SpeechHon STUART NASH (Minister for Economic Development): Thank you very much Mr Speaker. One of the first things the Prime Minister mentioned in his Prime Minister's statement was about the floods and the rain events that have happened up and down our country this year. On 10 December last year I turned the sod on a major stopbank behind the Pettigrew Green Arena in Napier. The then CEO of the Hawke's Bay Regional Council a guy called James Palmer who is now head of the Ministry for the Environment was also part of the sod-turning ceremony. As we dug our spades into the rock-hard Hawke's Bay soil I said to James No way. This is massive." And he said "It's designed for a one-in-500-year flood. It's a metre higher than the engineers recommended." Well when the river was at peak because of Cyclone Gabrielle it was a foot below the top of that stopbank. And if that stopbank had broken and flooded the whole of Taradale then the conversations we would be having would be completely different than the ones we're having now.That stopbank was funded by this Government and COVID funds. But it is an example of what we are facing in this country now and some of the very very hard conversations we are going to have to have as we move forward and as we rebuild. To the north of my electorate—Whirinaki; Bayview; the Esk Valley which the Prime Minister's visited; the Napier-Taupō Road; Wairoa—again some very important conversations are now going to have to be had about what we do how we rebuild back and the sort of places we are going to allow people to build on. And they're hard conversations because they're also expensive conversations but they're ones that we need to start having as a country because they are very very real. But there is one undeniable fact: climate change has significantly impacted the weather patterns across our country and the East Coast is bearing the brunt—two cyclones in the Tai Rāwhiti district this year. We now need to drive forward an agenda for our high-wage low-emissions economy. In terms of driving transformational change across our economy the Prime Minister talked about the industry transformation plans. What these are plans in certain areas of the economy where we believe we could have we should have or we already do have some form of global competitive advantage but where we need to really drive productivity in a way that creates a sustainable global competitiveness in areas of advanced manufacturing agritech forestry and wood manufacturing construction tourism forestry digital technologies and fisheries.The great thing about these is we've actually gathered in unionists we've gathered in business people iwi Māori the Government—all working together for a common cause. I have read all the drafts that have been presented to me. After the drafts have been collated then they go out for consultation and the final documents come back. And goodness me they are great bits of work that cover the whole economy and where people agree on the work programme that needs to be done. Why are we doing this? It's because this Government believes that it's incredibly important that the Government has a role to play in driving the sort of economic outcomes that we want to see in this country. We've supported business we've supported ventures we've supported the private sector and we've supported the regions because we believe that the role of the Government is not just to intervene when there's market failure. We believe that if we work together we can actually create market outcomes that lead to high jobs productivity capital investment sustainability engaged outcomes—all the things that we want to see as a country and all the things that I believe the vast majority of politicians in this House actually believe in. It is a forward-thinking and a transformational agenda and is something that I am incredibly proud of in the work that we have done in this space. Another area that we've invested significantly in is our regions. For the last 2½ years I was the Minister for Regional Development. I've handed that portfolio over to the very capable Kiri Allan—my great friend the Hon Kiritapu Allan. But the thing about this is that in the last term of the National Government there were a couple of economists and one came out and said "We need to be planning for managed retreat from our regions because the reason—for a lot of these small provincial towns—for being no longer exists." Another one called these towns "zombie towns" and one of them in my electorate—Wairoa was called a zombie town. Ōpōtiki was called a zombie town and a number of these other small—which I believe are thriving communities. I mean I call Wairoa the outdoor capital of New Zealand. There's your hunting your fishing your camping your tramping your beautiful beaches your hot pools your water-skiing—you name it. It's going through tough times at the moment because of Cyclone Gabrielle but it is a wonderful little town. And I personally found it quite offensive to be told by an academic that this was going to be a zombie town or that we needed to manage retreat from provincial New Zealand. Now the thing about this is we looked at this and said "Is this our vision for rural and provincial New Zealand?" And the emphatic answer was no. It's the reason why we have spent over $4 billion as outlined by the Prime Minister in his statement—$4 billion across the regions. I saw a report recently that did an audit of the Provincial Growth Fund. It was a big report. But the one thing I took out of it is that it said that this has created a hope and an environment where people are willing to invest in whereas in the past they weren't. So places like Ōpōtiki which was going to be a zombie town is now thriving. We've invested a lot of money up and down the country. Hon David Bennett: Winston invested it.Hon STUART NASH: And I know that member over there his electorate has benefited greatly from the Provincial Growth Fund as have a number of other National electorates. But this wasn't political—this wasn't political. This was about doing the right thing for New Zealand. Another area that I'd like to speak about that the Prime Minister highlighted in his statement was about law and order. Now it's great to be once again the Minister of Police. It's a portfolio that I'm very proud to hold but the first thing I would like to do is I would like to say thank you to the men and women in blue who have come into my damaged region Tai Rāwhiti in a way that has helped in providing reassurance and security to damaged communities. Some of the tales of heroism that these police undertook when the floods were raging are outstanding. But as a long-serving police officer yourself Mr Deputy Speaker you will know that police don't stand back and ask questions "Should I do it?"; they just go and they do it and they often put their lives at risk. In fact I heard of one story in Muriwai where two officers went in grabbed out the couple pulled them out of the house and about five minutes later the house slipped down the cliff. Now that is what our police—men and women—do and I think they are absolutely fantastic at stepping up when we ask them to. The reason why I'm so proud to be the Minister of Police is that last week I attended I think either my 39th or 40th police graduation. It's something I have always prioritised as Minister of Police and in my first term of three years and now as I've taken it on again I think I've missed two out of 40. I love going to these graduations because you see the delight and the pride of these men and women who started out with a dream and they've now realised that dream as they head into our communities to keep our communities safe. But the thing is we are about to deliver on one of our major promises. We promised that there would be 1800 officers over and above where we were when we started in 2017. We're up to 1600. Well over 3000 men and women have passed through Police College. It's an astounding number it's an astounding achievement and the police service has grown faster than at any other time in its history. But it's needed to step up because we are now asking police to do so much more than we did in the old days. The approach that police take is actually outstandingly good. I had a conversation with Ray Smith when I took over the portfolio. He was then the CEO of Corrections and he said to me "With more police you're going to need more prisons." I said "Ray you don't understand the police model. It's about crime prevention. It's about working with communities. It's not about locking people up throwing away the key and then asking questions." And he said "We'll see." When he took over the role of the Ministry for Primary Industries he came to see me when I was Minister of fisheries and he said "Stuart you were right." We need less prisons because the police operating model doesn't mean they're soft on crime. It doesn't mean they let people go; they still go really really hard when it's necessary—and Operation Cobalt is evidence of that. There were 26000 prosecutions charges laid—26000 charges laid against gang members—since June last year. But when it's not appropriate to put someone in front of a judge they work with that person with the community to come up with better outcomes. Let's face the reality: when you put someone in prison not only do you take away their freedom; you often take away their future. So we've got to think long and hard about how we do this and I think we've got it about right; there's no doubt about that. As mentioned I am very very proud to be a Minister to be part of a Government that's putting New Zealanders first that's looking at the big issues and is not afraid to come up with audacious solutions to the really big issues that are facing our country today. This is a Government with a vision it's a Government with a plan and I believe it's a Government that delivers for all Kiwis. Thank you very much Mr Speaker."