Allan KiritapuKIRITAPU ALLAN (Labour): Tēnā koe e Te Kaiwhakawā. He tino hōnore ki te tū i waenganui i tēnei whare o Te Whare Pāremata i tēnei wiki o tō tātou nei reo rangatira ki te āwhina tō tātou nei kaupapa o Te Reo. Otirā tō tātou nei tangata o ngā rohe ki wērā otirā ki te āwhina i ngā kaipāmu o ngā rohe katoa i Aotearoa i tēnei taupatupatu. Heoi anō tuatahi māku e whiu atu i ōku nei whakaaro ki tēnei tangata rongonui ko te Minita o te Regional—what are you? Regional development—regional champion? Āe! Koinā te ingoa tūturu te tino regional champion anei mātou pō huruhuru ngā kaiāwhina ki te tautoko tēnei tangata i ngā rohe katoa. Heoi ka huri ake ki ngā take o tēnei taupatupatu te primary industry.[Greetings Madam Speaker. It is a real honour to stand in the middle of this House of Parliament on this week for our Māori language to assist our cause of the Māori language. Indeed our man of the regions to those actually to help the farmers of all the regions of New Zealand in this debate. Firstly I will expound my thoughts about this famous man the Minister of Regional—what are you? Regional development—regional champion? Yes! That's the real title the great regional champion here we are your supporters who are supporting this man in all of the regions. Furthermore I turn now to the substance of this debate the primary industry.]It's a privilege to be able to speak on this side of the committee as the deputy chair of the Primary Production Committee. It's a privilege to speak on behalf of our Government and what we are doing because when we listen to the Opposition and the āwangawanga that they display—I recall there was that statement: every issue that kind of passes by they sit there and they yap. They're whinging away whinging away and trying to rile up a storm in the regions in the provinces of Aotearoa. But as a proud member of this here House who has the honour of living in regional and provincial New Zealand I can tell you unequivocally that the sentiment in our regions and the sentiment of those that serve our nation in the primary production sector are doing well. They are thriving.It's absolutely beyond me when I listen to the contributions of the chair of the Primary Production Committee which are supposed to be a recitation of the incredibly I think good discussions that we by and large have in our select committee. It's disappointing to hear the contributions made in this committee of the whole House that make it sound like it's all doom and gloom. Perhaps it's all doom and gloom on that side of the House but on this side of the House we are tackling the long-term issues that face Aotearoa New Zealand.Whilst the other side let the regions suffer when they had the chance and they held the Treasury benches we here on this side of the committee it's our time to restore the balance and we are doing that across an array of areas when it comes to the primary sector. Right now under the leadership and the stewardship of the Hon Damien O'Connor we are tackling the real long-term issues that are before us. Right now we are overhauling the Biosecurity Act. Now in part that has come about as a consequence of Mycoplasma bovis and the pain that has been suffered by many of our farmers throughout the nation. We are reforming the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act. We are making substantial investments in terms of ensuring that the regulatory environment that our primary producers in our nation who contribute absolutely tremendously who are the backbone of our nation—we are making sure that we are getting that regulatory environment right.I want to turn to something that I'm pretty proud of in the Budget which was advocated by the Hon Damien O'Connor. We know that New Zealand has some of the worst mental health statistics in the country and for our regional folks we have some of the worst in the world. Budget 2019 contained a $20.8 million investment over four years that will invest in mental health support for isolated rural communities as a consequence of the advocacy of many rural advocacy groups—in particular the wives and the children of those that have endured loss as a consequence of whakamomori. I want to acknowledge this Government's action when it comes to tackling things like mental health for our regional and provincial communities. Tēnā koe.