Mooney JosephJOSEPH MOONEY (National—Southland): Thank you very much Mr Speaker. It's a pleasure to rise and to speak in this general debate and to speak on behalf of this Government which has been relentlessly focused on everyday Kiwis. This Government came into office promising to focus on fixing the economy on getting inflation under control and to delivering tax relief. I'm very pleased that the Government has been doing exactly that and we have seen the real-life results of that play out. The Government has delivered tax relief getting money in the back pockets of everyday Kiwis across the country. The Government has got inflation under control and now we're very pleased the Reserve Bank has dropped the official cash rate to 5.25 percent.The Government is very focused on getting this economy back on track. It has been incredibly challenging times over the last couple of years. Certainly one of the refrains I've been hearing is survive to '25". Well now we're seeing inflation get under control with the official cash rate coming down.Dan Bidois: "Thrive in '25".JOSEPH MOONEY: We are now "thrive in '25" as my great colleague Dan Bidois says—"thrive in '25".On that I just have to make a shout-out to my region. Despite these incredibly challenging times ASB's economic regional scorecard for the first quarter of 2024 showed that Southland knocked Auckland off the top spot. So as the member of Parliament for Southland I can't claim credit for that but I can certainly make a shout-out to all of those people in Southland doing that hard work. Otago came in second place—Hon Member: Oh have you got part of Otago?JOSEPH MOONEY: —and that's sixth consecutive quarter that it's been in the top three. Well Otago is a big chunk of mine. And I also have my colleague besides me he represents a good chunk of Otago Miles Anderson. So look just a shout-out to all of the hard-working businesses hard-working farmers hard-working construction companies workers everyone who's been working incredibly hard in tourism right across those sectors. This is the story of the country.Hon Dr Duncan Webb: And a shocker.JOSEPH MOONEY: Everyone's—yes Dr Duncan Webb. All of the retail outlets—they've been doing incredibly tough times actually it's been very very tough times for them. But they have been doing well to trade through this. So I take my hat off to everyone who's been pulling their bit. The Government has its role to play but all of these other players are critical for making this economy work.This Government is also focused on the banking sector and I'm very pleased as a member of Parliament who represents a rural area that there's a particular focus on rural banking. I see my great colleague Stuart Smith and my great colleague from Northland who have been leading the charge on this with their respective select committees.Hon Dr Duncan Webb: What's his name?JOSEPH MOONEY: Mark Cameron. So leading the charge on this select committee inquiry into banking competition which affects rural banking. This is certainly something that I have been hearing as I'm sure my colleagues have been hearing a lot: the rural banking has been affecting our farming sector in particular a lot. It's been very very challenging for them. The farming sector or the primary sector underpins the New Zealand economy. It's absolutely critical for the New Zealand economy. At a time of challenge economically both domestically and internationally I can't say enough and I have said this many times over the roughly four years that I've been in this Parliament the primary sector is critical for New Zealand and we need to do everything we can to support them. So I'm very very pleased that we are doing this inquiry into rural banking.And not just rural banking—we've also had the report of the Commerce Commission into banking competition. It's highlighted something that has been quietly spoken about for a number of years in New Zealand—not as much as in Australia—the banking competition isn't strong enough frankly. Competition is good for the economy. We need these banks competing hard with each other for New Zealanders' services. We need more competition so we need more innovation in that sector. I'm very pleased that his Government has picked up those recommendations and is going with all of them and is sending a very clear signal to the banking sector: we want you to compete harder we want you to do better we want you to provide more innovation and more services and we want more players in the market. So this is going to deliver.Just in the time that I have available I need to take the opportunity just to congratulate all of those who took part in the Olympics. With my parochial hat on I just have to make a shout-out to the two from Dunstan High School: Nicole Shields born in Invercargill but moved to Clyde when she was young went to Dunstan High School and got a silver medal in the pursuit; and Finn Butcher who got a gold in kayak cross. So congratulations to all of them."