Grigg NicolaNICOLA GRIGG (National—Selwyn): I rise as the National Party spokesperson for trade and export growth. Very pleased to support as the Minister's just said the swift ratification of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Legislation Bill.I recently—thanks also to the Minister—had a fascinating conversation with one of New Zealand's most senior trade negotiators and he shared his view that after a 25-year agenda of aggressive free-trade agreement (FTA) negotiations New Zealand is at the end of the golden weather. He used this expression to describe a current trade environment dealing with increasing geopolitical tension rising protectionism closed borders a weakened World Trade Organization and frankly the damage caused to New Zealand's reputation as a stable uncomplicated trading partner brought about by divided public and political sentiment over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).The very clear strategy therefore to return to those halcyon days is to secure diversified FTAs with high-end markets. As a small trading nation at the bottom of the Pacific New Zealand must be outward-focused and work across the world to advance the values in trading interests to benefit all New Zealanders. To do this we need to build on the strong bilateral and multilateral relationships we already have and seize new opportunities to advance the interests of New Zealanders across the globe. Multilateralism has served New Zealand well. Successful multilateral action has enhanced our reputation and tonight we're here to discuss the RCEP which is a part of that puzzle. It anchors New Zealand in a region that is the engine room of the global economy and reduces complexity and compliance costs for exporters through a single rulebook for all 15 markets.The National Party worked hard in Government to advance RCEP as a significant opportunity to bring together many of the largest economies in Asia as well as ASEAN nations. As always we must acknowledge the Hon Tim Groser for his efforts because they will bring significant impact.Unlike the unfortunate scenes the world witnessed from Labour MPs and activists as we negotiated the TPP National will not play politics on trade so much so that the scrutiny of this bill by the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee made virtually no changes. As the Minister noted there are some technical changes that need to be made to some law to enact this legislation: simple things like the bill will enable preferential tariff rates under the partnership and make an amendment to provide for eight years of transitional safeguard mechanisms to provide temporary relief to domestic industries. It also makes minor technical changes to the Customs and Excise Act of 2018 that allow authorised third party certification bodies to operate for the purposes of the RCEP. It brings new market access for New Zealand exporters to Indonesia through tariff elimination on a number of products including sheep meat beef fish dairy honey and some horticulture.Happily we have some new services and investment market access commitments by some RCEP countries that go beyond existing free-trade agreements. Notably China and the largest ASEAN nations have made investment commitments to New Zealand for the first time. We do note though with some disappointment the withdrawal of India from RCEP and are pleased by the fast-tracked accession agreement in place should the great nation of India change its mind. We don't currently have an FTA with India as this House will know and this would present real gains for New Zealand exporters if they had been at the table. So I encourage the Government in the strongest terms possible to engage with India to ensure that we are advancing our economic relationship as much as possible.Our country's ability to recover from COVID will be determined by how well our exporters can continue to access traditional and new markets for goods and services. Equally trade policy should not become a geopolitical football. If it does New Zealand's interests will be pushed to the sidelines and that is the real live risk that I mentioned earlier. It's for this reason we support the expansion of Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) to all countries that are willing to comply with CPTPP's high standards whether they be China the United Kingdom or the United States. We need these large agreements to engage with our key trading partners to improve the environment for New Zealand exporters so that they can continue to thrive.Trade agreements though are just a small part of what allows our exporters to succeed. The Government needs to urgently consider what we are doing to support exporters to make the most of these formal trade agreements. We are seeing increasing frustration from exporters who since March last year have not been able to travel to engage with their customers. Every day we see reports that they are missing out on opportunities to others who can spend time up in market and can then return to their home country. The managed isolation and quarantine system is throttling exporters' ability to engage—Hon Kris Faafoi: Is that in the bill? NICOLA GRIGG: —with their markets. Our exporters need that fixed urgently—not just very soon Kris Faafoi. We look forward to the Government responding to those exporters' needs so that by the time this bill is passed they are fully geared up to begin trade with our partners through this agreement. The National Party is pleased to commend this bill to the House this evening.