Hayes John: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHayes John: General Debate[Sitting date: 16 October 2013. Volume:694;Page:13945. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JOHN HAYES (National—Wairarapa): I was reading theSunday Star-Times in the weekend and noticed that the fourth Labour leader threatened that his next Government would take the Wairarapa seat from National. Bring it on I say because he will be the fourth Labour leader to be proved wrong. Then yesterday I was reading what the fourth Labour leader was going to do next year and what advice he had on the census which came out today. I will read from the statement which said: “Census data being released tomorrow will depict a widespread exodus from the regions as provincial New Zealanders flee small towns forgotten by the National Government Labour Leader and Regional Development spokesman David Cunliffe says.” He went on: “Something must be done to turn around the compounding effect on our regions of an aging population and a loss of opportunities.” It is clear that the fourth Labour leader has not visited my Wairarapa electorate recently if ever. If he had he would never have made either statement as this morning’sDominion Postshows. Can I read the headline to the House. It shouts from the paper: “Impulse buys joins coolCarterton’s boom”.What is going on here? The evidence is in theDominion Post.Carterton’s population has grown 16 percent since the last census. Phil Goff knows that because in the adjournment he was deer shooting over in my electorate. And Steven Joyce our Minister for business and regional development knows that because he spent part of his adjournment visiting my electorate and meeting a broad cross-section of people. He wanted to listen to their ideas which the Government could adopt to create jobs. He met Adrienne Staples Mayor of South Wairarapa who told him that the population in South Wairarapa had grown by 7.2 percent over the census period. He metMasterton’s mayor GarryDaniell. I will just for one second say what a superb job Garry has done for the people of Masterton over many many years most recently as mayor of that community. He told Steven Joyce that after a period of stagnation going back to 1986 the Masterton community was again growing and in the census period had grown by more than 3 percent.Wairarapa Newswriter Piers Fuller was wrong when he wrote on 10 October last year: “South Wairarapa has 9120 people now and is expected to have 9300 by 2031.” I am really sorry but both Piers Fuller and David Cunliffe got that wrong. South Wairarapa had 9528 people on census night in March of this year—18 percent growth in theKahutara part of that electorate. I noted earlier that our population has been static or in decline since 1986 so why has it started to grow since 2008? It is pretty simple—the arrival of the John Key - led Government. The economic recovery he has brought about is gaining momentum and it is driven by low interest rates it is driven by investment and it is driven by strong export prices.As Steven Joyce discovered in the Wairarapa last week business and consumer confidence is improving as companies become more competitive and exports are growing. Companies like Harvest Electronics—eight new jobs in the last 12 months taking the company from 10 to 18 people. If you think aboutMetalform (Dannevirke) it has got more than 50 jobs now and they are growing and moving toŌringi. There is a major supermarket company about to come into Dannevirke creating 50 new jobs. Economic growth in our provincial part of New Zealand is comparable with Australia’s and higher than almost every other developing country’s. Our economy is forecast togrow between 2 and 3 percent a year over the next 4 years. That is why the provinces are not losing people.The reason that Labour has no prospect of recovering the Wairarapa seat in the next election is first of all it wants to bring back a capital gains tax. That would punish business and farmers. Labour would want to promote a big gap between the companies tax rate and the top personal income tax rate which would encourage tax avoidance. Labour would want to impose large costs on business and farms with a more punitive emissions trading scheme. The Wairarapa electorate knows and New Zealand knows that we need more taxpayers not more taxes. Thank you.The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.