Bakshi Kanwaljit Singh: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBakshi Kanwaljit Singh: General Debate[Sitting date: 06 November 2013. Volume:694;Page:14411. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]KANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI (National): It has been very rare for me to follow two positive speeches—one by the Hon Nathan Guy and the other by Shane Ardern—talking about positive things. It is my pleasure to participate in the general debate today. We have been celebrating Diwali in our Parliament since 2005. As we celebrate Diwali today in Parliament once again I feel proud to reside in a country that values all cultural diversity. May I also share that we are a small nation. However we have close to 100 nationalities living in this beautiful country. The reason for this of course is the very welcoming and open attitude of New Zealanders. All migrants play a very important role in building trade and cultural ties between their native countries and their adopted country which is New Zealand.I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Indian Space Research Organisation on the successful launch of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle flight C25 into Mars’ orbit. With this successful launch India has entered a group of select countries with its first Mars mission announced as a success.In the past month or so I have had the opportunity to travel across New Zealand to attend Diwali celebrations. It was wonderful to see that in most of the places I visited the majority of people attending Diwali celebrations were not of Indian origin; rather these were New Zealanders who have embraced and open-heartedly accepted Indian Kiwis. I could see people enjoying the food the dances and the cultural performances and buying ethnic dresses for themselves and their children.Another wonderful example of New Zealanders having positively embraced Indian Kiwis is in our sports teams. Ish Sodhi a Kiwi Indian cricketer was recently included in the Black Caps squad and represented the New Zealand cricket team againstBangladesh. Before Ish we had Dipak Patel and Jeetan Patel both cricketers of Indian Kiwi origin who represented New Zealand. It is my dream to see a person of Asian ethnicity make it into the mighty All Blacks one day.Ethnic communities have educated us about new ways of living and doing things. These may not necessarily be what we are used to. It is the difference of other eating patterns lifestyles and social behaviour and it gives New Zealand its international flavour. This is a very positive lesson that I learnt long ago. It is not right. It is not wrong. It is just different. I choose to live and learn from this statement.The Christchurch earthquake was no doubt a tragic and unforgettable event in the history of this country. However the best thing for me to see each time I visit Christchurch is how different cultures and communities help each other and continue to do so without any prejudice. As I visit different parts of New Zealand I continue to hear great things that New Zealanders share with me on the work of this National Government. While the Opposition continues with negativity the growing reality is that the average New Zealander is positive about the direction that the leader of the National Party the Rt Hon John Key is taking us in. Ordinary New Zealanders are very happy with the progress we have made. When the rest of the world lags at subzero levels of growth we manage to average about 2 percent.The recent survey by the Bank of New Zealand reveals that business confidence at present is at the highest level in decades. There are no doubts in my mind that the migrant community of New Zealand has contributed to our nation’s growth and business confidence. The recent media release by Statistics New Zealand confirms that employment growth continues in the labour market. The employment rate rose to 64.4 percent and unemployment fell to 6.2 percent. Over the September 2013 quarter the number of people employed rose by 2.4 percent in the household labour force survey. Demand for workers from established businesses rose by 1.9 percent in the quarterly employment survey.