SpeechHon MEKA WHAITIRI (Associate Minister of Agriculture): E te Māngai o te Whare tēnā koe otirā ngā mema katoa o te Whare nei tēnā tātou katoa.[Mr Speaker and all the members in the House greetings one and all.]Can I just please add my condolences on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II; I haven't had a chance to talk on that. Moe mai e te Ariki.[Rest in peace your Royal Highness.]Can I also acknowledge the passing of Maanu Paul another solider within Māoridom that passed recently. E te rangatira haere haere haere atu rā.[To the revered chief may you rest in peace.]Today's debate is around acknowledging that we have come through two years of trial and tribulation not just in our country but internationally—through the global pandemic and the consequences of that. I too want to add my acknowledgment and thanks to the many front-line workers that kept us operating as a country. In my contribution today I want to focus on one particular sector that kept our economy afloat—and I want to also talk about the Government's support of that economy—and that's the primary sector. The primary sector in June of this year 2022 returned a $52.2 billion export revenue. For that member who asked about outcomes I want to concentrate on outcomes. I want to talk about the economy and what we are seeing but particularly focusing on the primary industries. So $52.2 billion is an outcome that we should acknowledge in this House. That makes up 81.8 percent of our trade total 11.1 percent of our overall GDP and 13.8 percent of the employment sector. It is our primary sector that is the backbone of this nation and I want to stand and acknowledge the work our farmers our food processors everyone in the chain that has contributed. I've got to say the work of this Government in determining that they were essential workers when the rest of the nation was locked down enabled them to operate and to get their goods to market. Not only did we help in that respect but we also enabled with the contribution towards airfreight—the Government invested $831 million of money which generated wait for it an economic value of $22.5 billion. It meant 235000 tonnes of goods—through the Government's investment—was able to get to market. I don't think that is an undesired event in terms of the contribution from this Government. But it's the dairy industry that got $21.6 billion an increase of 13 percent; meat and wool $12.2 billion up 18 percent; seafood—and we all knew that at the beginning of lockdown many of the seafood captures either had to be put back into the sea or not collected because of the closures around our domestic restaurants but also internationally—$1.9 billion an increase of 9 percent. So our primary industries really did us proud over this year supported by the Government. But the other thing I want to talk about in supporting our primary industries—because we all know many of us in this House as rural electoral MPs how hearty our rural and farming communities are. But I want to acknowledge the trade agenda of this Labour Government the Trade for All Agenda and the particular focus on the lowering of tariffs plus the opening of new markets. That's what we've seen with the work that our Prime Minister has been doing since we've been open to the world supported by our Minister for Trade and Export Growth and the former Minister for Trade and Export Growth in carving out new trade agreements. I want to take the time to talk about the deals like the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership the New Zealand - China free trade agreement upgrade the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership the New Zealand - European Union Free Trade Agreement and the New Zealand - United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement. These are examples of the hard work that this side continues to do in the trade space that opens new markets for our primary producers. I'm very very proud that we've still got Ministers out there on the road right as we speak again forging new markets. I just want to take the time to acknowledge the week that I've been in India. India is a fast-growing economy 1.3 billion people and having had the opportunity to speak at the International Dairy Federation I can report back to this House that we are a reputable country in terms of the food we produce and because of our dairy and this is something we should take forward and celebrate as a nation.