Shearer David: Debate On Pacific IssuesText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeShearer David: Debate On Pacific Issues[Sitting date: 18 April 2013. Volume:689;Page:9557. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID SHEARER (Leader of the Opposition): Talofa lava malo e lelei kia orana taloha ni bula vinaka. I could go on and on because there are 22 different greetings that I could give today. I just want to say warm Pacific greetings to you all. Tēnā koutou katoa. I hope you are enjoying the Wellington weather. If you think this is bad you should see it on a really bad day. This is my Wellington compatriot Grant Robertson here beside me. It is wonderful to have you here with us today. As I say there are 70 different delegates from 22 different nations.Aotearoa New Zealand is a Pacific nation. It is geographically where we live. More than 20 percent of our population is Polynesian—either Māori or Pacific migrants. They are descendants particularly from Samoa Tonga the Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau with which New Zealand has very close relationships. Auckland is the largest Polynesian city in the world. The gateway to Auckland is guarded by Su’a William Sio the member for Māngere who says that he will be staying there for a long time. The gateway to Wellington is guarded by Kris Faafoi. If you are going through Mana that is his patch. So two of our Pacific MPs guard the entrance to two of our biggest cities. Pacific nations are—Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga: What about us?DAVID SHEARER: And over there—Sam you are sort of in the middle. You pass through Sam’s electorate when you are going somewhere else.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson): Order! The member must use the member’s full name.DAVID SHEARER: The Pacific nations are our neighbours in the Pacific region but they are also our neighbours in our streets—and in my street in particular—so it is quite a unique relationship that we have. Pasifika people are overrepresented in our teams particularly our rugby teams and our rugby league teams. One of the great problems about the emigration to Australia is that we are losing some of our best talent which we would rather have here and giving it to our Australian opponents.Although much in our culture and heritage has come from our European ancestry and we are an increasingly multicultural country Pacific influences have shaped the unique character of us as New Zealanders. We are part of the Pacific and as a small country we look as a priority to making a contribution in the neighbourhood in which we live. We are committed to working with our neighbours to realise the vision set out by the Pacific Islands Forum leaders that our region should be one of peace harmony security and economic prosperity. It makes sense for our elected representatives and leaders to come together to discuss the issues and challenges that confront our region and to work together to enhance the lives of all our peoples. One outcome will be that we get to know each other better and develop habits of cooperating and collaborating on a much more regular basis. The Pacific Islands Forum as you know is now in its 40th year and it provides an opportunity for Prime Ministers leaders and Foreign Ministers to get together for talks.This forum today is the initiative of our Parliament and I recognise the role that has been played by the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee by its chairpersonJohn Hayes and by the other members of that team to bring together and enhance the cooperation between parliaments and between parliamentarians. Once again I say that it is a great pleasure and an honour to welcome you here.Democracy is a common feature in our region. We know that democracy is a fragile thing and one of the goals of this conference is to discuss how we can make democracy and the effectiveness and responsiveness of our parliaments that much better. Democracy needs a free media. It needs an independent and strong judiciary. It needs institutions that guarantee and protect human rights. It requires openness and transparency. All of those things help to protect the rights of people. It also needs properly functioning political parties to help bring order efficiency and predictability to the way our political system operates.I hope you were not put off too much by our question time. That is what we call robustness of debate and holding the Government to account. It is going to be so much better when we are on that side of the House and we have to answer the questions rather than on this side where we have to ask them.Hon Annette King: It won’t be long.DAVID SHEARER: It will not be long. We are counting down the days. I have got a calendar on my wall and I am just ticking them off.Good governance in turn helps us to achieve economic development and the social services that people need in order to lead secure and fulfilling lives.The global financial crisis as we know revealed just how fragile the economies of many countries in our region actually are. Export levels and growth have fallen. Some countries have had to face real debt problems. We know others have vast natural resources and yet others are less well-endowed. We need to focus on how we develop the strengths of our regions—through fisheries through our tropical agriculture and through tourism—and reduce the dependence on imported fossil fuels.We also need to help build infrastructure and develop our human resources. We need to create decent transport and communication links. I for one would like to see better links around the Pacific so our relatives can get to family weddings and to funerals. I am actually reminded as I say that of The Laughing Samoans whom many of you might know who do travel around the Pacific every year. They make money out of making people laugh which I have to say must be a great occupation. Some people say that politicians are a bit like that as well.Economic development must be sustainable. It must benefit all of the people in a country not just its elite. Most particularly we know that our environment is fragile and that our economic development must be environmentally sound. The Pacific is a beautiful region but the reality is that the region is not as picture postcard - like underneath as it might seem. We have some real challenges certainly socially and economically. We are well off-track with the UN Millennium Development Goals for example. So there are big challenges and we need to work together to try to resolve them.It is appropriate therefore that half of our development assistance is directed at the Pacific something that actually was not the case for quite a long time until the Labour Government and I am pleased that the National Government has continued the trend—I mean that sincerely—to focus assistance in that direction. But achieving better results for the Pacific also requires old and new donor nations to work together and support each other. It is important to work with not just countries like Australia Japan and the EU but also China which is on-track to become the world’s largest economy. We have to work cooperatively with all of those partners.Finally there are other areas where New Zealand can continue to play a key role and support. In particular what we call our Project Protector created significant newresources in our navy. We have a small but perfectly formed Defence Force which actually is getting smaller by the day under this Government. Nevertheless we have as part of those resources a multi-role vessel and inshore and offshore patrol vessels which can help with search and rescue with fisheries protection and with dealing with the impacts of natural disasters such as cyclones and tsunamis. Those assets were purchased with the primary focus being to work more positively in the Pacific.This conference is not about obviously telling Pacific countries what they want or what they should do. It is about working together as the neighbours that we are learning together and collaborating to find solutions to the problems and challenges that we face. I hope that the conference is not just a one-off event—once again I congratulate the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee for its foresight—but rather is a first step in a parliamentary dialogue and decision-making process that can be expanded and that can be therefore a foundation for further and ongoing parliamentary cooperation. Kia ora tātou.