GEORGINA BEYER (NZ Labour--Wairarapa): I am very pleased to stand up and contribute to this debate. It is my first opportunity to do so this year, and I will begin by welcoming members back, and wishing everyone a happy new year. It will be a happier new year for some than for others, because in the Prime Minister's statement, which we are debating at the moment, we have vision, leadership, and a framework by which we will move forward.

It will not hurt to recap on some of the key points that were raised in the Prime Minister's statement yesterday. Our Government has made key pledges that it has been determined to keep, in contrast to the broken promises of previous years. We have provided steady, predictable, and common-sense Government, and believe that that has been valued by New Zealanders. We have also signalled an end to hands-off economic management, and foreshadowed the development of smart interventions to facilitate economic growth. Growing an innovative New Zealand is a key and important point. The growth and innovation framework flows from advice received from across many sectors.

The resulting vision sees our country as a land where diversity will be valued and reflected in our national identity; a great place to live, learn, work, and do business; a birthplace of world-changing people and ideas; and a place where people invest in the future. That shared vision sees New Zealanders optimistic and confident about our country's future, celebrating our successes in all walks of life, creating globally competitive companies, committing to sustainable development, ensuring that a social dividend flows from economic success, and gaining strength from the Treaty of Waitangi as our nation's founding document. Those are just a few of the key points contained in the Prime Minister's speech yesterday.

One of the exciting things that will appear on the legislative programme, which the Prime Minister also referred to yesterday, is the overhauling of outdated local government legislation---an overhaul long awaited by local government in New Zealand. For more than 10 years we have wanted appropriate changes for local government, but administrations before this Labour-Alliance coalition Government came into power avoided those changes. By constraining the roles of local government, they wanted to keep local communities in an even stronger noose.

In my opinion, there has been some scaremongering about the devolution of responsibility proposed in the local government review. I believe that communities will welcome the opportunity to have greater input into the direction and aspirations of the community. That certainly fits in very well with the development of regional areas. More and more local authorities have not wanted to remain tied to the prescriptive nature of an outdated and over-amended Act, which is one of the largest statutes we have in this country. The legislation will be clarified, and will provide more communities with a greater power of general competence.

That phrase---the power of general competence---seems to have set off some scaremongering among business sector representatives, farming communities, and, certainly, the Opposition, which seem to think that part of the legislation will enable local governments to go on an absolute spending spree. But local authorities will be accountable to their communities. The legislation will empower communities to have a greater say, and to pay greater scrutiny to the direction they wish their areas to take.

Economic development, social development, and environmental issues are all matters that are closely addressed by local authorities, and by doing that, of course, local communities have their say. I see no particular problem with putting forward those kinds of proposals. Economic development in rural areas of New Zealand quite often has to work in partnership with local authorities. I look forward to debating in the Local Government and Environment Committee---which I am very proud to be a part of---the local government reforms we are proposing. There will be great opportunity.

There has been some criticism from members opposite about our Government's response in some instances. Members may recall that during a general debate speech late last year I had reason to comment on some unfortunate child murders in the Wairarapa area. In that speech I claimed that I would knock on the doors of a few Ministers and colleagues on this side of the House to seek assistance. I had barely drawn my second breath after doing that when I immediately had great cooperation from the office and department of the Hon. Steve Maharey. I also had great cooperation from the department of the Minister of Justice. They are working very closely with our civic and community leadership. That is an example of how central government, local government, and communities can work in partnership towards achieving the vision those communities have.

The role we are playing as we develop our anti-violence strategy in the Wairarapa is one of being supportive of the local community, and getting in behind to help it achieve its aspirations. That is part of a Government that listens, is caring, and shows leadership in the right context. The Government does not necessarily want to be the puppeteer in that particular matter in my electorate of Wairarapa. It wants to be there as a supportive backbone to a community that has identified the resources it needs, and has received those resources for it to dispense in an appropriate manner, as it sees fit, to suit the strategies we are developing.

We are working closely with Māori, and are acknowledging some of the treaty obligations we have in that regard. A large hui will begin tomorrow at Papawai Marae to deal with the issue of the anti-violence campaign. Naturally, we all know that many Māori families in New Zealand---and other families, for that matter---have been victims of child abuse and domestic violence. We hope that what we develop in the Wairarapa---as a community in its entirety, with its local and central government leadership working alongside the community---will help address that issue, and perhaps create a model for other areas of New Zealand to look at.

I thank those other members of New Zealand society who have made positive contributions to that issue. I see those contributions as being part of a cohesiveness in which communities work closely and well together. The growth in innovation strategy that the Prime Minister talked about in her speech certainly includes the social development policies that we have earmarked as a Government, and have acted upon. They work well. If we have a well-adjusted, cohesive local society, then we hope that some of the ills that pervade that society may be addressed by a common-sense approach. I am pleased to be part of a Government under the leadership of a Prime Minister like Helen Clark who is able to endorse those kinds of cooperative things and encourage them to occur.