Penk ChrisCHRIS PENK (National—Helensville): Thank you very much Madam Chair. It's a pleasure to be able to contribute to the external affairs annual review. Let me start by acknowledging the Minister in the chair Ron Mark. He's been generous with invitations that he's issued on behalf of the Defence Force to members of the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee. I for one welcome and acknowledge that and in fact I know other members do as well. I'd like to touch briefly on the work of the Ministry of Defence and the New Zealand Defence Force mostly just to pass through the subject matters they've covered really by way of acknowledging them and thanking them for the work they do on behalf of our country throughout this world of woe at times. They do a difficult and dangerous job with professionalism and I join I'm sure all members of the House in thanking them at this time now that we have an opportunity to do so. Briefly on defence matters that relate to my electorate somewhat—excuse the gratuitous mention of the electorate of Helensville Madam Chair but I'll just touch briefly on a couple of issues. One is in relation to the Whenuapai Air Base. We asked the various officials who came before us about the prospects of Whenuapai Air Base and also Devonport Naval Base in relation to whether those defence establishments were secure in their current location. The indication was that there was no information to the contrary albeit that issues relating to housing intensity—excuse me density; and intensity for that matter—in the area do complicate their operations somewhat for example in relation to the noise of aircrafts and the operation of ships too in relation to Devonport. Similarly the firefighting foam contamination issue that has been noted throughout New Zealand is something that I'm watching carefully as a local MP in relation to Whenuapai Air Base. For the remainder of my short time I'd like to touch on a couple of matters in relation to the foreign affairs portfolio more so taking my lead from colleagues senior to me on our side of the aisle and our side of the select committee if I can put it like that. A couple of these issues were raised by the chair of the select committee Simon O'Connor. In that role he wasn't able to be particularly political so I'll take the liberty of doing that somewhat not really so much from a party perspective given that a bipartisan approach to foreign affairs tends to characterise all parties' approach—traditionally at least. So really on the themes of consistency clarity and cooperation I'd like to note a couple of issues including as they've been handled in less than ideal fashion in a couple of instances by the Government of the day of course within the period of this annual review. In relation to consistency I'd like to note that it is important that the New Zealand Government act in a consistent manner when it comes to condemning acts of violence and indeed terror throughout the world. Sometimes it's a length of time that a response takes to have a condemnation of a violent and perhaps a disproportionate response. That's unfortunate to say the least. Simon O'Connor mentioned in relation to the resolution on Hamas behaviour that a procedural resolution was voted against by New Zealand at the United Nations to condemn them. Ultimately the substantive motion was voted upon by New Zealand the correct way in my view but that was a rather sad episode. Second on the nature of clarity our ideals aren't always reflected in the way that we accept at United Nations the presence of some nations on bodies that would lecture nations about human rights some of which have a far from perfect record on human rights themselves. So that's unfortunate to the extent that we accept that as a sovereign nation with a seat at the United Nations General Assembly. Third on the subject of cooperation I note that it's important we continue to work with other nations who are like-minded in terms of ideals and interests—for example when some months ago now the behaviour of Russia and attitudes towards the rules-based international system"—and I read from the annual review report—was such that there were some eyebrows raised if I can use that metaphor internationally. It's important that New Zealand has a robust attitude towards such incidents or possible incidents and acts with our friends quickly in a manner that is appropriate to such situations."