Foster-Bell Paul: Address in ReplyText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFoster-Bell Paul: Address in Reply[Sitting date: 29 October 2014. Volume:701;Page:385. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PAUL FOSTER-BELL (National):It is an absolute pleasure to rise to take a call in this inaugural session of the 51st Parliament of our great country of New Zealand. May I congratulate you Mr Assistant Speaker Tisch on your re-election to the position of Assistant Speaker and also the Hon Chester Borrows the Rt Hon David Carter and the Hon Trevor Mallard for their election to roles as presiding officers in this House. It is a privilege to be a member of the third-term John Key - led National Government. I am absolutely delighted to be joined in the National caucus by some outstanding colleagues who gave their maiden speeches last week and this week from Chris Bishop who moved the Address in Reply debate through to Dr Shane Reti whom we have just heard a few moments ago. I am astounded by the diversity the talents and the merit of those candidates and what they bring to our team. Truly National is a team that represents the very best of New Zealand and you can see this personified in some of our new members.I would also like to offer my warmest congratulations to the new members who have been elected across the House and in particular my Green Party opponent in Wellington Central James Shaw who gave a very good maiden speech. It was one that must have horrified his colleagues given his quotation of Margaret Thatcher and his support for the free market but one that is welcomed here on this side of the House. I look forward to working with James and actually with all colleagues who share the view that we can have economic progress as well as development of our environment.This last election was a fascinating one in Wellington. We had excellent support for the National Party and I want to personally thank the nearly 15000 electors of the Wellington Central electorate who gave their party vote to National. That is the reason that I and other National list MPs have been returned to the House. I also want to personally thank the nearly 12000 voters who gave their personal vote to me. I am appreciative of the efforts of my campaign team and of my electorate chair Richard Westlake; campaign chair Rainer McAlister; and all those many many volunteers including the Young Nats who assisted on a very strong campaign locally. Wellington Central is in good shape. There are exciting and—to paraphrase the Minister for Social Housing—sexy things happening in Wellington. We have a convention centre on the way which was confirmed in the newspaper today and is up for confirmation by the council next week. We are the heart of science and technological research in New Zealand. During the campaign period I had the pleasure of visiting the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research at Victoria University.Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.PAUL FOSTER-BELL: Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker. As I was saying before the dinner break I congratulate you on your appointment to the deputy speakership of this House. You are a very fair-minded and learned gentleman and a distinguished member of the National caucus but I know that you will apply your fairness judgment balance and even-handedness to a superb degree when managing the affairs of this very important House.Before the dinner break I was talking about the Wellington Central electorate and the excellent party vote result achieved by National but also about some of the interesting things that are going on here. During the campaign I was up at the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research and saw some of the fascinating research that it is doing into among other things resolving asthma—actually effectively a cure for asthma sufferers—and also the very important issue of melanoma which is something suffered by many New Zealanders due to the environmental conditions we live in in this country.There is an old Chinese curse that says we live in interesting times and sadly around the world we can see this played out including in some of the regions I served in as a New Zealand diplomat. In the Middle East we have the scourge of sectarianism and we have the threat of terrorism and some of that even threatens to spill over into our relatively quiet corner of the world. I am proud to be part of a Government that takes the security of this realm incredibly seriously and proud to be working for a Prime Minister who has outlined a number of measures that he would wish to take.In terms of international affairs may I thank all members of this House who have this evening endorsed me as the Pacific regional delegate to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. Just this week we had a visit from our Fijian counterparts and I think we would all join together in welcoming them back into the fold of the Commonwealth. It is fantastic to have such an important regional partner back inside the tent as it were. I am looking forward to engaging with all members and furthering the cause of poverty eradication corruption reduction and also those other important capacity-building activities particularly governance capacity building which New Zealand and this House can contribute to in Parliament.One last thing: this is the Address in Reply to the speech delivered by Her Majesty’s representative. I think it would be remiss of this House not to have on the record somewhere congratulations to Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge on conceiving the second in line to be heir to the heir to the throne of New Zealand. It is a wonderful thing—as we debate the flag and other issues. It is a wonderful thing. It is part of the tradition of this country that we are free of corruption and part of that I think is thanks to the fact we have a politically neutral incorruptible and dutiful head of State in Her Majesty the Queen. So I take great pleasure in adding my voice of support to others who have moved the motion in support of that speech. Thank you.