McClay Todd; Tolley AnneHon TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua): I too rise to speak with pleasure on this debate around the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER) Plus. I do so because it is a very long time coming—whilst maybe not so much for this House or New Zealand certainly for the small and in many cases vulnerable Pacific Island countries who in good faith started negotiating with New Zealand and Australia in August of 2009. It's often said that nothing good happens quickly in trade negotiations—or some would say any negotiation; look at the coalition agreement—but putting all of that aside certainly nine years or eight years is a long time for these vulnerable States to wait for us to reach agreement about their future.As Minister at the time—or when I became associate trade Minister under the last trade Minister Tim Groser—I asked for specific responsibility for PACER-Plus because I was of the view that the only way we would make progress is if we with Australia shared a vision of driving this forward. I would say that there was great animosity and concern from our Pacific Island neighbours about the harm a trade deal could do or might do to them and we spent a lot of time talking about it being more than just trade. The PACER-Plus agreement is a model agreement that Pacific Island countries I know are proud of and should take to other parts of the world—the European Union the Americas—and hold it up as something that actually large countries can do with small vulnerable nations to help them secure a brighter and a stronger future.We said it was not a trade agreement; it was a trade and development agreement because we've found a way of marrying together trade and the importance of international trading rules with the development component of how we want these countries to grow to develop for poverty to be eradicated and in many cases where they're able to a greater self-sufficiency. It is a model agreement as I've said because it has achieved things that have never been done before with developed countries. So New Zealand with Australia I think can be quite proud of that.The last speaker the Minister for Economic Development spoke a bit about labour mobility and the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme which is extremely important for the Pacific Island countries. There were challenges that we faced as a larger trading nation with trade deals with others around the world in not being able to make the commitment to them in a trade deal that they wanted. My approach—and in fact the approach of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade—was not to say no but where there was an issue to find a solution to that with them. That's why I agree with the Minister that it is important that we are going ahead even though not all of the Pacific Island nations are ready to sign up and join because actually if we decided we'd wait till they would all sign we wouldn't be good neighbours. What always happens in trade negotiations is arms are twisted and things are done to make people come to the table and to finally decide they have to sign.In the case of particularly two countries Papua New Guinea and Fiji that they need some more time as larger economies and want to work through some other things I think is acceptable. What wouldn't be acceptable is if we made all of the other nations that have worked very hard to persuade their citizens of the importance of this agreement—they have made some very tough decisions around the table to put their name on paper in Tonga; it wouldn't be fair to them to then make them wait for what could be an extended period of time. They're ready to go ahead with it now they want the better access to New Zealand and Australia and they want the development assistance funds—more than $50 million—that will flow to help them with trade to get them ready. They want the aid-for-trade component of the agreement that says much more of New Zealand's development assistance will go towards the Pacific.I want to make particular mention of a number of people who have worked very hard here and indeed the officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and particularly the Pacific desk who actually have made friends with many of their counterparts in these countries to help us all arrive in a place where we can find this is acceptable. The Australian trade Minister Steve Ciobo put a lot of effort into persuading not only his Government but also some of the countries that PACER-Plus was in their best interests. I want to recognise the Hon Shane Jones as a former ambassador who joined me in Australia not so long ago—where there was no dining it was working hard right throughout the night with our colleagues in the Pacific. That was the meeting where we concluded PACER-Plus was done and then that it would be signed.Finally to all of the parties in this Parliament—the Minister mentioned a desire for bipartisanship. Well we've had a lot of to-ing and fro-ing in the last little while about the revised Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and exactly what bipartisanship means. It's the Opposition's job to absolutely hold the Government to account and Minister we will continue to do so over the revised TPP but when it comes to other areas of trade if he is genuine in his desire to be bipartisan we would welcome that because trade is good for New Zealand and New Zealanders don't do well when this Parliament fights over trade.That's why I'm grateful to all other parties who are in this Parliament who accepted an invitation from me as Minister—from New Zealand First from Labour and from the Green Party—to go to Tonga to witness the signing. It was a real show of strength and support on the part of the New Zealand Parliament—and whilst Australia was there it was not in the significant numbers or representation that New Zealand was. That sent a very clear message to the Pacific Island nations who were there to sign and the ones that weren't yet ready to sign that the New Zealand Parliament—not just the Government but the Parliament—supports them and wants to work with them and we do so through respect as neighbours and as equals.Finally for some of the nations that are yet not ready to put pen to paper the very good news was Vanuatu who couldn't be at the signing because they had some issues have since signed and we left the door open to them to be able to. So I would say to Fiji and to Papua New Guinea and a few of the compact countries in the North: we want to continue to work with you because it's a high-quality agreement it's done in partnership it will help our nations grow closer together and it will really deliver a better future for islands that are full of wonderful talented people in many cases who are vulnerable. Thank you.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The Hon William Su'a Sio.