McClay ToddHon TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua): Madam Chair thank you very much. I'm very pleased to speak on this part of the debate on the foreign affairs and trade annual review that came before our committee. I want to start where my colleague left off in recognising the work of Brook Barrington who since 2015 was the Chief Executive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Brook who is a very able diplomat led the ministry through a number of changes and challenges and most interestingly led it in a direction where it was more engaged both within New Zealand and in other parts around the world.At the back of at least the document I've got we've attached the reflections or the speech or the talk that Brook Barrington gave in the committee and it was one of the better speeches I have heard that sums up exactly our position and where we sit. If I may I want to quote a piece of this because I think it's very important that the Government takes note of the expert advice from the expert in foreign affairs when it considers what it should be doing currently in the days and years ahead.Mr Barrington said—and I quote—Mr Chair the ministry acts in the world to make New Zealanders [safe] and more prosperous. And that world has become more complicated. It is possible to find [cause] for optimism and opportunity of course. But the daily reality is that [the] global power is being contested and significant pressure is being placed on the existing international system and on many of the principles and rules that underpin it to which could be added pervasive challenges like climate change unregulated migration and uneven access to … benefits of globalisation which are fuelling uncertainty and nationalistic responses. As a result predictability one of the rivets of international affairs is sprung. This is playing out most [dramatically] in our own hemisphere." And I end the quote there.The reason I wanted to read that is it actually talks to or speaks to New Zealand's place in the world how we see ourselves and how as a small nation successive Governments and successive Ministers of Foreign Affairs have been out talking about the values that New Zealand has promoting them on the world stage and actually using our voice with influence greater than our size and location would suggest. If there was anything I would implore the current Government to do it would be to spend more time with our friends and partners and those that we are yet to agree as much as we want to with internationally overseas.They often say that foreign affairs and trade is about not what you do within your own country but the things you do externally and it is very important for a country like New Zealand—a small country—that we are overseas as much as we practicably can be reminding people of who we are and fighting for a better deal for Kiwis. And I do want to recognise that the Government has of late been out to different parts of the world but I would suggest—and say I would criticise—that they have been far too slow to do so. It seems that in the foreign policy area most of the Government's interest has been domestically—what New Zealanders think only.It is important we take New Zealanders with us but the challenge or concern that we have is that if we're only here talking about foreign policy in New Zealand and not overseas persuading others as much as we need to be then New Zealanders will miss out New Zealand will miss out and we will be left behind.There is an example in this document and we questioned quite widely in detail about this: the wording of the defence policy statement regarding China. I don't want to rehash this and go over it but as we questioned and looked at that it is clear to us that there was a difference of view of the type of wording between defence and the foreign ministry. That's not unusual. Those sorts of things happen. Our experts will work this through.But what is most concerning is the suggestion that at a political level at a ministerial level the different ministries were led in directions that those experts perhaps did not feel comfortable with. I see the Minister in the chair Ron Mark has an opportunity to clarify that: whether or not the Government through the Ministers were pushing their officials in a direction when it comes to the language of how we treated China in that defence policy document in such a way that those officials were concerned or actually were not able to give the advice that they thought that they should. If that was the case it would be a travesty for foreign policy. Finally when it comes to another area was the advice the ministry had to give over the World Trade Organization (WTO) compatibility of the Provincial Growth Fund. I think what happened here is Mr Jones had to be worked over by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade because he did say at the time he didn't care about the WTO. Actually a country like New Zealand must care about those rules-based approaches to things and Mr Jones himself as a Minister with a very large amount of money to try and spend must adhere to international rules and law and shouldn't be saying as a Minister he doesn't care about our international obligations."