Goldsmith PaulHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs): It is a great pleasure to speak here in the general debate. We are in our last session in Parliament before New Zealanders go out to enjoy the great summer that we have in New Zealand.It is a very strange environment in the House today. This is the first time I can remember coming along to question time and the Prime Minister is sitting there in his chair and nobody is asking him a question. The Opposition is too scared to ask him a question. It is a bit like watching the cricket. It is like the Pakistan cricketers who have worked out that there is no point in bowling your deliveries at the best batsman because you are just going to get knocked over the fence for six and so those members have stopped asking the Prime Minister the questions any more. What an admission of defeat. Perhaps the Leader of the Opposition has decided that it is better to use his time trying to persuade Nick Leggett not to stand for the National Party rather than reflect the decline that we are seeing these days in the Labour Party in New Zealand.So anyway New Zealanders will be going off to their Christmases reflecting on the world as they see it and they see uncertainty all about whether it is in the United States or whether it is in Europe or Korea. And who knows what is going to happen with the massive expansion of credit that we see in China? There is much uncertainty around there and in New Zealand we have also been reminded over the last couple of weeks of our geological vulnerabilities. My thoughts are with the people of Kaikōura and the northern parts of the South Island as they have been through a difficult time and it has reminded us of our vulnerabilities as a small country. We have also been reminded by the US election of the tendency around the world to think about trade protectionism as a way forward against our vulnerabilities as a small trading nation.So there is a little bit to worry about in New Zealand but then when you look at the performance of this economy and this country you cannot help but be filled with optimism. The country is growing at the fourth-fastest rate in the OECD at 3.6 percent GDP growth. We have had 300000 jobs developed in this economy since the global financial crisis. That is a jobs boom that is unprecedented in New Zealand's history—an incredible jobs boom—and it is the result of the hard work and enterprise and vigour of New Zealanders setting up companies developing their businesses exporting around the world and delivering incomes for their fellow New Zealanders.The Government can play a role in that—particularly in providing a stable predictable and financially sustainable environment which we have done for these past 8 years. We are one of the very very few countries in the world that is delivering a surplus. When people look and ask whether they are going to invest in a new business or take on a new job or buy a new plant they can look and know that the Government is sustainable in what it is doing. It is not going to have to veer off in a wildly new direction.We are also concentrating on building the competitiveness of the New Zealand economy and Aucklanders such as me can look and see the massive investment that we have been making in infrastructure to get the economy moving. Not just in transport; we are all looking forward to the Waterview tunnel opening in the next few months. We see the ultra-fast broadband going into our streets—massive investment in infrastructure in order to get the economy growing stronger. We are also concentrating on delivering better public services.That is not just what Government is about. Government is also about preserving what is special in New Zealand. We know about the enormous investment we are making in the environment to improve the environment and marine parks and the many great bits of work that my colleague Maggie Barry is doing on that score. This morning we also celebrated another Treaty settlement and that is another thing that is special about New Zealand. It is that we get along pretty well in a very multicultural environment. When you look around the world there are so many areas where people within countries struggle to get along as well as we do in New Zealand. It is not perfect but that is something we can celebrate.The other thing I do want to mention is that we have that strong tradition of high trust and low corruption and a strong rule of law. That is one of our greatest inheritances. We as a Government want to keep on chipping away to raise the bar. I was pleased to announce today in my ministerial capacity some changes that we are making in the insolvency space which is one little area where we have had frankly fairly loose arrangements around insolvency. Anybody could stand up even if they have got a very chequered past and act as an insolvency practitioner which is a job that involves millions of dollars and requires high trust. And so we are bringing in a licensing regime there to clean up that area. We are looking forward to that and we have got a great story to tell. I wish New Zealanders the very best.