van Velden BrookeBROOKE VAN VELDEN (Deputy Leader—ACT): Thank you Mr Speaker. It is my pleasure to take a short call tonight on behalf of the ACT Party in support of the second reading of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Legislation Bill. The ACT Party believes that our foreign policy should uphold the safety of its citizens but also should help to reflect our interests and our values on the international stage for the benefit of all New Zealanders under our democracy and I think we have to acknowledge that New Zealand is a small trading nation. There is an importance to having a rules-based order that we are a part of and that we can also help to shape. That's important for our peace and security not just in New Zealand but for our regional security and peace in the Asia-Pacific. It's also for the stability of our businesses. As we know a lot of businesses wish to export to larger and growing markets and there's an importance for us to be able to provide agreements that support them in their business opportunities. So that is the importance of trade agreements and of signing more of them for New Zealand. We are a small trading nation and those opportunities are not only for small businesses. If we actually look at what that means people every day up and down New Zealand start new businesses. They start small companies. It might just be one or two people or could even be up to a hundred people—there are so many different business opportunities. But as we see them grow it helps to create more jobs and more opportunities for a whole range of New Zealanders who may have never had that opportunity. So signing these agreements and allowing for more market access not only helps a small business but it helps employment opportunities in New Zealand for people who may not have had a job opportunity beforehand. So it can only be good for all of us and for all of society.But importantly signing regional trade agreements also helps us to not be at threat from other countries who may seek to wish us harm. So for a geopolitical perspective this means that New Zealand is less vulnerable to other big players who might decide that one day they don't like the way New Zealand is doing its democratically elected role and they wish to seek us harm. It is important for financial stability. It's important for those small-business owners that there are people acting in their interests to make sure that we have stability so that is why we agree with the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) being signed. It's for protectionism for New Zealand but also because we're seeing that protectionism from around the world as people start to become more enclosed. So we need to be ensuring agreements cross-party. It sends a message to a whole range of different countries that New Zealand is open for business and that we are open for opportunities and we're open for trade.That brings me to what actually is RCEP. Well RCEP anchors us in a regional agreement with around 30 percent of the world's population which is 2.3 billion people and around 30 percent of the world's GDP. More than half of New Zealand's trade and foreign direct investment flow through the Asia Pacific so this is a very big opportunity for us to become part of this regional agreement because it provides a framework and set of rules for how these countries will operate trade going forward. I have to take a moment to disagree with the previous speaker who said that because we already have free-trade agreements with a range of different countries within RCEP it doesn't matter. Well I'd completely disagree. I believe that the consequence of not being part of this agreement would actually end up with us being excluded from regional agreements going forward because of value chains. So if you take for example the rules of origin that are within RCEP's agreement we may find ourselves being discouraged from having input in non-RCEP countries because we aren't part of the same collective agreement and that would lead to a loss of economic opportunity. Also not being part of RCEP means that if RCEP decides in the future to create new rules then we wouldn't be able to be part of the negotiating for those rules and would be unable to influence them and that can only be a bad thing if we go back to ACT's original position on the importance of our foreign policy to uphold our values internationally. We need to be a player—we need to be at the table—in order to have influence in these international agreements.So in conclusion the ACT Party recognises the importance of free-trade agreements. They've pulled billions of people from poverty but in New Zealand's context they provide more opportunities and more jobs for New Zealanders here at home. It is in New Zealand's interests to be part of these regional agreements and it is also for the importance of regional stability as we see protectionism growing around the world. Thank you Madam Speaker.