HAMISH WALKER (National—Clutha-Southland): I rise to speak in support of Sarah Dowie's Supplementary Order Paper (SOP), SOP 438, which seeks to exclude the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) from this bill, the transitional arrangements that convert existing polytechs into this mega polytech. This bill is absolutely going to gut the province of Southland, not only cost jobs at SIT but it's going to cost the province a lot in the long run. SIT is the heartbeat of Southland. The negative consequences of this bill come from the centralisation of assets and the centralisation from the decision-making powers. My colleague Sarah Dowie, who's currently travelling to Parliament in a plane at the moment, and I have been fighting this for well over one year. This will send the Southland community back to the days of the 1980s-1990s, when we had a declining population.