Lee Melissa: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Lee Melissa: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Sitting date: 29 January 2013. Volume:687;Page:7579. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
MELISSA LEE (National) 
: 
 I would like to start my contribution to the debate on the Prime Minister’s statement by wishing everyone a happy New Year. I would like to take a leaf out of the previous speaker’s example and congratulate my colleagues on this side who have been elevated to ministership as well as the whips—the senior whip and junior whip positions. I know that you have all of our confidence and I trust that you will do a wonderful job. 
To those people celebrating lunar New Year—it is not New Year yet for some of us—gong xi fa cai xin nian kuai le sun nin fai lok akemashite omedetou gozaimasu and in my mother tongue in Korean se hae bok mani baduseyo which means may you receive lots and lots of luck. Happy New Year Mr Deputy Speaker. It is the Year of the Snake which is a symbol of steady progress. It was the Year of the Snake in 1965 1953 and 1941. So for those of you born in those years they were the Year of the Snake. The snake year symbolises steady progress and much wealth. Apparently the snake is a good omen. May this Year of the Snake be a good omen for this National-led Government for steady progress and wealth—much wealth—for all New Zealanders. 
My mother would always have us kids start off the year positive and I will remain positive. There will be no criticism of the Opposition no snipes just pure positivity. According to my mother—no Tim it is not going to be boring—we have to behave. The way we behave on New Year’s Day is how we will be for the rest of the year that follows. If I could make just one little remark before I get on to the positivity: I do not wish to waste my time reacting to rubbish from the Opposition. 
Now to the positivity. Since this day is like New Year’s Day as it is the first day of our parliamentary year I shall try to live up to my mother’s expectations and be good. And I feel really really good. I have had a great break with my family over the summer. I am full of energy and ready to take on the task and challenges of the working year like my colleagues in the National caucus. Some have returned with a better tan than I have. I do not have much of a tan. They have a healthy glow and a big big smile across their faces. It is lovely to see all of us right across this House in the Chamber ready for the new year and ready for the work ahead of us. May you and yours be blessed with good health and much happiness. 
During the summer break I did have a bit of time to reflect—apart from doing the weeding and the gardening and a bit of reading—and one of the things I did was to compare New Zealand with some of our near neighbours. Are we not just the best and most blessed little country in the world? I feel much empathy for our Australian neighbours battling bushfires all over the place. Every time I hear the news I feel terrible and now there is flooding as well. Although we have had our own share of natural disasters I felt blessed living in New Zealand over the summer because I did not have to go out and get out the hose to try to dampen down my house with the fear that a bushfire might engulf my house and destroy all the treasured memorabilia of our family or actually hurt one of my family members my loved ones or my neighbours. I cannot even begin to imagine how terrible it has been for our neighbours across the Tasman. My aroha and prayers go out to them. 
I have also had an opportunity to host a couple of visiting MPs from one of our Asian neighbours—in particular from Korea—and talk about the wonderful news of their brand new first-ever female President designate who will be inaugurated on 25 February this year. Considering that it was my dream as a child to become the first ever female President of South Korea I feel very proud that Korea has matured to see fit to elect a female President finally. When the visiting MPs and I were talking the MPs recognised that New Zealand was in fact the first country to allow women to vote and the fact that we have already had a couple of female Prime Ministers. They knew that fact and I felt very proud to be a New Zealander. 
Talking about being proud I feel very proud to support the Prime Minister’s statement in which he spelt out his vision and plan for the 2013 year. This National-led Government has a strong plan to grow our economy—to grow investment and to grow jobs—and to make New Zealand an even better place for all Kiwis. Our economy is actually robust. Since mid-2009 our economy has been growing at an average of about 2 percent a year and that is a better record than that of some other countries around the world if you look at the global economy. This National-led Government was re-elected in 2011 because New Zealanders believed that to build a faster-growing economy an economy that would support more jobs rising incomes and better public services New Zealand needed a National Government full stop. Kiwis trust that we as a country cannot borrow and spend that we cannot live beyond our means and that we have to get our finances in order. That means reducing debt and getting better results and better value for money from public services. It is a programme that is helping New Zealanders and their families get ahead encouraging personal responsibility and rewarding people for hard work. 
Our Business Growth Agenda details a large number of initiatives but I would like to specifically talk about the export markets. I know that my colleague John Hayes earlier spoke about the export markets but if I could actually add to that. We will continue to pursue high-quality trade agreements. We all know how important they are. To ensure market access for New Zealand goods and services the Government is currently negotiating free-trade agreements with 11 countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership including the United States and separately with a number of other countries including India Russia and Korea. We also know the kind of trade balance that the China - New Zealand free-trade agreement has produced. 
International trade is an essential component for a country like ours not just in goods and services but in cultural products. Although we have done really well with the  
Lord of the Rings 
 trilogy  
The Hobbit 
 and the Narnia movies we need to do more. As most of the members know I have been a champion of cultural content production and exchange and of promoting New Zealand films overseas and Asian films in New Zealand for a few years now. Through films and television the wide divide and cultural gap can actually be closed. Who would have thought a fat Korean comedian-singer known as Psy could capture a world audience with a song called “Gangnam Style” sung in Korean that everybody can understand—sort of—and at least dance to? It is estimated that every dollar spent making cultural content will produce at least 4½ times the value in downstream value. I was astounded to find out that a particular tree-lined walkway seen in a Korean film where there was a romantic walk by a main character in that movie generates 700000 visitors from overseas to that particular walkway a year. What a fantastic result! That is a direct result of cultural content that was exported out of Korea. I feel very proud that on this side of the House we are not Hobbit-haters and I hope that the films we produce in New Zealand can have the kind of downstream effect on tourism that Korea has seen for many many years. 
Another area that I feel passionately about is the social development area where Minister Paula Bennett has done a fabulous job. The bell has just rung so I do not have too much time to talk about it but just before the Christmas break I hosted the Hon Paula Bennett at a public meeting to talk about social welfare. It was heartening to hear stories and support from the public particularly from the disability sector. They agreed that often the words “invalids benefit” made them feel invalid and the changes we are making to the benefit title will actually give them more power to feel more confident. They want to work they want the opportunity to contribute to society and they feel that the Minister does a wonderful job for that particular community. I feel very very proud that this is the kind of positivity that this Government is delivering. 
The world is full of opportunities for New Zealand over the next couple of years. We need to seize every opportunity instead of complaining about it. As my mother says nothing gets done by just talking about it. This National-led Government is about action. We are about producing results. National has demonstrated that we can provide stable leadership in tough times and I am very proud to be part of the John Key - led National Government that is delivering for New Zealanders. Thank you.