McClay ToddHon TODD McCLAY (Minister of Trade): David Parker the previous speaker was certainly excited if nothing else. If the octave level of his speech had gone any higher the lovely windows here may have fallen in. That is the problem with speeches like that because they tell you a lot about what is really going on behind the scenes. That member is now leaving the seat that is actually normally occupied by Chris Hipkins. I think that Chris Hipkins has gone off to Australia to apologise for meddling in other people's politics rather than focusing on what that speaker said the Labour Party is all about.But it is not so surprising that he decided to come out and attack the productive part of New Zealand—our rural sector—and say that whilst this Government has been off doing trade deals to give them better access an incoming Labour Government would tax Kiwis out of business. That is because if we think about all those years ago when he was rejected by the electorate he said he was a very proud rural member of Parliament and so I think that he along with all of his colleagues has decided to focus on the part of New Zealand that generates income for the country and that delivers jobs up and down throughout the regions and those members have decided to tax New Zealanders out of business. That will not be the only tax we will hear about from them. There will be many many more and each one of them will show just how out of touch they remain after 9 years in Opposition.This week there was good news for New Zealand and that good news came from Moody's which said that New Zealand is expected to be one of the fastest-growing economies out of any triple A economy in the coming years. It will be better than Australia and Britain and the US—countries whose economies are facing challenges because of political upheaval.Our unemployment rate continues to fall. It is now at 4.8 percent on the back of a strong economy and a rural sector that continues to deliver up and down New Zealand. There are 180000 jobs that have been created inflation is low and interest rates are low. We are the first developed country in the world to get back to not only Government surpluses but sustainable surpluses on the back of a hard-working Government and a former finance Minister—Bill English—who got New Zealand through the global financial crisis. He was the rock that the success of the New Zealand economy is being built on.There is strong growth in every part of New Zealand and the regions particularly are stepping up. Every region of New Zealand is doing well and the Opposition wants to tax New Zealanders out of business.As the Minister of Trade I am proud to represent overseas all New Zealanders and go off to fight for a better deal for them and for better access so that when the Government backs Kiwis we level the playing field and they can do well everywhere they go to. There are 620000 jobs due to exports and the export economy in New Zealand. Many of those are in the rural areas and this Government will not stand by when others want to tax rural New Zealand out of business. Within that for the first time we have had $70 billion worth of exports up from $29 billion in 1995. There are 620000 jobs that deliver for Kiwis and that provide for them and their families.We have an ambitious programme of work ahead of us because there is always much more to do in trade. We have set an ambitious target of 90 percent of the trade of New Zealand's goods being covered by free-trade agreements (FTAs) by 2030. We have launched a trade negotiation with the Pacific Alliance—the countries of Chile Peru Colombia and Mexico—and agreed with it just a short month ago that we want to work hard and deliver that within the next 12 months. The party on this side of the House the Government is committed to delivering for New Zealanders through the Trans-Pacific Partnership 11 (TPP11) to give access for Kiwis to level the playing field in 10 other markets—first FTAs in four countries—and most importantly the world's third-largest economy Japan. And by the way Japan has just signed a deal with the EU and if New Zealand does not have access through the TPP11 our exporters will be worse off. They will not be competitive compared with the Europeans.We are committed to launching an FTA with the UK. Its Foreign Minister was here a short while ago confirming we are on track for that. The European Union with $20 billion worth of exports—two-way trade—is important to us. We have launched upgrades to the China FTA that will deliver jobs for New Zealand to Singapore and to ASEAN countries. And finally we are committed to working with the US to make sure that Kiwis get a fair deal there—they can get access.Rural New Zealand is important to New Zealand. It does not deserve to be taxed out of business and this Government will fight for it here and around the world for jobs for New Zealanders through trade. Thank you.