Whaitiri MekaHon MEKA WHAITIRI (Minister of Customs): E te Māngai o te Whare tēnā koe. Otirā ngā mema hōu o te Whare nei tēnā koutou. Ngā mema katoa—ka nui te mihi ki a koutou katoa. Tēnā tātou katoa.[To the new members of this House congratulations. To all the members—greetings and salutations to you all. Thank you.]I'm pleased to take a call in this Address in Reply debate. Can I firstly acknowledge yourself Madam Assistant Speaker Dean and the presiding officers. I congratulate you all and look forward to your combined wisdom and your guidance in the 53rd Parliament so ngā mihi ki a koe. To the new MPs in my brief opening address can I acknowledge you all. It is indeed a privilege as you will find out—serving in this House—so I sincerely congratulate you all for being here. Last night I joined the Pacific caucus in acknowledging our Pacific new MPs and I want to say it is pleasing to be part of not only a Labour Government but a very diverse Government on this side. I want to acknowledge all our new class of 2020 for the exiting experience the energy and of course diversity and inclusion they all bring to this House. I want to also acknowledge the returning MPs for those that have made it back into this House for the 53rd Parliament. Ikaroa-Rāwhiti—can I acknowledge the voters of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti. We had three campaign goals in this year's election: one to retain this seat; two to return a Jacinda Ardern - led Government; and of course three to increase our party vote from 65 percent to 67. We achieved all those gains and I want to acknowledge the voters of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti. As is customary I want to acknowledge those dear ones we have lost over this year and I want to particularly acknowledge Hinemanuhiri Vercoe. I want to acknowledge Temple Isaacs and of course our beloved colleague Shanan Halbert's father Winston Halbert. These three people particularly were staunch supporters of Labour in my electorate. They are a big loss and I mihi out to them and their whānau. As the Prime Minister outlaid in her debate in this House the Labour Government has three overarching objectives. Clearly we are still very much focused on COVID and health and on protecting our nation and our borders and the recovery—realising we need to accelerate the recovery aspect of our plan—but also with an eye to the future. I briefly want to touch on the importance for me as the Minister of Customs on how the Customs Service are contributing to those three overarching objectives. In the health space clearly Customs continues to work at our borders. One of the first and primary agencies to keep our borders safe I want to acknowledge Customs for their work that they have accomplished over this very trying year alongside all our other border agencies like Immigration New Zealand and the Ministry for Primary Industries. They have done a stellar job of ensuring that only the right people come in and I want to acknowledge Customs for their work in that space. They're also responsible for the Maritime Border Order an absolutely new role as we move from airports into our ports. I had the privilege on Friday of visiting such a port in my electorate of Gisborne alongside my colleague the Hon Kiritapu Allan to meet some fine folk that are monitoring our ports and so I want to acknowledge the work on the Maritime Border Order that Customs are administering. In terms of the economic recovery Customs are playing a role in terms of our long-term economic impacts by boosting New Zealand's exports and competitiveness through increased trust in the supply chain. They're also protecting and promoting New Zealand's trade interests abroad and they're also supporting duty-payers and building assurances over e-commerce while building capacity to respond to non-compliance. The work of Customs is often under the radar but in this particular contribution in the House I want to acknowledge their stellar work over this year but also as we recover and we move into our future opportunities as outlaid by the Prime Minister in her Address in Reply debate speech in this House and of course in the Speech from the Throne. It's really important that our economic plan which is made up of five parts—which resonates with myself as a Māori Minister but also as a Māori MP—is about putting our people first and about investing in our people. It is about creating jobs. As an electorate MP of a large electorate—which includes the Tai Rāwhiti through the East Coast of the North Island—creating jobs is really going to be critical for our future survival and I want to acknowledge that is preparing for our future because we're a dynamic and transformative Government on this side. We want to invest in our young people and we've got the plans and the policies to do that. We also want to acknowledge the important role small business will play in that recovery and we've got a suite of plans to engage and be informed by the opportunity that small business will play. Of course as many nations around the world close their borders or are still closing them through COVID we here in Aotearoa New Zealand still enjoy the freedom of movement and I want to talk about our global positioning. That is the fifth part of our economic recovery plan and who better to do it than us here in Aotearoa New Zealand. I'm proud to be a member in this 53rd Parliament of the Labour Government. We have a plan that I've outlined and supported that the Prime Minister has shared in this House. I'm standing in support of it because I know for the people of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti of Te Tai Rāwhiti and of the entire East Coast we've got a plan to ensure that we come out of this COVID solid and building on the energy and the innovation that we represent in this House and the people that we've come in to be a voice for to ensure that the gains are for all. That is what this Government is promising. Nō reira e te Māngai o te Whare tēnā koe. Tēnā tātou katoa.