Ardern Shane: General Debate 
Ardern Shane: General Debate 
[Volume:675;Page:21062] 
SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 It is always interesting to follow on from the passionate speech of a second or third cousin on the other side of the House. As an active farmer and the MP for the Taranaki - King Country electorate which includes a large chunk of the Waikato it is more than interesting to listen to Labour members talking about what they want to do as opposed to what Labour did do when it was in Government for 9 long years. 
Last week by comparison I attended the opening of an $80 million substantial extension to the New Plymouth - based hospital where on the same day the Hon Tony Ryall opened a new health centre in Stratford in the heart of the Taranaki - King Country electorate. These are substantial actual improvements in health services. There have been an extra 4337 elective surgeries under the Waikato and Taranaki district health boards in the 2009-10 year. These are real numbers not the artificial and substantially inflated numbers that we hear from members on the other side. We have given $4.4 million to our small and poorer rural communities to upgrade their sewerage facilities. Over 13000 Taranaki and Waikato homes have been insulated through National’s Heat Smart scheme. There was a 4.4 percent drop in recorded crime in 2010 for central districts and 3 percent for the Waikato. 
These are real achievements from the John Key Government. We have spent $3 million on upgrading schools in the electorate. This Government has major policy initiatives that will have a positive and ongoing effect on rural New Zealand electorates like Taranaki - King Country. The Primary Growth Partnership has invested something like $447 million in industry promotion and innovation on-farm innovation and promotion jobs growth market opportunities environmentally sustainable technologies and a higher standard of living for the whole of New Zealand. [ 
Interruption 
] It is interesting to hear the members on the other side because one thing that they always forget and always ignore when they are in Government is that the agricultural sector of New Zealand—and Mr Speaker knows this as well as anyone in the House—is the backbone of New Zealand and is the way forward for this economy. The opportunities that have opened up for exporting high-quality protein foods to the world because of the work of the John Key Government and Ministers like Tim Groser who have been signing up and opening up trade opportunities for us have never been greater. They have never been greater in the history of New Zealand. There has never been a greater opportunity. What would our opponents do? What would happen if they were given the chance? Well they would entertain what they have always entertained: a tax-and-borrow-and-hope policy that has failed. It has failed so many times that we cannot remember. 
What else has the Key National Government done? There is $350 million worth of rural broadband initiative to be rolled out over the next few years. If we look at how we can compete internationally and become a very forward-thinking modern dynamic economy that is exporting that high-quality protein food to the world we see that one thing that is absolutely essential is for us to be linked to the world through high-speed technology and communications. So $350 million worth of broadband initiative will bring fast broadband to our rural communities. 
Amendments to the Resource Management Act are always understated by members on the other side. You Mr Speaker as well as everyone else—and I know I should not bring the Speaker into the debate so I will refrain from doing that—and most people in this House know that there was a substantial reduction in growth and opportunity and for a lot of the time it was without any real environmental impact. Reforming the Resource Management Act was an essential platform that the John Key National - led Government has undertaken. I look forward in the next 3 years if we are successful at the next election to growing the agricultural sector and improving our way in the world.