McClay ToddHon TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua): Madam Deputy Speaker kia ora. Thank you very much. It's a privilege to stand so soon after this House has reconvened to speak in this debate. May I start by congratulating the Speaker on his election and appointment as Speaker of our Parliament. I have observed him over nine years in this Parliament. I believe that he has played every role here and believe that this final one that he has before him is one that he will deliver with some aplomb and will be astute at. The reason for that is he is passionate about Parliament and I look forward to the internal struggle that occasionally there will be—putting the politician in him aside and focusing purely on what's good for this House. Madam Deputy Speaker may I also congratulate you on your appointment as Deputy Speaker and I know you too will do a wonderful job. We share neighbouring electorates and it's been a pleasure to work closely with you over previous parliaments—as it will be in this one—to serve the people of the Bay of Plenty so very well. You now have the opportunity as a Deputy Speaker to do even more not only for the people of the Bay of Plenty but more broadly for all of New Zealand and this House. By the way—and I don't want to be political too quickly—congratulations to all of my colleagues in the Bay of Plenty. We hold every seat there. It is the—one two three—fourth term where we hold every single seat. It does show me as opposed to what the last speaker in this House said—the speaker from New Zealand First Tracey Martin—that not everybody listens to everything that New Zealand First says and that's a good thing in the Bay of Plenty. May I also congratulate Tamati Coffey who I share some area with in the Bay of Plenty. Tamati of course is the newly elected member of Parliament for the Wairakei seat. He lives in Rotorua and I know he's passionate and will work very hard on behalf of his constituents. The new Government—I want to congratulate them and to congratulate Ministers. You've been given a real opportunity and honour which is something that actually nobody on this side of the House takes for granted or believes that you don't have to work very very hard for. I wish you all well. I know that—as I did when I first became a Minister—you will find many of the things you want to do much more challenging. But the solution to these things is to look for solutions; not just do what it is you thought was right before you had the ability of having the wisdom of officials and others. To the three-headed Hydra that Tracey Martin was just talking about which is this Government—and I must say that Ms Martin's speech as a new Minister was the best speech I've heard so far from the Government and from a Government Minister which I accept is not saying too much at this stage. But I would also say that the challenge that they will have is keeping one group over there away from one group over here because the Government was formed before the leaders of all parties could say they had actually met each other and I'm not sure that's the best way to start something that will be cohesive that will work well and that will deliver for New Zealanders. I don't think the issue is necessarily with the Greens and I'm not sure you'll hear me say that a lot during this term but in this instance I don't think it is about the Greens. I think the challenge will be how you put aside some of those issues that have been between these two parties in the past and it's not by chance that they sit so far away from each other. The Leader of the Opposition has asked me to continue in my role for National as the spokesperson for trade and it's something that I'm extremely pleased to do. I'm grateful to him for that. By the way wasn't that a fantastic speech from the Leader of the Opposition? I've waited nine years for a great speech from the Leader of the Opposition and finally it has been delivered. It actually was good enough to be a speech from a Prime Minister. But look we'll give the Prime Minister some time to come to terms with you know speaking about content for 30 minutes. But when it comes to trade I hope all parties in this Parliament accept and agree that trade and our access to overseas countries is detrimentally important to our economy—without question it's important to our economy. We've heard other parties including Labour say that they are a party of trade and I hope that over the next three years as the Opposition spokesman for trade I can actually support them in what they go to do and that they do deliver high-quality deals for New Zealand. Now in the last two years that I was Minister of Trade I spoke a lot about the need for bipartisanship and certainly from the Opposition—I can't speak for one member of the Opposition but for every other member here on trade I believe I can because we're quite a big Opposition—we will support trade deals. The Government and our negotiators—the hard-working officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade that go and do the negotiations for us—will be able to go overseas knowing that they have the support of this Parliament and knowing that when they come back with a high-quality deal New Zealand can actually honour its commitments. The first opportunity for that—I don't want to call it a challenge but an opportunity—comes this weekend at APEC in Vietnam where 11 countries will come together and consider the future of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. New Zealand has shown considerable leadership on TPP in the entire time it has been before this Parliament from when it was first launched—Clayton Mitchell: You don't have to give up your sovereignty to have a trade agreement. Hon TODD McCLAY: —under a Labour Government until today. The member opposite for New Zealand First is already quibbling but the challenge that he has—irrespective of what he thinks about trade—is that as part of a coalition Government he will have to actually vote for these sorts of things. He will have to vote for these sorts of things. So when you talk about sovereignty what it suggests is that when he says he's from New Zealand First what he wants to do is actually focus on only the harm that others could do to us in New Zealand—an example of that happening—instead of focusing on where you can find opportunities to deliver for all New Zealanders. Now I encourage the new Government when they go away to APEC this weekend to deliver for that for New Zealanders. A lot of work has been done by all of the countries including New Zealand during this year in stitching that back together after the US pulled out of the agreement. Many of the things New Zealanders were less sure about and were concerned about actually have already been removed not through renegotiation but through the 11 agreeing a way forward that doesn't deliver benefits to the US who've pulled out but also offers the opportunity for them to come back and to be encouraged back at some stage. The biologics some of the intellectual property—those things have already been removed during the course of this year in our discussions. But I want the Government to know when they go away that they have the support of this Parliament and they have a majority in this Parliament because that New Zealand First member has just indicated that he won't support trade. Of course the Greens have never supported a trade agreement in this Parliament. Clayton Mitchell: Typical—putting words into other people's mouths. Hon TODD McCLAY: New Zealand First has never supported a trade deal in this Parliament and if that member is saying New Zealand First will support trade deals in this Parliament for the first time going forward then actually that suggests he's more interested in his job than in the rhetoric he has had around trade over the last nine years. But ultimately TPP is important for New Zealand as other trade deals are and the Government goes away with our support. It's not something that was always well-known or assumed over the last nine years but they certainly do. And the reason for that is trade is good for New Zealand trade is very important to the regions and to all of our country and ultimately high-quality trade deals deliver for New Zealanders everywhere. So finally what I want to do is just ask a few questions that others may consider as this debate unfolds over the coming days and weeks. Will New Zealand First and the Greens support the Labour Government when it comes to a vote on TPP in this House? Will New Zealand First particularly and the Greens support the Labour Government when it comes time to put legislation through this House for the upgrade of the China free-trade agreement that was started last year? At APEC it was announced and it is unfolding and should be finished within a year. It is an agreement that will update what New Zealanders are able to do and will modernise. Will the two support parties of the Labour Government vote for that? When it comes to the EU deal that we're on track to deliver in New Zealand within the next few years—and in fact just a month ago the president of the European Commission said he wanted to fast track a deal with New Zealand that was announced earlier in the year and to have that done before Brexit is completed where possible—will New Zealand First and the Greens vote for that deal or not? If the answer is that they won't then the agreement that has been formed is shambolic when it comes to trade. But Labour can depend upon a party that has always put trade before politics and delivered for New Zealanders and that's the National Party. They get to go away and negotiate these deals on behalf of New Zealand knowing that they can have some support. They need not compromise because they need to worry about where they will get their votes from—New Zealand First in coalition or the Greens in confidence and supply—but they can go and do the best deal possible for New Zealand. I commend the Trans-Pacific Partnership 11 as a high-quality deal to this House if and when it is delivered on this weekend. Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker.