Hipango HareteHARETE HIPANGO (National—Whanganui): Malo e lelei Madam Deputy Speaker and to my sister across the House Anahila Kanongata'a-Suisuiki. This is acknowledgment to the Tongan reo this week as we will also next week pay acknowledgment to Te Reo Māori. So I acknowledge you e tuahine and in acknowledging you I also acknowledge the people of Tonga who may be viewing this debate this evening and also our brothers and sisters throughout the Pacific realm.Speaking specifically to this proposed legislation having presided as a substitute sit-in member on the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee I've been privy to only part of these discussions but in saying so I will continue the pace of the debate this evening as we speak about the Tariff (PACER Plus) Amendment Bill. For those who are listening out there in the public the PACER-Plus—as previous speakers this evening have addressed the House upon—is a landmark trade and development agreement. It will lower barriers and provide greater opportunity for New Zealand businesses whilst raising living standards creating jobs and opportunities and increasing exports in Pacific Island countries.I'll just hearken to some kōrero that was shared by the co-leader of the Green Party this evening and with the Greens taking a minority view on this it's somewhat not surprising that again they're jumping the waka when it comes to trade. It's not surprising that again it's calling into question a level of integrity around this coalition Government where one of the parties to that is challenging what the views are of its other party participants.However I will come back to the bill. It's known that this Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus—the PACER-Plus—is a free-trade agreement and coincidentally it was signed in June 2017 in Tonga. Under the national interest analysis that has been provided around this agreement PACER-Plus is a plurilateral treaty-level agreement that has been negotiated between 14 countries. Eleven of those have signed to this. Those 11 countries are Australia the Cook Islands Kiribati Nauru—which is very topical in our news at the moment—New Zealand Niue Samoa the Solomon Islands Tuvalu Vanuatu and none the less Tonga.Just in summation the background has been canvassed. Statistics: New Zealand is home to almost 296000 Pacific people. It has a growing youth population of our Pasifika peoples here in Aotearoa. New Zealand exports around $1 billion of goods to the Pacific regions a year. Around 30 percent of Pacific nations' exports go to Australia and New Zealand and New Zealand and Australia notably are the largest source of tourists for the Pacific. New Zealand has also committed to invest at least 20 percent of its total Official Development Assistance into Aid for Trade in the Pacific region. It's important that in relation to that for the first five years after PACER-Plus has been entered into there is an estimated $340 million invested into economic infrastructure and capacity-building within those Pacific nations.The intended benefits of PACER-Plus are in summary a more predictable trading environment more consistent and transparent rules throughout the region on sanitary and phytosanitary measures—that's around animal and human imports and exports—Fletcher Tabuteau: Are we exporting humans—what? Didn't read that bit.HARETE HIPANGO: —technical barriers to trade and customs procedures. It also—well that bit if you're interested is at page 58 I refer to the member across the House. It's at page 58 of the agreement so you may be enlightened by learning something this evening as well.Also just by way of summary and in concluding around that the benefits are that PACER-Plus will enter into force 60 days after eight of those negotiating parties that I outlined of the 11 have notified Tonga that they've completed their domestic requirements. In due course this will come into implementation. To our trading partners in the Pacific Rim this is something to be celebrated for all. Kia ora.