Mitchell MarkHon MARK MITCHELL (National—Rodney): Thank you very much Mr Speaker. I find it ironic that we have the Minister for Small Business standing in this House telling us how important 1 percent of GDP is—which I agree with you—when during the debate on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) when we were in Government your caucus colleagues were standing up and saying One percent of GDP is insignificant and actually we want to get rid of this agreement. It's no good—1 percent of GDP." So it's amazing how things have changed. Mr Speaker I went back and—Hon Ruth Dyson: Mark Mark—"Madam".Hon MARK MITCHELL: —sorry Madam Assistant Speaker—had a look at some of the Hansards from the debates during the debate on the TPP. It was a bit of a wander down memory lane because at that time I was chairing the committee that heard these submissions and I was locked in a debate at the time with Mr Grant Robertson. In his view—and it's very important that we remember this. I want to acknowledge the Rt Hon Bill English and also the Hon Todd McClay because all of you will remember—and Stuart Nash the previous speaker acknowledged the Hon Phil Goff in terms of actually it was the Labour Party that first got this agreement started right? So in light of that I want to acknowledge the Rt Hon Bill English and the Hon Todd McClay who got this agreement started again. During the debate in this House and during the public debates that I had out there with Grant Robertson—when the Americans withdrew from the agreement there was a great celebration that went on from the now Government parties that the agreement had fallen over and that it was no longer in existence. I had to stand up and Grant Robertson and the people in the room enjoyed ridiculing me about the fact that I said "Actually as a Government we believe that we can get this thing back on track. We believe that we can still deliver a comprehensive trade agreement for New Zealand with the other 11 partners in that TPP." Well now it's comprehensive and progressive and I have to acknowledge Mr Parker. He's been working hard the last three months. He's been burning the midnight oil. You know he's been all over the world and he's come back and he's delivered two new pages to the TPP. So I have to acknowledge that: two more pages. Let's have a look at some of Grant Robertson's comments. Just—Hon Gerry Brownlee: All tradeable.Hon MARK MITCHELL: All tradeable—all tradeable. I'll just put a line under this this. This is what Grant Robertson said in the House when he was talking about the TPP in one of our debates: "In the years following my time at university I used to have what I guess would be called [anxiety dreams]. I would dream that I had not studied for a really important exam that was about to take place and I did not know what the date was and I would get very stressed about this. I think others in the House may at times in their lives have had similar kinds of anxiety dreams. Of course then I would wake up and realise that in actual fact there was no exam for me to study for and it was all unnecessary anxiety." He was talking about the failure of the TPP. He wanted it to fail. He wanted it to go away. Then he had this to say in the debate: "But instead the National Party continues to live in a state of denial. So once and for all for the National Party's benefit it is over it is finished move on find something new. That is the truth. It is not a matter of political cynicism Mr Mitchell it is the reality. What New Zealanders need is a Government that actually gets alongside them and does not put its faith in one single thing—does not put its eggs or its cows or whatever it is into one basket—because that is what unfortunately the National Government has done when it comes to the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement." Hon Todd McClay: Thank God he didn't become Minister of Finance! Hon MARK MITCHELL: That's right. So I just want to acknowledge the Rt Hon Bill English who went to Japan and met with their Prime Minister. Together they made a commitment that they would get the TPP back on track. It was revived and we're able to stand in the House today and we're actually able to have this debate. I agree with the comments that were made too that actually when it comes to trade there should be bipartisan support and agreement in relation to those trade agreements. Unfortunately when we were in Government and when I was chairing the committee we didn't have that. I remember hearing submissions from Professor Jane Kelsey and I remember in the committee having discussions around how much time we should give her at the committee because as you know she's taken a firm position against the TPP. Hon Todd McClay: We'll give her a lot of time this time. Hon MARK MITCHELL: Look I remember—that's right. I remember the Opposition members lobbying me hard—"We have to give her an hour. You know other people only get 15 minutes."—and I agreed to it. Then she'd turn up and she was very good to work with and she was very respectful of the committee and the committee of her. But she would turn up to the committee and she'd be met by a Labour member and she'd be ushered in—a cup of tea and a sandwich—and she'd be well-looked-after. They'd sit there and she'd be like a rock star and the Opposition members would be rushing to the mosh pit to listen to her. Now I see that she's come out and said "Fundamentally there's no change to this agreement. This is the same agreement. There's no real change." So are the Government listening to her? No they've put her on a train to Siberia. There's no more cups of tea. There's no more cucumber sandwiches. She's on the train to Siberia—they don't want to listen to her. But she's absolutely right. Fundamentally there's no change to this agreement. It's a good agreement but there are no changes to this agreement. Finally I just want to say that in terms of consultation actually for the Government to pass this legislation they need the support of the National Party. They need our support. So you'd think that they'd want to reach out across the aisle and they'd want to consult. In all fairness can I acknowledge the Hon David Parker when he acknowledged Todd McClay in saying that when he was Minister he went out and he did an exhaustive process in terms of public consultation. It actually brought a lot of New Zealanders with it which was an outstanding process and it achieved great things. In his time as Minister let me give you some examples: a trip to Tonga to sign the PACER-Plus—cross-party involvement. Fletcher Tabuteau went and Annette King and Barry Coates from the Green Party who was very actively involved in the trade argument. When he went on a trade mission to the eurozone he took the Rt Hon Winston Peters with him. When he went on a trade mission to Iran he took the Hon David Clark with him. He reached out across the aisle and he made sure that the other parties were included because he recognised that actually when it comes to trade that fundamentally is very important. So the one thing that I'd ask you and the one thing that I'd say to you is please make sure there's consultation with us. Please make sure that we're engaged. Please take us with you. Thank you."