SpeechPAULO GARCIA (National) on behalf of the Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee: I stand to speak in respect of the appropriations for external affairs. In the committee we met discussed and held hearings on all the votes—foreign affairs official development assistance customs defence and defence force. In respect of the Vote Foreign Affairs it was discussed by the committee that New Zealand is hosting APEC in 2021. The Government has allocated a fund of $200 million for the event. Concern was raised by some members of the committee that the funds could be insufficient in the light of Australian APEC having cost $331 million and Papua New Guinea's APEC cost $330 million making the point that in both Australia and Papua New Guinea APECs the figures were in Australian dollars.Then the discussion went on to the upgrade for Scott Base in Antarctica which is set to cost $250 million to $290 million. The Minister mentioned that around $50 million will come from private donors. At this some of the members of the committee expressed that there could not be any assurance on this.Then the matter of the Venezuelan crisis was discussed where members of the committee expressed their concern that New Zealand had not condemned President Nicolás Maduro as strongly and as quickly as it should have.Then there was a discussion on Israel where Immigration New Zealand seems to have removed all references to Israel with the Minister noting that as an error.Discussions in relation to trade agreements included whether New Zealand would be prepared to deal with Brexit. The Minister confirmed that New Zealand was indeed prepared to deal with Brexit with Opposition members of the committee expressing concern and saying that they will be watching these matters relating to Brexit as they unfold. The committee asked for updates around negotiations with both the USA and the EU. The Minister indicated there were challenges and the committee expressed its keenness to progress information about this.For Vote Customs the honourable Minister Kris Faafoi who was then Minister spoke to the committee and confirmed that customs had sought a budget of $241 million. But the committee noted that the current budget of $241 million was 3 percent lower than what the department has spent last year. The concern was raised that with plans and new initiatives to combat child sex exploitation and to manage ever-growing risks at the borders particularly due to GST being sought to be payable on any imported products purchased by New Zealanders from overseas and coming into our borders initially purchased for prices over $400 and which has now been set at $1000. Questions arose in relation to how customs could work out what the products actually were valued at.In respect of Vote Defence and Vote Defence Force which are comprised of two separate appropriations—one for the Ministry of Defence and the other for the defence force itself—the Ministry of Defence had budgeted substantially more funds in support of the defence capability plan. A large portion of the funds are to progress procurement for high-value assets to increase airlift and sealift capabilities of the defence force. Some committee members asked why the procurement process was not used to find a replacement for the Hercules fleet instead of the ministry going straight to Lockheed Martin. The committee also expressed concern on the decision to withdraw from Iraq.