Lee Melissa: Appropriation (2015/16 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLee Melissa: Appropriation (2015/16 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate[Sitting date: 18 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5866. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MELISSA LEE (National): Just commenting on the member Winston Peters who has just resumed his seat I think some of the words that he used quite often were words like “hypocrite” and “duplicitous”. I am just—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! I did not hear a member use those words. At least one of them if referring to a member of Parliament is out of order. The member is not allowed to repeat them. Either she has to take a point of order at the time or she has got to let it go. She cannot repeat them.MELISSA LEE: Thank you for that Mr Assistant Speaker. I just wanted to remind the House that Winston Peters is the member who used to be the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He actually went overseas under the Labour Government touting foreign investment—actually selling New Zealand goods overseas. I have to give him one thing though. He is consistent—he is just anti-everyone. On that note and just commenting about that member who has just sat down I am reminded of a lesson that my mother taught me a long long time ago. It is a proverb in Korean that says “Bin KKangtong E Si kkeu reop da” and I think there is actually an English version which says “An empty vessel makes the most noise”.I am happy to rise in support of and to praise the excellent excellent work of the Minister of Finance the Hon Bill English. The Budget he presented this year will give relief and support to thousands of Kiwi-owned businesses and workers right around New Zealand. It is a great pleasure to speak in support of this aspiration and the needs of New Zealanders.It was a pleasure also to work with the Minister caucus colleagues and my fellow committee members on the Commerce Committee which is a fabulous committee. I do not know whether you have actually noticed but we work together very well. We even bring baking to our select committee. It is a very work-conducive and very happy—Scott Simpson: Collegial.MELISSA LEE: Collegial—that is right Mr Simpson. It is a collegial committee. We work very well together. We worked very hard to pass the estimates vote for the issues that my select committee had oversight of. In the Commerce Committee we discussed a wide range of important areas that were being funded through the estimates legislation which I am sure all members of this House have taken time to read. The appropriation for 2015-16 will give strong backing to the ongoing work of our John Key - led National Government.The estimates for Vote Commerce are impressive. They see $153 million going into the commerce and consumer affairs sector to support enterprise small business and investment.There will be $250 million for communication innovations in the mobile and broadband sectors and that is very very important because most of us tend to use our phones not just for telephone calls but also for broadband for the internet for social media and also for watching television or YouTube and lots of other entertainment as well as using them for information gathering.There will be $456 million for economic development. Economic development is the keystone issue for our party.Also there is $139 million for the tourism sector. Hot off the press I saw in the press release from the Hon Paula Bennett that 1.4 million visitors—these are overseas visitors—have visited the Otago region. I am sure my colleague Jacqui Dean will be very happy about this.Hon Member: How many?MELISSA LEE: 1.4 million international visitors just to the Otago region and that means they have spent $1.3 billion—not million mind you but billion. That is an increase in economic growth in the Otago region of 6.3 percent. That is well above other areas. I think that has to be growth. Someone commented earlier about a rock star economy. Well I am very jealous that Otago has a rock star economy. Well done you Jacqui Dean.The appropriations are sound and reasonable and are putting more workers in the workplace and businesses into profitable gain. This Government has worked well to support families who are working hard and to support businesses that are working hard and importantly they in turn support the Government to work hard. It is almost a full circle.I know that Julie Anne Genter talked earlier about the vulnerable people in this country. I think that all of us right across this House want to make sure that we provide for the people who are vulnerable.I am reminded of a comment that the Prime Minister made. He said that to grow our economy we are never ever going to get rich by selling to ourselves. We have to actually go out there and sell New Zealand produce New Zealand products and New Zealand technology to the rest of the world. We have to bring in foreign currency in order to actually grow the economy.Tim Macindoe: That’s why the South Korean deal was such a good one.MELISSA LEE: The free-trade agreement with South Korea is a fantastic one Mr Macindoe—thank you very much for that—and I am just surprised that we actually had a bipartisan agreement across the House where Labour was supportive of our free-trade agreement.I know that Mr Phil Goff has worked very hard to promote that. I see him at ethnic events promoting the fact that Labour actually supports ethnic communities. But I am very surprised that Labour actually supports members within its own caucus who promote Sino-phobia almost. National was the first party in New Zealand to elect a Chinese member of Parliament back in 1996. Opposition members seem somehow to make “ethnic” and “Kiwi” mutually exclusive so that they do not actually go together. It is sort of like water and oil. It is as though ethnic New Zealanders do not actually belong in this country. Whenever those members talk about these things it seems to bring out that racism actually exists in New Zealand and it brings it to the fore.Recently we talked about the fact that the biggest investor in New Zealand came from Canada but nobody on that side of the House is actually talking about banning Canadian-sounding names. It is easier to just say: “Let’s just ban people with Chinese-sounding names from investing in New Zealand.” It is very irresponsible of those members to say these things and I fret for the children who are growing up in this country who see that we as role models in this House of Representatives are acting in this way—that we are being exclusionary.People who look like me and maybe sound like me—maybe that is not an excuse—[Interruption] Ha ha! Although I am not Chinese often when I walk down the street people assume that I am Chinese and they make racist comments like: “Gosh you speak good English for a Chinese person.” I mean that is racist. That is unacceptable in this day and age in this country in which we celebrate multiculturalism. We celebrate the diversity that we have in this country and it is unacceptable that members of Parliament would actually act in that way.We are doing a fantastic job as a Government. I look back to when Labour left the Treasury benches in 2008 and I remember having to pay double figures in interest rates for my mortgage. You know for most New Zealand households the biggest outgoing is their mortgage repayments. Just on that note our mortgage interest rates are now almost half—or I think it is bigger than half is it not? We have actually had a major cut in interest rates and what that really means is that every household that pays a mortgage is now paying half what it used to pay back in 2008. That is a gain.This National-led Government is making sure that we actually are trading with our neighbours we are not being racist we are actually open to the world and we are welcoming trade from overseas. We are welcoming investment from overseas. We are welcoming the growth of this nation and this economy for the benefit of all New Zealanders because having a better-performing economy means having better-performing families. It means healthier and more wealthy families and that is the outcome that this Government is working towards. I think we should definitely congratulate the Minister of Finance on providing that and on the leadership that he has actually shown on that.As a National member of Parliament it is always a privilege to represent New Zealanders from all walks of life and to be able to speak to the advancement of our economy and social interests. I will always be grateful for that opportunity as I believe that it is actually for the greater New Zealand good. I commend it.