McCully Murray: Tariff (Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
McCully Murray: Tariff (Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:629;Page:1615] 
Hon MURRAY McCULLY (National—East Coast Bays) 
: 
 I will not detain the House for long in relation to this matter. The Minister has drawn our attention to the significance of the bill and I want to say a few words about that. Also I want to comment on the rather unusual process by which the House will be invited to support the motion that the Minister has given notice he intends to move. 
I will speak briefly on the bill because my two most learned colleagues—former Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials Mr Groser and Mr Hayes—will no doubt speak at great length and with great eloquence in relation to the trade policy issues that sit behind the legislation. As the Minister pointed out the measure is an important one. It cements some important trade relationships in place and provides the opportunity for us to see reduced tariffs between New Zealand and some important trading partners—and that as I think the Minister indicated to the House will see substantial reductions in tariffs in respect of some of those relationships and quite quickly. So for that reason and because of some of the other facilitation measures that will flow—as the Minister has also pointed out—the National Party is unambiguously in support of this bill. 
However I want to make it clear that the process by which it is to be passed is a somewhat unusual one and I want to reflect on the timetable that now lies ahead of the House in relation to the measure. According to the note I have here I understand that this measure needs to be passed into law by the end of March and come into effect by 1 May 2006. It is not every day that the Government comes to the House and asks the other parties to facilitate a measure in quite such a short time frame. Indeed as the Minister has already told us the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee will be asked to meet virtually any hour that is available and the time that it will be given in which to report back is about as tight as one could possibly have while still having a select committee process. 
I want to explain to the House why the National Party is being so soft and accommodating as to agree to those conditions. First and foremost I say to the Minister that the National Party is very keen to cooperate with the Government on matters of trade. We want to send a clear and unambiguous signal to the other countries with which we do business. Also we want to send a clear and unambiguous signal to the business community that it can look to the major political parties in New Zealand to cooperate on such matters and that any element of petty politics is removed from the proceedings. Just in that context I say to the Minister that we would like a slightly more generous time frame generally in relation to legislation he brings to the House. I acknowledge that because of the election in the latter part of last year and some no doubt difficult machinery matters that the officials have to deal with regrettably we have a somewhat less generous amount of time available to us than would normally be the case. However I am satisfied that no one’s interests will be compromised by that process. As the Minister has already told the House this treaty has already been before the select committee and it has hardly been kept a secret from those in the business community or from those who otherwise might be affected by it. I am therefore quite satisfied that the highly truncated select committee process this bill will go through will not prejudice the interests of any party in the way that would normally be the case with a timetable of the sort being recommended to the House today. 
Having said that we want to send a clear and unambiguous signal that the National Party will cooperate on these matters and therefore will do its best to cooperate with the select committee. I say to the chair of the committee Dianne Yates who is in the Chamber at the moment that I trust that the Government will reciprocate the generous spirit that is being demonstrated from this side of the House by ensuring that the very lax resolution we are to agree to is not taken advantage of in any shape or form. We genuinely want to cooperate and we ask that the provisions that are being granted here will be reciprocated. 
The Minister knows that in matters relating to trade New Zealand is too small a country is in too remote a part of the globe and has too great a dependence upon international trade as its lifeblood for us to play petty politics in any shape or form. So we will send this measure to the select committee we will support it through that process and we will make sure that all of those who do business with New Zealand feel that at least the major players are doing their bit. I am pleased to hear that the New Zealand First Party intends to support the bill to the select committee. I know that the bill will perhaps present some issues for its members but I encourage them to approach the process with an open mind. The more that political parties in this country can send a signal that we stand together on these issues the better it is for all of us particularly in relation to the position of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. I hope that those members do not make his life unduly difficult or complicate the nature of the relationships or future discussions that need to be held by putting him in a position where his own party is seen to be taking an unduly negative—an unhelpful—view in relation to a bill of this sort. 
I join the Minister in welcoming the bill into the House and pledge the cooperation of the National Party during the select committee process and the bill’s subsequent stages. I say to those who stand to benefit from this measure that I trust they will take full advantage of the negotiations that have been held in bringing this treaty together and in the expeditious progress of the bill through the House as I am sure we will see.