4. Foreign Affairs—Foreign Investment in New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Funding and Trans-Tasman RelationshipHon GERRY BROWNLEE (National—Ilam) to the Minister of Foreign AffairsForeign Affairs—Foreign Investment in New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Funding and Trans-Tasman Relationship4. Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (National—Ilam) to the Minister of Foreign Affairs: Does he stand by all of his statements?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Minister of Foreign Affairs): Yes.Hon Gerry Brownlee: When he said in the House yesterday that's why we're getting our funding up to do our role." was he confirming a very large increase in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) funding in the 2018 Budget?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: From 2008 to beyond 2016 there was no increase in MFAT's funding at all and a huge decline in overseas aid. Luckily help's been on its way and we're going to turn that around.Hon Gerry Brownlee: When he said to the House yesterday that one of his priorities is "improving the character and quality of … foreign policy engagement" was that an indication that he's dissatisfied with our current high commissioners and ambassadors?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Quite the contrary. This is a superb group of civil servants—perhaps without any peer in the world given the lack of funding they've been suffering under to the extent that a hundred senior diplomats left the job and all of them from every mission around the world signed a complaint against the previous Government. We hear them and we're going to fix things up.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Does he stand by all his stated concerns over foreign ownership of New Zealand assets; and if so has his department told him that under the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership the threshold for Overseas Investment Office approval for a New Zealand asset purchase will rise by 100 percent from $100 million to $200 million?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: The reality is that the present Government is working on a number of issues about which the question is focused but here's the real point: when you are talking to international countries the art of diplomacy is to jump into troubled waters without making a splash; not belly flops like some members prefer.Hon David Parker: Is the Deputy Prime Minister aware that the investment limit from Australia is already $500 million that the $200 million under the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is 40 percent of that amount and that Australia already represents 80 percent of New Zealand's foreign direct investment from TPP countries?SPEAKER: Answering as the Minister of Foreign Affairs—Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Answering as the Minister of Foreign Affairs I can confirm that but it should not be our job to educate the Opposition.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Has his department advised him that in bilateral meetings with other countries he can say that the ability for foreign investors to purchase assets including land will remain open even with the passing of the Government's Overseas Investment Amendment Bill as indicated to the select committee this morning by Treasury?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: The reality is that there is ongoing work until the signing of certain documents in March and I've got every confidence in my colleague the Hon Mr Parker who understands exactly what the coalition Government's policy is about. We're not going to leave ourselves open to the vagaries of international unbridled capitalism; we're going to take control of our own destiny.Hon Gerry Brownlee: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. In my last two questions I've been very careful to align those questions with the Minister's responsibilities and his engagement with his ministry. Now he can you know flannel his way through all these things with a series of insults against the previous Government and indeed personal insults as well but it doesn't take away his responsibility to answer as a Minister for his department. Now I asked a question "Has his department told him …" and he told me that no he trusts Mr Parker. Well is the wool over the eyes or not? Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: To the very contrary I said I did trust Mr Parker not that I didn't trust him. And the second thing is—Hon Gerry Brownlee: That's what we said. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: I wasn't at the select committee this morning; no doubt there will be a report back. But the big picture is that we're working on a number of issues that were seriously neglected in terms of sovereignty by the previous Government. SPEAKER: Right. I won't count that as a question but I think the member more or less asked a question in his point of order and certainly got a reply to it. Hon Gerry Brownlee: No. With all due respect—SPEAKER: Now—is the member asking me to rule on his point of order now? Hon Gerry Brownlee: No I'm asking—I'm taking a point of order. SPEAKER: A new one? Hon Gerry Brownlee: Well it'll have to be because you've more or less just ruled on the other one just like you said I'd more or less asked a question. The fact is I didn't ask a question "more or less"; I pointed out the Minister was not answering the question which was "Has his department advised him …".SPEAKER: Yes and he addressed the question. Hon Gerry Brownlee: Can the Minister tell us what will be the most visible manifestation of his ambition for an enlightened improvement in his relationship with Australia? Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: We have for some time—as is evidenced by the complaints that New Zealanders have of the way the changed law has been applying in Australia even as far back as 2002—Hon Gerry Brownlee: There's no change. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Could I finish—Hon Gerry Brownlee: No change in their law. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Well if you don't want to hear the answer why oh why did you ask the question? Look could I just say Mr Brownlee this is a very serious issue. The reality is there's never been a time since 1946 when Australia has needed New Zealand more and vice versa given the problems and concerns we have in the Pacific. Now we believe that we can have a far better-understanding relationship with the Australian political system and that the natural justice rules that we apply in our country will better apply to certain people there who are suffering from the application of—not the application of them but of rigid immigration rules for example."