Joyce Steven: General Debate 
Joyce Steven: General Debate 
[Volume:670;Page:16825] 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister of Transport) 
: 
 First I would like to take a moment to extend my sympathies to the family of Private Mila and the other families involved in the incident in Afghanistan. Private Mila will be sorely missed and I wish those injured the speediest recovery possible. 
Today is a special day in the Australia - New Zealand relationship. Australia and New Zealand have one of the most open economic and trade relationships of any two countries. Australia has a population that is five times the size of New Zealand’s and the thing that should give pause for thought to every member in this Chamber is the fact that the Australian economy is seven times the size of New Zealand’s economy. Australia is the most important trading partner we have and it is New Zealand’s closest neighbour. 
It was a real pleasure to hear the Australian Prime Minister speak in this House this morning. It was also pleasing to hear her observe as have almost all Australian Prime Ministers before her the importance of Australia being an open economy and the recognition of the importance of the economic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s—painful though they were for both countries—in giving Australia the prosperity that it enjoys today. Indeed the enduring consensus on economic policy in Australia is undoubtedly one of the strong reasons for its continued economic success. 
I have to say that that contrasts with some of the economic debate that this country sticks itself with from time to time. Here what describes itself as the fraternal party of the Australian Labor Party seems to be starting to advocate 1970s-style Fortress New Zealand policies as some way of attaining economic nirvana. That is undoubtedly not correct. 
Australia knows that a lot is to be gained by encouraging foreign investment. It has the economy and the income to show for it. Therefore the easier we can make it for companies to operate in both countries by removing unnecessary barriers the greater the opportunities for business to have confidence to make substantial productivity gains and to take up new opportunities that will help to underpin growth and jobs. That is incidentally something the former trade Minister Phil Goff used to believe in and work towards. Now sadly in this House in the last 2 weeks he has been using xenophobia to make cheap political points about German and Australian investors just as the previous speaker did in this general debate today. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I take offence at the accusation that members on this side of the House have been using xenophobia. Some of us find that accusation deeply offensive. 
Chris Tremain 
: Surely this is a debating point and not one that the member should take offence to. To call a member xenophobic is hardly a criminal offence in this House. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Mr Speaker— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I do not want to take any more time on this. I will ask the member to withdraw the comment but I do not want to be too pedantic about ruling out words; we can all take offence at all sorts of things. Members must be very careful not to accuse another member of being racist and I guess one could claim there is a connotation here. So I ask the member to withdraw but I will not rule out words forever because offence might have been taken on one occasion. If the honourable member would withdraw that word please. 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: I withdraw and say that the member is now using criticism of German investors and criticism of Australian investors a number of times as did the previous speaker in this House. 
Today a very important investment protocol was signed between our two countries which sets a higher threshold for trans-Tasman investment so that it does not have to go through a screening process. This will do much for the confidence of New Zealand businesses growing in Australia and in the two countries where they will have a combined domestic market in the order of 25 million people. It is this sort of work that will help New Zealand companies to grow that will create jobs and that will give companies the opportunity to create a stronger economy in New Zealand. 
It is interesting that this should occur on a day like today when Fletcher’s our largest listed company which is very active in Australia has recorded an improved result. It just goes to show the potential of strong economic growth and a tighter economic market between our two countries. That is what this House should be focusing on. The opportunity today is to focus on that because we need this country to grow much more strongly and working closely with Australia will allow us to do so. I salute the investment protocol that was signed by our two Prime Ministers today.