Mitchell Mark: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMitchell Mark: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 13 October 2015. Volume:709;Page:7111. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]5.MARK MITCHELL (National—Rodney) to the Minister of Trade: What recent progress has he made in improving access to international markets and supporting New Zealand exporters to grow and create new jobs?Hon TIM GROSER (Minister of Trade): Last week trade Ministers from 12 Pacific countries covering almost 40 percent of the global economy and 800 million consumers successfully concluded negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership—the largest free-trade agreement that New Zealand has been a part of. Under its provisions we will eliminate tariffs on 93 percent of New Zealand’s exports to our new free-trade agreement partners and using the very conservative measure of tariff savings that will save New Zealand businesses a little more than a quarter of a billion dollars per year which is roughly twice the estimate given for the New Zealand - China free-trade agreement.Mark Mitchell: What reaction has the Minister seen to the outcomes of the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations?Hon TIM GROSER: Many many reactions. I will quote you a couple of the more interesting political ones—or interesting to me. First of all the Federation of Māori Authorities has said: “Māori have always traded across Te Moananui A Kiwa so the TPP is a contemporary expression of age-old trading routes”—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! I require the Minister to resume his seat. I will not put up with the level of interjection coming from somewhere on my left. If I can sight where it is coming from then those people will be leaving the Chamber immediately for at least the balance of question time.Hon TIM GROSER: I would concede that I am being very provocative with the quotations that I am using here in terms of their political constituencies. I quote: “The removal of tariffs is an immediate advantage for Māori exporters and the agreement sets the stage for better gains in the future.” I would like to quote also the chairman and president of World Wildlife Fund in the United States: “No major trade agreement before this one has gone so far to address growing pressures on natural resources like overexploited fish wildlife and forests. … the conservation committees in this trade agreement could be game-changers”.Mark Mitchell: What outcome was achieved for dairy and is the sector going to be worse off because of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement as some have suggested?Hon TIM GROSER: First of all using the metric that we traditionally use the paradox is this: the dairy sector is the largest single source of gains from the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement accounting for roughly 40 percent of the gains. This is only because although we are very regretful that the United States blinked and failed to use this as an opportunity to restructure global dairy trade what we did achieve represents very significant gains for the dairy industry and I am certain that we will build on that in the future.David Seymour: Could the Minister characterise some of the key motivations for opposing free-trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership?Mr SPEAKER: No I cannot see any ministerial responsibility for that.