McKelvie IanIAN McKELVIE (National—Rangitīkei): If I were a bookmaker I would say the odds on David Clark standing there in 3 years' time saying Oh 12 long years." are pretty good. Dr David Clark: Arrogant. Out of touch—out of touch. Arrogant. Claiming 12 years already—Mr SPEAKER: Order!IAN McKELVIE: While I certainly do not want to concentrate on the negative—he did not like that did he—I do want to talk about provincial New Zealand and about what has been going on in provincial New Zealand as a result of the activities of this Government over a number of years. Of course in my own region we have an economic development strategy called Accelerate25 which is moving very quickly to deal with some initiatives that this Government helped with—set in train—and that will make a big difference to my region.This is a Government that will work for a New Zealand where innovation and hard work is recognised and rewarded and a New Zealand that looks after the most vulnerable and helps them change their lives. That is what our last two Budgets have been about and it has made a significant difference. Our philosophy is to enable and encourage personal responsibility and a positive attitude and it is working.I want to talk about a number of initiatives in the Rangitīkei electorate. The first one that I want to get on to is the Ruapehu Alpine Lifts or RAL which is putting $100 million into developments on Mount Ruapehu. That is a massive injection of money into the tourism industry and it shows the confidence that that company has in what is going on in provincial New Zealand and what is going on in New Zealand in general. It is hugely exciting for that region. It will create a number of jobs—a large number of new jobs—in the region. It will create the incentive for companies to get on and build new facilities and new accommodation and it will encourage the use of a large number of—well the two national parks for a starter—tracks and cycleways that have been created as a result of this Government's investment in the national cycleway and the Tongariro Crossing as a result of the Department of Conservation's (DOC's) investment in the top end of my electorate which has been significant particularly around the Tangiwai Memorial which was opened by the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage some 4 or 5 weeks ago and as I said before the Tongariro Crossing.Sometimes in provincial New Zealand we are challenged by issues that are significantly difficult for us to manage. In the top end of my electorate I have a company called the Lines Company which for some years now has been quite challenging. It has been challenging for the local MP I can assure you. It has been challenging for its community. It has now got new leadership a new chief executive officer and a new chair. It has adopted a new methodology which was researched by Roger Sutton and that will make a massive difference to the top of my electorate. I think the exciting thing about that is that eventually the market finds a way of resolving issues that frankly are hugely difficult for Governments to intervene in.Iain Lees-Galloway: They're not happy in Taumarunui Ian.IAN McKELVIE: It is actually. I want to talk about the cycleways the walkways and the DOC investment as I talked about earlier. The special infrastructure fund has put over a million dollars into the top end of my electorate making a massive difference to the Ruapehu District's ability to fund some of those projects that are so necessary where we have got very low populations. Yesterday some further funding for the "Great Rides" was put into the Mountain to the Sea cycleway which of course goes from the top of the mountain basically to the Wanganui coast and that is really exciting for a major part of my electorate.I have not seen in my lifetime the primary sector in as good an order as it is right now. I think it is hugely encouraging that that whole sector has got its act together producing really good product and many of our newer industries—what I call newer industries like the wine and kiwifruit industries and things like that—are doing hugely well. It is very positive for provincial New Zealand and it is very positive for New Zealand.I just want to make mention though of one part of that sector that is doing very poorly and that is the wool industry. It is ironic is it not that the wool industry voted not to fund itself and not to support R & D and not to support its marketing processes and it wonders why it is going no good. That is a very strong signal I think.Finally I just want to talk about the Silver Fern Farms investment and the turnaround of the meat industry. That investment has completely turned the meat industry on its head in a matter of 6 months. Who would have thought that 6 months ago lambs would have beaten the $150 that Federated Farmers have been talking about for some time? It has gone past that long since and it has gone past it because the meat industry has suddenly got its feet on the ground and it is up and running. I do not think that will change in a hurry so that is really very positive for provincial New Zealand. So thank you."