Hutchison Paul: Tariff (AANZFTA) Amendment Bill Customs and Excise (AANZFTA) Amendment Bill — Third Readings 
Hutchison Paul: Tariff (AANZFTA) Amendment Bill Customs and Excise (AANZFTA) Amendment Bill — Third Readings 
[Volume:655;Page:4917] 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON (National—Hunua) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to follow Dr Kennedy Graham who undoubtedly is a true gentleman and gracious parliamentarian. I acknowledge the huge experience that member has had in this area over many years. I think that his idea of a triad—as he called it a “NatLab-Green” triad—is somewhat visionary. One of these days maybe there will be areas of consensus. Certainly this is an area where the National Party and the Labour Party quite rightly agree; that is that vital trade is fundamentally important to our economy. 
I also acknowledge the fact that Dr Graham lamented excessive obsession with economic growth but then went on to say that he acknowledges that a huge richness has developed over the last 30 40 50 years in New Zealand that is continuing to expand. In an earlier debate I said how my wife who runs a ballet school now goes throughout Asia— 
Hon Pete Hodgson 
: Ballet school? 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: —I mentioned that—examining for the Royal Academy of Dance. The point I am making is that that sort of interchange would hardly be thought of 20 years ago yet now it is becoming commonplace. When I go back to my electorate in Hunua and Pukekohe where there is a very very diverse community I think of the huge interchanges that we have achieved both economically and culturally. They are now so important to a totally different way of life than what New Zealand had 40 to 50 years ago. 
Like the Hon Pete Hodgson I want to acknowledge the genesis of this bill and those who were associated with it. I note that ASEAN was founded way back in 1967. I was not too far wrong when I mentioned the Hon Lockwood Smith as one of those responsible for the start of the good work that was later followed by such others as Phil Goff and the most excellent Tim Groser who is out there today working hard for New Zealand. We became an ASEAN dialogue partner in 1974 and in 1995 the ASEAN and CER trade and economic Ministers agreed to establish a dialogue to facilitate trade and investment linkages between the two regions. It has grown considerably since that time. The ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Bill has been divided into two bills. I acknowledge the fact that the legislation has been hardly changed which is of great tribute to the parliamentary counsel and like Pete Hodgson I acknowledge the officials who have worked very hard in this area. 
I want to go back to a couple of the submissions that we had and that I was particularly struck with. One submission came from the Seafood Industry Council. 
Grant Robertson 
: It was very good. 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: Yes it was very good. The point they made was that New Zealand was being if anything under-ambitious in the area of seafood trade. That points to the fact that here we are in a country that has a huge economic zone that has huge opportunity to increase our trade in seafood yet we account for only 0.4 percent of global production from wild capture fisheries as well as from aquaculture. In comparison the ASEAN nations have about 8 percent of global seafood exports. Indeed there is a huge opportunity for us to expand in that area and into that enormous market. 
The other point that Dr Kennedy Graham made was about the green trade issue. He feels that it is very important that we acknowledge air freight and sea freight because they represent 2 percent of global emissions. One hopeful thing is the fact that we read recently in  
The Economist 
 that there is likely to be a solar-powered flight right around the globe in the next year or two. That is the sort of technology that the world will be embracing and hopefully New Zealand will also be embracing it in terms of our research and development. It may be embraced at a much more modest level to start with but after all we had the boat that travelled around the globe using biofuels call in the other day. That boat will be going down to the South Seas to chase the Japanese fleet and their whaling activity. That is the sort of thing that I am sure we will be embracing in years to come. 
There is no doubt that this agreement is a very significant one and that it is very beneficial to New Zealand. It involves 12 countries 566 million people and the whole area has a GDP of something like $700 billion. I understand it will come into force at the moment this legislation is enacted today. I believe it will benefit New Zealand and our area for decades ahead. Thank you very much.