Sage EugenieHon EUGENIE SAGE (Minister for Land Information): Tēnā koe e Te Mana Whakawā. Very pleased to take a call on the primary sector Estimates and recognise the significant investment in land that the Government is making through vote land information. The South Island high country is a taonga to many New Zealanders. It stretches over 1.2 million hectares 8 percent of Aotearoa 168 pastoral leases. In February we set off some public consultation on reforms to the Crown Pastoral Land Act and we saw more than 3000 submissions. So that policy development has been ongoing but the engagement by New Zealanders has been outstanding. In Budget 2019 this Government is again doing what the last Government failed to do: investing $3.1 million over four years so that Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) can increase its engagement with pastoral leases so that it can visit leaseholders and do farm inspections directly rather than relying on third parties to do that. One critical aspect of good sustainable land management is investing in biosecurity and tackling pests. Again it's a theme of Budget 2019: correcting and making account for the neglect of the last 10 years. This Government is investing an additional $7.5 million over four years the biggest increase in Land Information's baseline for 10 years for doing biosecurity work. So that $7.5 million is enabling LINZ to tackle some of the aquatic weeds in Lake Wakatipu in the Te Arawa Rotorua lakes and in Lake Karapiro for the rowers—investing in getting rid of those weeds like Lagarosiphon. So that's a major investment and it comes after years of neglect from the past Government. Again under this Government Land Information has had a much-needed boost to the land bank—again ensuring that when we go into Treaty settlements the properties in the land bank are in a fit state to transfer across to iwi because there are more than 900 properties in the land bank and some of those were in very dilapidated condition when they came in in the 1990s and when they've come in subsequently. Those properties that are being used for either commercial or cultural redress need to be in a good condition. So that additional funding in the Budget $16.8 million over four years will mean that five of those big properties like Masterton Hospital can have asbestos remediated and can in some cases like the Tokanui waste-water plant be demolished and have improvements done there so that those properties can be passed over to iwi in a good condition.There are a number of properties which LINZ has picked up from Government agencies which no longer require them. There are around over 500 tenants in a lot of the residential houses that LINZ has. Those properties weren't properly insulated and again in this Budget an initial $21 million over four years will ensure that those homes are maintained that they have proper insulation so that tenants can live in warm dry homes. There was also a significant investment of nearly $2 million for the satellite-based augmentation system enabling New Zealand to work with Australia to tender for that to ensure that GPS positioning can assist—people like helicopter pilots when they're going to recover patients in difficult terrain can get access to those areas pin-point them more accurately. So that investment in the satellite-based augmentation system is again a commitment by this Government to ensuring that our digital technology is up to scratch that we've got a really innovative economy and that we deliver those benefits for New Zealanders. Madam Chair with the Minister for Regional Economic Development sitting alongside you I'm really grateful as Minister for Land Information for the investment that the Provincial Growth Fund has made through the Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) work. That will enable much better mapping in the regions because of the ability through laser technology using the LiDAR system to more accurately map the potential extent of rising seas to assist regional councils and district councils with their infrastructure planning with planning for a changing climate. So I'm very pleased to commend this bill to the House because of the major investment in land information from biosecurity through to improved insulation in tenants' homes through to increased investment in innovation like the satellite-based augmentation system.