The America's Cup reminds us how fast technology evolves. The benefits of technology should be available to all New Zealanders, no matter where they live.
Sometimes governments can look at issues and see benefits for our city cousins, which is great, however they forget that "rural people are people too"and the benefits of technology and infrastructure also apply in rural areas. The one difference, however, is that often in rural areas the deficit is far greater to start with.
There are a number of issues we are working on in this area. We successfully lobbied on the Rural Broadband Initiative, which saw an additional $250 million invested in rural broadband, on top of the initial $48m.
This includes an additional 154 cell towers to enhance mobile coverage. Mobile devices are the way of the future. Machine-to-machine data transfer is often talked about. In agriculture our animals are the "machines". We need a network that allows data to be sent from our animals and soils. A larger cell site footprint is vital.
The government is also in the process of auctioning the 700MHz spectrum that is used for television. This is a good spectrum for rural areas, as it goes further and has better performance. Following input from Federated Farmers, the tender requirements for rural coverage were increased to assist and enlarge that footprint.
All mail services are under review as New Zealand's mail volumes follow the international downward trend. Proposals suggest a three-day week service. There needs to be an alternative before we can agree to any change.
The road maintenance formula, used to allocate central government money spent on local roads, is also under review. The emphasis needs to be on the entire network, not just congestion. It is critical in any international supply chain that the first few miles of road from farm to factory, then to port, are well-maintained.
Whether it's telecommunications, post or roads, it is critical that we have good infrastructure to meet the export double target.
