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The Prime Minister Helen Clark has announced the establishment of a Significant Community-Based Projects Fund and applications to it for funding will be accepted from October.
$32 million over four years was allocated in the May budget for the fund and it has been set up to support community-based projects and events of regional or national significance.
This is a significant fund designed to help established organisations with legal entity status which, for a variety of reasons, cannot get funding for very large and worthwhile community projects.
There are an increasing number of major community-based projects which cannot be go forward, because either they cannot get appropriate funding, or the available funding is not enough.
The Government is aware of a number of significant community projects which are looking to government to be a partner - and where it is difficult to progress the projects without government being part of the funding partnership.
This new fund is designed so that government can respond to such requests against clear criteria, rather than make ad hoc decisions about what should be funded.
Applicants will need to show the projects have a range of benefits contributing to regions and/or the nation, with particular reference to arts, culture and heritage; sport and recreation; tourism; conservation and the environment; and economic development.
The fund will be seen as a mechanism to obtain support when all other avenues have been exhausted, and applicants would be limited to seeking one-off capital expenditure.
I join Fisheries Minister David Benson-Pope in welcoming the Court of Appeal imposing a tougher sentence on people involved in a paua poaching ring.
Paua poaching poses a serious threat to the sustainability of that species and is a real problem on our coasts around Wairarapa. I also was disappointed with the original sentence some of those involved in the Te Kaha case received and I am delighted that after an appeal from the Crown, jail terms have been imposed.
This was serious offending on a commercial scale so I am very pleased that the Court of Appeal has sent a signal to the community that poaching carries significant penalties. Poaching is theft.
As a government we have focused on stopping the illegal harvest and trade of fish species, particularly paua. This includes investing in more compliance staff and building a strong relationship with the paua industry.
I also joined with Wellington region's other seven Labour MPs in welcoming the government announcement of a further $660 million (ex GST) for the Capital's western transport corridor.
We will support whatever option the region chooses in order to give it the best chance of success.
We have worked hard to get the money. It's now up to the region to agree on the best solution. Last week's announcement is easily the most significant in Wellington's recent land transport history.
This Labour-led Government has now delivered a 10-year funding solution for addressing the western corridor. Last January the government announced $225 in new money for transport in the region and today's $660 million announcement takes the total announced this year to $885 million (exGST).
It is further proof of the Government's determination to reverse years of underinvestment in the 90s and the funding would not be possible in the face of unsustainable tax cuts. The benefits that will flow from this transport solution, including the easing of access and congestion in the region, will have a national spin-off as well.
I would like to congratulate Greater Wellington Regional Council chair Ian Buchanan on his forthright remarks during this announcement.
I was pleased to last Thursday join Denise MacKenzie in presenting a laptop to Chanel College through the laptops for teachers scheme thanks to Budget 2005.
Some 491 teachers in Wairarapa have already received laptops through the scheme, and this year's Budget included $14.2 million to complete the roll out of laptops to teachers nationwide.
Now teachers of junior classes will have access to these modern classroom tools.
Lifting the achievement of all students has been a priority for the Government and laptops are a powerful tool helping teachers deliver quality lessons.
The new funding extends the opportunity to lease laptops to permanent, fulltime teachers of years 1-3 students at state and state-integrated schools. Nationwide this brings the Government's investment in the initiative to $71 million and means more than 33,000 teachers will now be eligible to receive a laptop.
New technologies influence every aspect of our lives.
To achieve the social and economic benefits they can bring, we must continue to build the information and communications capability of teachers.
Teachers who've already got laptops are finding they have much better skills in using this technology when they teach. Laptops also ease their teaching workloads.
Coupled with other government initiatives such as the Project PROBE - delivering high speed internet to communities across New Zealand, and the bulk purchase of software, the laptops for teachers scheme will go a long way to enabling teachers to focus on quality education for a rapidly changing world.
Finally as we enter the first week of the school holidays, please remember to watch out for children as you go about your daily activities.
Obviously there will be more kids around the streets and shops over the next two weeks, so please take care and if you are travelling keep the speed down and seatbelts buckled.
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