There's no denying we're building a brighter future

Construction work on the new drilling tower at Open Country dairy on Heads Road.

Last Friday night I went to the training industry graduation in Whanganui.

There were many happy and proud faces - and not just the graduates. And the story is the same across the electorate.

The most striking thing was to see the range of age and occupational status of those getting their certificates.

They weren't just the young, or the middle-aged - they were the whole gamut of ages and the bosses were up-skilling and getting certified as well as the new entrants into the labour market.

Drive up the main street, cruise around the industrial area or out in the country and see the new buildings, the scaffolding, the new paint, new seal, new activity. Nobody can miss the growth going on around our electorate at the moment.

From one end to the other there are new premises, new businesses and a bit of a buzz. Each week when we open the newspaper there are awards for topping the occupational, industry and social sectors.

On November 28, Prime Minister John Key will come to Wanganui and to Hawera to open new buildings or businesses.

A couple of empty shops may indicate the new way we are doing retail online or bowing to the competition in bigger centres nearby, but the jobs are being created and unemployment is falling.

In Taranaki nearly a one per cent drop in jobless, and in Wanganui half a per cent.

A total of 72,000 people went in to work last year - and that does not include people changing jobs; that is from not a job to got a job.

When we talk about regional development, often all we hear about is the government moving agencies from the Big Smoke to provincial areas to create jobs locally. Yet the biggest thing a government can do is keep interest rates low, so owners will borrow to build their company and employ more people.

It should grease the machine of NZ Inc, so it is easier to do business between New Zealand and export traders and so tweak up economic growth.

We have almost a full per cent lower unemployment than Australia and the fourth highest economic growth in the OECD.

We are among the easiest to do business with in the world and one of the safest places to live. And you'd expect to see proof of these things by a growing number of Kiwis returning to New Zealand to live, work and raise a family - and they are coming back.

Average wages have risen twice the rate of inflation and food prices fell slightly in the past year. There are 12,000 more women in the workplace, and every week 1600 are coming off a benefit and in to work.

The nay-sayers will say: "Yeah, but not in Whanganui, not in Manaia, Eltham, Stratford, not in Waverley ... ". And they would all be wrong.

In every town across our electorate there is job growth and confidence being shown in the future as we are tracking right now. Even with a downturn in dairy prices, there is confidence.

So there is every reason to back what is happening locally and nationally.