Muller Todd: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMuller Todd: General Debate[Sitting date: 04 May 2016. Volume:713;Page:10766. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]TODD MULLER (National—Bay of Plenty): What a great day for the Bay of Plenty—what a great day for the Bay of Plenty. The household labour force survey is out today. Unemployment is down to 5.1 percent in the Bay of Plenty. This is the greatest drop anywhere in the country and is now the lowest unemployment rate in the North Island. We have had just under 8000 new jobs over the last year. This is not some aberration. This is not something that has occurred out of the blue. It is part of a deliberate and planned approach by this Government to build a productive economy. What we have seen in the Bay of Plenty over the last 8 years is a significant change in circumstances for our community. Let me just talk through some of those.Firstly under export markets the Government has an absolute clear objective to improve access to export markets. We have just heard a superb outline from Jami-Lee Ross of the benefits of the Trans-Pacific Partnership—that is $6000 per kiwifruit grower in the Bay of Plenty. In the free-trade agreement with Korea it was $8000. That is $14000 per grower—Rt Hon Winston Peters: What about Psa costs?TODD MULLER: There are some—including a curmudgeon from the north—who will say that $14000 per kiwifruit grower in Northland and the Bay of Plenty is not sufficient but in my experience having been part of the community for 40 years it is real and it is something that should be embraced. Not only are we talking about trade in terms of building and export markets but also when you look at infrastructure—a key component of our Business Growth Agenda—what a story we have got to tell in the Bay of Plenty.There has been huge investment in roads. The Tauranga Eastern Corridor link which links the Hon Anne Tolley’s area with mine opened a year ago. The Tauranga Northern Link was announced a week ago. This is a Government that understands that you need underpinning infrastructure to set free the people’s aspirations in a community and that is what is going on in Tauranga at the moment. We have the greatest population growth we have the greatest employment growth and we have a Government that is committed to putting the fundamentals in place to enable you to succeed. For all of those on the other side who constantly carp and constantly see the world through a negative lens—Grant Robertson: How are the avocados?TODD MULLER:—including you Mr Robertson—get out of Wellington and come up to the Bay of Plenty and meet people who are making a difference. Meet people who are making a difference and who are actually succeeding. What you will find when you go and listen to them is that they actually have quite a different set of ambitions and aspirations to most of the people who sit on the other side of the House. You are lost in a time warp. [Interruption] You go and talk to these people who are working hard and delivering for their families in their communities particularly in Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty and you see people who are succeeding who are aspirational who see opportunities—and you have tin ears to their aspirations.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! I sort of let it run for a while because I thought that the member might listen to the interventions that he has been getting from across the House. I think that if he can stop using the second person and get back to speaking within order it would be a good idea.TODD MULLER: Labour and the Greens and New Zealand First have tin ears to the aspirations of the people of the Bay of Plenty and I am very delighted to be able to support what we are doing as a Government.In terms of infrastructure a couple of months ago we announced the completion of broadband. It is fantastic. There is already a 23 percent uptake of ultra-fast broadband in Tauranga about 25 percent above the national average. Again we are talking about a community that is connected with the global market and understands the importance of underpinning infrastructure to enable it to happen.But of course there are challenges. We understand that there are times when we need to acknowledge that housing is under a bit of pressure and that we have got families who are struggling particularly in terms of the domestic violence context. I want to acknowledge the work that this Government is doing to talk honestly and openly and “real-ly” about some of those challenges and is putting plans in place to make a difference. I want to acknowledge people like Heather Beddie who is the family violence coordinator in Papamoa Trish Ives and Colin Gardiner from It’s Not OK in Papamoa who as NGOs walk alongside this Government’s commitment to make a difference—it is not just rhetoric—and actually make a difference with structures investment and a commitment as a whole-of-Government and a whole-of-community response to issues that have bedevilled this country for decades and have had terrible impacts in terms of individual families. I want to acknowledge today—