Ardern Shane: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Ardern Shane: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 15 August 2012. Volume:682;Page:4381. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
4. 
SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki - King Country) 
 to the  
Minister for Economic Development 
: How is the Government working to ensure our exporters are able to access international markets? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister for Economic Development) 
: 
 As the Minister of Finance mentioned earlier today Mr Groser Mr English and I released the  
Building Export Markets 
 progress report at the Wedgelock Equipment exporters in Upper Hutt. It outlined the initiatives the Government is taking to improve access to international markets by negotiating free-trade agreements improving international air links lowering taxation barriers simplifying border processing leading international trade missions promoting international education and so on. The report lays out the opportunities New Zealand has in markets—particularly such as Asia—and what needs to be done and will be done to boost our export performance and grow our economy. 
Shane Ardern 
: Why has the Government released the export markets report first? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: The first report is important as it lays out the challenge for achieving the sort of growth that New Zealanders are seeking which is about being much more closely linked into the rest of the world and taking advantage of our opportunities. Although the world has been going and continues to go through tough times the growth in Asian incomes will occur rapidly over the next 20 years. So there will be job growth. The challenge for New Zealand and for New Zealanders—and in fact for the Opposition benches—is to ensure it occurs in this country not in Australia or elsewhere. That will require us to take advantage of all our opportunities whether it be in areas such as mining and oil and gas exploration aquaculture more intensive agriculture high-value manufacturing tourism and so on. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Can the Minister confirm that of the 55 new projects outlined in the document 47 of them are existing projects that are simply being repackaged and only eight are in fact new? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: Well actually the member has missed entirely the point but he has been on holiday so I understand. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: He was having a go at me Mr Speaker. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! It just does not help the order of the House. I accept the question you know had some political content but it was a fair question. 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: Well I do not know that it was a fair question but given that we are here the reality is it is a progress report that outlines a series of initiatives—most of which as I pointed out at the release of the report are already under way; some of which are new—which are about preparing and showing a full range of projects that the Government is undertaking right now and seeking feedback from the business sector and indeed if he likes from Mr Cunliffe as well so that we can actually continue to work with the business sector and grow our export market opportunities. All the reports as they will be released will be a mixture Mr Cunliffe of things that are already ongoing and new initiatives. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Can the Minister confirm that of the eight new projects in the document the majority are public relations or communications related? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: If the member thinks that actually creating a stronger New Zealand story for our New Zealand businesses operating overseas—to pick just one of those initiatives—[ 
Interruption 
] Well it is hugely important. If the member took his time to go and talk to exporters to talk to education institutions and to talk to tourism organisations they would tell him how crucially important that is. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I waited some time to see whether the Minister approached the question. The question was whether the majority of the new items new projects were in fact public relations or related ones— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! It seemed to me the Minister was not disagreeing with the questioner. He had the chance to disagree with the questioner and he did not. It seems he was basically confirming the questioner’s point.