King Colin: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
King Colin: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 05 December 2012. Volume:686;Page:7156. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
COLIN KING (National—Kaikoura) 
: 
 What we heard from that Green member Gareth Hughes certainly makes Chris Hipkins put his hands on his head in despair because they know that there is no hope when you have such a disunited Opposition with such crazy ideas. What we heard from the Green speaker over the last 5 minutes was nothing but negativity and the celebration of saying no. 
What I would like to talk about is the positive things that are happening around trade training. I was down in Christchurch the other day looking at the employment hub down there. I am pleased to report that there are some fantastic things happening down there. The most important I thought was the 300 young men and women coming from Rotorua who are going to be working in the new year with Fletcher Building Hawkins Construction and other very reputable construction firms in Christchurch. That is a Government showing initiative getting the timing right and reinforcing the value of trades and the skills that are necessary. 
When you stop and look at what the Government is doing it is very focused it is structured and it is a balance between maintaining the entitlements of those who need support as well as stimulating the economy and not going overboard with debt. So when you look at the infrastructure report that was just released there are 67 infrastructure initiatives that this Government is entering into. They have all got a focus on creating a far more competitive and productive economy. 
Let us have a look at some of those initiatives. There is $5.5 billion to repair the terrible damage that befell Christchurch and Canterbury. There is $1.6 billion for ultra-fast broadband and also the Government does not forget the rural community. The Rural Broadband Initiative is a very important part of that and we know why it should be. It is because 70-odd percent of this country’s export earnings come from the rural community and we constantly need to remind all New Zealanders that we need the smartest and the brightest in those businesses to grow this economy. 
We have got $5 billion going into the national electricity grid. That is hugely important especially in the top of the South Island where the Kaikoura electorate is. We do need efficiencies there because of the distance from the generators and distributors down in Islington and so on. We have got $12.12 billion going into roading between 2012 and 2015. This is all very positive stuff—creating jobs doing the best we can and working on things like the 2000 jobs in the ultra-fast broadband roll-out 2700 jobs for people with regard to the Auckland and Waikato hospitals as well as the Marlborough hospital Wairau Hospital and the private hospitals that are being built besides that. There are 1000 more jobs with regard to the motorways 240 jobs with the Tauranga Eastern Link and 1500-odd jobs with regard to the transmission power upgrade. It is just so very positive. And still the Government keeps finding resources to reinforce the trades and skills for the rebuild and finding employment opportunities.  
However we have to mention the obstructive nature of the Opposition members when they have said no to more gas and oil exploration and when they have said no to the very fine policy of the 90-day trial for new employees. We had 3000 jobs that were created by having  
The Hobbit 
 produced and filmed here. The irrigation that the South Island so urgently needs the Opposition—the Greens and Labour—has obstructed as well as the reforms around local government.  
However on the other side of it I think New Zealanders need to be incredibly fearful if they move forward with a Greens-led Opposition into Government because the capital gains tax is such a negative aspect that it will decimate those enterprising young people who reach out to get into their farms and grow their economy. The irrigation taxes—it costs enough now for a farmer to be able to get water past his gate. Some of these irrigation schemes cost about $7000 per hectare to get water past the gate. It will stimulate the economy by hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars year to year and benefit all of New Zealand. And what does Labour want to do? Tax it.