McKelvie Ian: Debate on Prime Minister’s StatementText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMcKelvie Ian: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement[Sitting date: 12 February 2015. Volume:703;Page:1562. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]IAN McKELVIE (National—Rangitīkei):I am fortunate to have the opportunity to be a National Party member of Parliament representing the Rangitīkei electorate in a unique time in New Zealand’s history. My electorate has been part of this House for the entire 153 years of its existence and I do not think that ever in that time has this country been led by a more talented team of Ministers and in turn a great Prime Minister. Never in that time have we been more respected in the world of politics with a seat on the UN Security Council to boot. Never in that time has our economy performed as well as it is doing now at a time of comparative difficulty in the rest of the Western World. Never have we had such an opportunity to capitalise on the hard work of our forefathers and mothers in setting up a country with such magnificent potential. And on the doorstep we have the biggest market we have probably ever seen in our lifetime. It is a far cry from 150 years ago this weekend when the first shipment of lambs set off for the old mother country—for some of you England; not for me I might add. It is of course the year of the sheep in China and that bodes well for our sheep industry in this country as you can tell.Last September after what can only be described as a testing election campaign this John Key - led Government was returned to the Treasury benches with the largest public vote in history. It was a just reward for some very hard work and great support from so many New Zealanders who knew they were doing better than they could possibly do under the alternatives on offer.I wish to pick up on a couple of themes from the Prime Minister’s statement. The first and the most critical to our futures is the proposal to amend the Resource Management Act to help ease costs on businesses wishing to grow the New Zealand pie. I am confident this can be achieved without threat to our environment. You see that confidence is well placed. As this Government knows the tourism and agriculture sectors rely heavily on our pristine environment to grow and prosper in the future. Agriculture makes a massive contribution to our economy and right now is being tested a little by the dry.I want to make the point that farms are businesses. This is summer and we like any other businesses protect ourselves and understand our risks. We make allowance for storms droughts and even disease. However like all other sectors some will always need a hand in adversity. The Minister for Primary Industries well recognises that fact and has acted today in South Canterbury and North Otago. The real downside of drought of course is the drop in production and that affects the income this country gets. It cuts the amount of money going around in the economy. It cuts the amount of revenue the Government collects and consequently the amount we can spend on our programmes on achieving the things we want to achieve as a Government.Many of those other things we want to achieve are very relevant to the Rangitīkei and include the following. I want to talk briefly about freshwater reform. This will continue through the recommendations of the Land and Water Forum as will the investment in regional water infrastructure and storage. Water storage is a very exciting opportunity for this country as it creates the opportunity when managed and planned properly to assist our rivers help our environmental challenge and generate income—both recreational and agricultural. It is one of the most important things we can concentrate on as a country.Workplace safety is crucial to the Rangitīkei electorate. Forestry and agriculture both have some significant issues to deal with here which we must pay close attention to and our sectors must work closely with WorkSafe New Zealand to make some very quick improvements in this area. The Rural Broadband Initiative has made good progress under this Government and will continue through the initiative to improve mobile coverage and broadband connectivity in rural and remote areas. Another very important factor for our rural areas is that it builds our population potential. The Government’s new housing initiative fits beautifully into my electorate. An outstanding example of how well it works exists in the Manawatū Community Trust set up by the Manawatū District Council to own its 208 community houses. Those residents now have an entity that cares for them and warm comfortable appropriately sized houses and I very much hope they will get the opportunity to participate in this latest offering.The people of my electorate significantly benefit from Whānau Ora one of the legacies of the Hon Dame Tariana Turia and one I am very pleased about continuing to support. The Treaty process is also having a very positive effect on rural New Zealand and we look forward to the completion of that process. My electorate contains the bulk of the New Zealand defence forces at Linton Ōhākea and Waiōuru and our decisions in respect of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant will have an effect here as will the activities as we continue to celebrate World War I. There is so much being undertaken by this very busy Government but I must leave it here. Thank you.