Hudson Brett: Annual Review Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHudson Brett: Annual Review Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 13 April 2016. Volume:713;Page:10497. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]BRETT HUDSON (National): I said in a previous contribution that the Opposition was doing its best to talk New Zealand down and Mr Robertson has just shown us that its best is not very good. There are a couple of points I would address that he did raise. Of course we do have this goal of raising exports by 2025. What Mr Robertson either glosses over or simply cannot comprehend—I will leave it to the New Zealand public to decide which of those two it is—is that there is this very large-scale internal spend that has been going on in New Zealand. It is called the rebuild of Christchurch. This is a Government that has stood alongside the people of Christchurch since the earthquakes. The fact is that that is such a large contribution from the Government—about $16 billion—and it is such a large-scale piece of activity also by insurance companies that the implication of that is that it will create a counter-pressure to the percentage rate of exports. So it is up to the New Zealand people to decide having heard Mr Robertson saying that export percentages are going backwards and knowing that the Christchurch rebuild is such a great determinant of that whether that means that a Labour Government would set aside the rebuild of Christchurch so as not to negatively impact exports as a percentage of GDP. I would have to say I would not have much confidence of Labour doing anything other than that.But the reality is that exports are growing exceptionally well. Even in the headwinds of a reduced dairy price globally exports grew at net $1.9 billion over the last financial year which actually meant that exports as a whole grew at $4.9 billion extra because the dairy contribution declined by $3 billion. In fact one of the best areas where we can see that in economic development is the work that has gone into improving the tourism spend—the number of tourists we get and the amount of money they spend. I have just seen a report that the Telegraph Travel Awards have rated New Zealand as the best country in the world. Over 75000 readers voted in that annual poll and they have identified New Zealand as the best country the best destination. We see that in the results of the last financial year. They perhaps in some respects were a bit slow to see it because tourism in the last financial year was up over 30 percent—in fact 31 percent—with $9.7 billion as a contribution to the New Zealand economy. That is an export. That is exceptionally good.In areas of infrastructure investment you see a Government that appreciates that in order for New Zealanders to live the lives that they want and for New Zealand businesses to succeed they need to be connected to the world. We do that in a couple of ways. One way which I will get to is through trade agreements. But the other way is through infrastructure that actually permits that connection. For us that is the Ultra-fast Broadband Initiative and the Rural Broadband Initiative. Investment is now at over $2 billion that this Government is making to ensure that Kiwis and Kiwi businesses can connect with customers across the country and around the world that they can deliver their services more effectively and more efficiently and that they can use the power of technology to help them develop new and more innovative and exciting products to take to the market.This Government is investing billions in ensuring that New Zealanders can fulfil their potential and can compete on the world stage. It is one thing to connect Kiwis to the world through technology; it is another to actually connect them in the sense that they can market their goods and services. This Government through our economic development programme does this through free-trade agreements. We are it seems now the sole champions—except for maybe our friends in the ACT Party and the United Future Party—of free trade in this Parliament. Labour used to believe in it but it no longer does. New Zealand First has never believed in it; it just thinks that Fortress New Zealand is the answer to everything. But we do. We know that a small country at the bottom end of the world is never going to get rich by selling its stuff to itself. If we want to create the prosperity and the lives that Kiwis want to enjoy then we are going to have to do that—and we want to do that—by creating opportunities for our businesses to take their products and their services to countries around the world and to do so on a more level playing field so that they can compete and not be locked out of markets or have things made that much more difficult for them to be successful through high tariffs. So we spend a lot of energy in creating those relationships and creating those agreements. It is a shame—