Mark RonHon RON MARK (Minister of Defence): Thank you Mr Speaker. Anyone who was watching Q+A on Monday night would have been quite astonished. In fact you would have had quite a giggle. I refer to the interview between Paul Goldsmith and Jack Tame. And it was really enlightening because what did we see? Well Jack Tame quite cleverly actually opened the conversation by telling the public that the Prime Minister had put a line in the sand and that Auckland port was going to move—Ports of Auckland was going to move. And he turned the question straight back to Mr Goldsmith and said basically But where does the Opposition stand Paul Goldsmith? Can you do the same?" An interesting reply: "Well I don't think we're in a position to say that right now. We're open to discussion. If you're looking ahead probably a good chance. If you looked out far enough ahead maybe the port will shift but there's a big question and needs an answer."Tame comes in again "Why aren't we in a position to answer yet?" This is Paul Goldsmith: "Well we haven't seen the business case. It's not a small decision." He said "It's not a small decision." He's actually quite correct. It's not a small decision. It takes people with courage to make big decisions. But he goes on. Jack Tame comes in again: "So was John Key wrong?" The answer is "He's a very smart character but even John Key is not infallible." "Then is Nikki Kaye wrong?"—"Oh." "Then is Judith Collins wrong?" You say what we had was the man who acts like the little fox terrier worrying the sheep in the paddock running around here attacking my colleague Shane Jones and asking all these really big questions. But he's really not so much of an Opposition spokesman; he's more like a worry-wart. He's not capable of making the big decisions. And he doesn't seem to understand that for a Government to lead they have to be bold. They have to be courageous. They have to have vision. A Government needs to look forward. It can't sit there and say "Oh even though my past leader thought it was a good idea it's too big a decision." You've got to have that courage. And what are we seeing from this Government? Well we're actually seeing that adventure. We're actually seeing something that I thought the National Party would be chock-a-block full of: it's entrepreneurialism an ability to look ahead and take some risks in order to deliver to the New Zealanders of the future. And this is a Government that actually understands something. It understands you have to be prosperous to meet those infrastructural needs. It understands one has to earn money. This Government understands that the three-legged stool upon which the prosperity of this nation sits is foreign policy trade and defence. And what has this Government done? Well it's invested massively: $740-odd million in new money pumped into foreign affairs. And look at the results. We have the most proactive Minister of Foreign Affairs this country's ever seen and the most diligent Minister for Trade and Export Growth working in tandem. And I am fortunate enough as the Minister of Defence to work in parallel with them advancing defence diplomacy underpinning foreign policy and actually underpinning trade adventurism and trade policy. And what are the results? Well we've already surpassed the last Government's nine years with enhanced trade agreements and we've got more coming. Watch this space. And how do I justify all those statements? Well look at what we have achieved. Take defence—record defence expenditure in terms of operational funding and capital expenditure: P-8s $2.3 billion. I've heard some people say "How does that help New Zealand?" Well apart from the foreign policy stuff and how that enhances our trade engagements actually when one looks at the $2.34 billion worth of investment in P-8s half of that is being invested back into the economy. The Manawatū economy will be better off for $400 million pumped back into its economy. Actually it's about $1.2 billion is going to be invested in New Zealand but Manawatū is going to benefit directly: 300 extra labourers; extra people working on site; a $65 million contract given out already to Fulton Hogan; a $200 million contract coming down the line to build all the infrastructure the hangars the facilities everything that goes with it. And I haven't even talked about the $103 million for Manawanui and the NH90s and the frigate systems upgrade and the protected mobility and Oryx. I'm yet to talk about the Hercs.This Government is going to go down in history despite Mr Goldsmith's worry-wart behaviour as having invested massively in the future of New Zealand through massive infrastructure and benefits through massive defence expenditure and budgets. And I think that is the sort of entrepreneurialism that's the sort of leadership that's the sort of vision that will carry this country forward as opposed to what we witnessed over the last nine years."