Parker David: Customs and Excise Amendment Bill Biosecurity Amendment Bill — Third Readings 
Parker David: Customs and Excise Amendment Bill Biosecurity Amendment Bill — Third Readings 
[Volume:678;Page:1349] 
Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour) 
: 
 I rise to take a call in respect of the Customs and Excise (Joint Border Management Information Sharing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill and the related customs legislation the Biosecurity Amendment Bill. We have another occasion when the Government which is already overseeing a current account deficit seems to be focusing its effort on making it easier for importers to import more goods at low cost when we already have a current account deficit which is because the cost of our imports and interest bill exceeds the value of our exports. So although this legislation is not bad legislation it really does not cure the underlying problem of the New Zealand economy which is that we get poorer every year because the difference between the exports that we sell as a nation and the cost of our imports and interest bill is met every year by the sale of New Zealand assets and the borrowing of more money from overseas sources. They are the only two ways that you can meet a current account deficit. You either sell some of the assets that you owned at the start of the year to an overseas owner or you borrow money from overseas lenders. 
The shame of this particular legislation is that the Government once again seems to be unduly focused on the import side of the economy rather than the export side of the economy. Instead it is concentrating on changing things that would make a difference to our exporters. We heard the last speaker talk of the increase in trade with China and it is true that there has been an increase in trade with China since the date of the free-trade agreement that was negotiated under the last Labour Government but it also remains true that we have a trade imbalance with China in that the cost of our imports from China exceed the value of our exports to China. So I would not cry too loudly about that if I was on the National Party side of the benches. 
Of course another difference between us and the National Party on the other side is that we think that in light of some of the substantial trade imbalances in the world we should be moving to protect the sale of some of New Zealand’s most important assets like our land; stopping the land being purchased by overseas interests including— 
Maggie Barry 
: The ones you didn’t sell off in the 1980s? 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: Sorry? The ones we did not sell off in the 1980s? I would have thought that Maggie Barry of all people would understand that in a democracy one of the ways that we progress is by learning from our mistakes and changing otherwise we would be all stuck in time and there would be no point in having a democracy. All of the decisions would have been taken in the 1980s and there would be no new decisions to be taken today. But we in the Labour Party have a different view. We learn from our mistakes and we learn from the mistakes that—[ 
Interruption 
]  
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: We hear from Maurice Williamson whenever he turns up and talks about customs legislation it is more good news for the Government. It is a mantra that he has repeated so often that we have fun on the other side of the House thinking about what more good news for the Government could come from initiatives around customs information-sharing.  
I suppose the question I would pose for the Government in respect of this information sharing is whether these improvements to the system would have picked up on the dual passport of David Garrett of ACT the former member of the coalition partner. It would be interesting to hear from a later call from the National Party whether the information sharing would have been sufficient to pick up the fact that David Garrett had not one passport but two. For those who want a bit of information around that you might recall that David Garrett who was a supporter of the National Party came to this House and railed against short sentences. He said that everyone should have longer sentences and no one should have a discharge without conviction and he also railed against name suppression all the while having sought name suppression and a discharge without conviction for his having been caught with two passports. The second passport was from a dead baby’s identity the idea for which he got from some bizarre story— 
The Day of the Jackal 
 I think was his excuse at the time. Well he had two passports and I would be interested to know whether the Customs and Excise (Joint Border Management Information Sharing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill would have meant that SmartGate or whatever this improved system in customs is would have picked up David Garrett earlier than he was picked up when he used one of his multiple passports. 
Can I also reinforce the comments made by the Hon Damien O’Connor. He raised a letter that has been received by us and forwarded to the Government that suggests that systems improvements are all very well and good—no one objects to improvements in efficiency in the Government service—but when it comes at the cost of biosecurity front-line services as this person was suggesting then there is a concern for us on this side of the House that there is an overall backward movement in the quality of our border security arrangements particularly when it comes to biosecurity. 
Labour does support these changes in process because there are some sensible changes in here but we do make the point that this is not the big game in town. The big game in town is increasing— 
Simon Bridges 
: Oh this is the big game. 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: Yes the big game in town is to increase our exports. We have for decades now imported more than we have exported and every year we do that. The cost of the difference between our exports and our imports and interest bill is met by selling our assets overseas— 
Hon Members 
: Oh! 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: —and borrowing more money from overseas. The National Party does not like to talk about this because it has been trying to convince New Zealand that the issue for New Zealand is the Government deficit. The Government deficit that the current Government has run up including through some unaffordable tax cuts is quite dire and does need to be overcome and it will be overcome by 2014-15 but the export imbalance will remain because the underlying imbalance in the economy has not been properly addressed by the Government. And this bill does not do it. This bill makes some technical changes to the way in which customs and excise joint border management information-sharing and other matters are dealt with and that no doubt benefits importers more than it benefits exporters and the imbalances in the economy remain.