Mitchell Mark: Estimates Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMitchell Mark: Estimates Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 28 July 2015. Volume:707;Page:5404. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MARK MITCHELL (National—Rodney): I am happy to take a call on this debate. Although I am not on the Finance and Expenditure Committee it is a great opportunity to be able to take a call. I have to say that in an appropriations debate I was shocked to see the Labour economics spokesperson Grant Robertson get up and spend the first half of his speech talking about the Hon Jonathan Coleman’s hair and the Hon Paula Bennett’s texting habits. If he is going to talk about the Hon Paula Bennett talk about doing the reverse bungy—she is very good at that.Iain Lees-Galloway: He’s in team Bennett.MARK MITCHELL: That is right. I can testify I assure you.The third thing is that he was obsessed with the National Party conference—he should have just bought a ticket and come along—and the Hon Bill English’s speech. I think the reason why he spoke about the Hon Bill English’s speech so much is that that is where he gets all his information. That is where he actually learns what is going on.Because it is an economic debate I would like to take it back to my own electorate Rodney because we have been talking about how much diversification we do have in the New Zealand economy today—and we do. We do have other industries that are doing very very well. We have a dollar that has weakened and of course in any economy there is always an upside and a downside to that. But one of the upsides that we experience of course is for our exporters. Being a trading nation and a nation that relies heavily on exports that is actually a very good thing for our economy.I want to recognise and speak about Southern Paprika. It is a business up in the north of my electorate just outside of Warkworth. The owner of the company is Hamish Alexander a business leader in our electorate. Southern Paprika is diversifying. It is using technology. It is forming partnerships around the world. It has formed a very strong partnership with a Dutch company where now it is starting to grow product and get into the European market and it is starting to be a real force to be reckoned with over there. It creates jobs. It is creating more jobs. Yes it went through a bit of a tough time when our dollar was as strong as it was but it adapted and it found a way to keep trading and to keep growing. Now that the dollar has come back a bit that growth is accelerating; it is getting faster. Southern Paprika is diversifying into new products. It is investing in avocado. It is buying more land. It is creating more jobs. It is an exciting business and it is another very strong piece of our economy.I would like to talk about the Honey Merchant out of Matakana. I hope that Minister Coleman visits our markets up there and gets to experience some of the honey from the Honey Merchant.Chris Bishop: Good honey.MARK MITCHELL: It is outstanding honey. The reality of it is that this business is growing. We were very lucky last year to have a visit from a delegation from China that signed a contract with it.Chris Bishop: Where?MARK MITCHELL: China—a very good delegation from China that is forward-looking and sees the opportunities that New Zealand also presents in terms of business partnerships joint ventures and being able to grow another very strong part of our economy. This is a part of our economy where we are leading around the science where we are developing new strains of honey bees that are placid and that are very hard-working and that is making a massive contribution to another very strong sector in New Zealand. These industries are creating jobs. They are creating jobs.This is actually something that I think is pretty good: a lot of young people in my electorate are taking an interest in the honey industry. They want to get an entry into the honey industry and so we have got an industry in Rodney that is leading in science is leading in technology and is now starting to train and bring young people into the industry. They need to learn the science. There is a lot of science associated with it. They are in the process of buying and identifying more land. There is even mānuka starting to be replanted around areas in my electorate. It is an industry that is growing.The reason why I wanted to talk about these two examples is that the reality of it is that we do have a diversified economy. We do have some great little industries and some great New Zealand products that are growing and that are being traded and exported around the world. Thank you very much.