SpeechHon STUART NASH (Minister of Tourism): Thank you very much Mr Speaker. Last night I heard that member the Hon Paul Goldsmith speaking and he argued against the minimum wage. He argued against an increase in workers' holidays. He argued against increases in sick leave. He wants to get rid of Labour Day. He argued against fair pay agreements. I want to know what does that member have against good hard-working New Zealanders? Goodness me really you can tell he's from Epsom can't you? The other thing I would say is the Jobs for Nature programme which again that member just ran down; what I can tell the House is that programme kept a whole lot of workers and a whole lot of tourist towns well connected to their communities and without that they would have moved on. So the Minister of Conservation the Hon Kiritapu Allan was partly responsible for that and I think that was a fantastic initiative that continues to add value to our communities. We now have dates; no self-isolation an innovative activation programme and we are open for business. I have always acknowledged since my time as a Minister of Tourism that a number of tourist operators have done it hard over the last two years. I acknowledge that but now they can gear up for the Australian school holidays. They can gear up for the sensational ski season and the direct flight from New York. Finally we have a CEO of Air New Zealand who is opening up new routes rather than closing down provincial runs. New Zealand is open for business. In fact on the day that myself Dame Therese Walsh who's the chair of Air New Zealand and the CEO Greg Foran announced the first direct flight from New York I received this message from one of New Zealand's legend tourist operators Dr Gerry McSweeney: A September 2022 booking came to us today at Wilderness Lodge Lake Moeraki West Coast for a three-day stay for two New Yorkers flying direct to New Zealand and on the Air New Zealand flight. They booked through an enthusiastic New Zealand / Australia specialist US travel agent. Great that New Zealand is shortly to open. Great work by the Labour Government in keeping us safe but also allowing international tourism-focused businesses like ours to recommence operations." That tends to be the sentiment I get from the vast majority of tourism businesses. They know that things have been hard; of course they know things have been hard because they've done it tough themselves. But they understand the reasons why we did what we did what we had to do to keep Kiwis safe—and now we're about to open for business. In the last two years Tourism New Zealand under chief executive René de Monchy and the team have spent a lot of time effort and energy building "Brand New Zealand" building up the aspiration keeping our brand alive in troubled times—all the while urging New Zealanders to "Do Something New New Zealand". And we did; we got out and we saw the country in a way that we haven't before. In fact domestic tourism which actually made up about 60 percent of tourism in a pre-COVID world increased by over 16 percent. We got out there and I want to urge New Zealanders to continue to get out there—head up the East Coast head to Gisborne head to Napier head to the Bay. But the other thing I'd like to say is now these tourism businesses can get ready to accept international tourists back. Erica Stanford: Not for ski fields. Hon STUART NASH: Oh yes back into the ski fields I would say to you Erica Stanford. They will be back in Queenstown in force. In fact it's interesting to note that Australians more than any other nationality in the world travel more to ski and it's actually easier for Australians living in New South Wales to jump on a plane and fly to Queenstown than it is to travel to their own domestic ski field. So we're expecting a huge number of Australians to ski Queenstown in this current ski season. But back to Tourism New Zealand: building aspiration continued to keep "Brand New Zealand" alive. And as a consequence we are now viewed as one of the most aspirational tourism brands and destinations in the world. It is now time to turn this aspiration into action. My absolute focus is ensuring our reconnection strategy goes to plan and letting the whole world know that we are open for business to ensure that we are as ready as ever to receive international tourists that our tourism businesses are gearing up. It's why we have a $49 million kick-start plan for the five destinations in the South Island that have done it the hardest in terms of international tourists. As I told potential Australian tourists on Australian TV the day we made the announcement we were going to open the borders: apart from on the sports field we love our Australian cousins; welcome back."