Eagle PaulPAUL EAGLE (Labour—Rongotai): Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. It's always a privilege to talk about anything to do with local government so here I am back in the House talking about the Otama Rural Water Supply bill. Can I say—Chris Bishop: It's not quite Wellington. PAUL EAGLE: It's not quite Wellington. We've got our own issues with water but we'll get to that on another bill one day. But I digress. Chris Bishop: Do the buses first—sort the buses first. PAUL EAGLE: Water buses you name it—there are problems. But I digress. Let's talk about the wonderful world of Gore. Can I say it was another fantastic decision by the hard-working and probably the best select committee there is the Governance and Administration Committee led by Brett Hudson MP and of course I'm on it. It was some trek though. It took days and days to get there but we got there. The parking was free the welcome was warm and the food was great so I'm going back one day. That sort of set the scene I think for a decent conversation about something that means a lot to local people. Chris Bishop: How were the cheese rolls? PAUL EAGLE: The cheese rolls Mr MP for Hutt South" were absolutely outstanding—all 10 of them—and—Chris Bishop: What about the rest? PAUL EAGLE: OK 11. But can I just clarify one thing: we weren't there just for the food. We were there to talk about something that was deep and meaningful to them. What I like most is that too often you get these situations where there is some conflict with the local authority—not in this case—and councillors. A councillor who presented was on the scheme board the mayor was there and there was full support and I thought "Look this is great." I thought "This is a good start." and I have to wedge in that this Government is looking at the three waters and so I was mindful of this. But it was nice to just park that up for a bit hear what the local people had to say and take seriously what they said. So I too want to acknowledge—if he is still here—Tom Affleck and all of those who submitted. We got some really good submissions and the most memorable for me was his son Chris who had recently returned from overseas but what he did was have some maps produced and he was able to articulate the extent of the scheme the hard work that had gone in from many people over many years and I guess their confidence. It's not something that too many people do—come to me and say "Can we keep our own water scheme?" It's sort of like "Really? Do you really want to do that?" So I was there with the need to be convinced that "Yes you can do it." and there they laid out a comprehensive plan like no other. I was probably lucky—anyone would be lucky—to get out alive if you disagreed with them on sight but no they did a fantastic job in saying that we just need a break here because we've got proven expertise in running this.So I want to congratulate them. I want to offer them my full support. I know that the city has a few water issues and they are looking at something similar—not in terms of building their own water scheme that's for sure. And we probably haven't got the same volunteer and local effort to go in to do such a thing. But I leave impressed and so therefore I want to thank Mark Patterson the local bill member and of course sorry the local member himself Hamish Walker.If only we'd stayed on a bit longer we could have nudged some red flavouring into that photo that was taken. I was thinking that if we stayed a couple of hours longer there could have been a real competition for Hamish from myself in that seat at the next general election or something like that. I felt some real love towards the red. It doesn't happen often but Kieran McAnulty's leading the way in these sorts of seats and I thought I'd learnt a few things from him and I felt I collected a few votes on the way out. So there we are. So there are lots of benefits to making a presence known in a place like Gore. I commend this bill to the House. Kia ora."