing ACC levies and again to put money in the back pockets of New Zealanders and that all comes about by prudent management of the books.We have invested a record $17 billion into health to make sure that our children get the best start in life and to make sure that our people are getting the surgeries that they need and the health attention so that they can lead healthy lives moving forward. Of course we have our flagship policies like free doctors visits for under-13s. In Southland and Otago alone 48000 children have benefited from free doctors visits in that region. It is such a help to be able to take your family to the doctor get early intervention and make sure that children are healthy and happy moving forward. In Southland again with our investment into early childhood education (ECE) we have 97.7 percent ECE participation rates. So not only are our children happy and healthy but they are also getting an education from the word go so that they can create a platform to springboard from to gain the skills that they need to become productive citizens in the future.As my colleague Mr McKelvie has rightly noted this is a Government that is interested in regional development. We are a Government that has created a Business Growth Agenda and swung in behind the regions with regional strategies making sure that we put our money where our mouth is so that tangible results can be achieved. As part of that I have to mention that it has been a challenge of late in Southland with the Bonamia ostreae situation that has occurred down in Stewart Island. That has been a distressing situation but again the Government through the Ministry for Primary Industries has swung into action. We are going through the phases of removing the infected stock and making sure that it is done in a controlled way to protect the $20 million wild fishery that exists. As part of that we are putting recovery officers in place so that they can work with Work and Income the district health board and all of the businesses to make sure that those people are supported in a mental health capacity. So I am very pleased with the delivery and the goals that this Government has achieved.The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.