Sepuloni CarmelHon CARMEL SEPULONI (Associate Minister for Pacific Peoples): Can I just start by acknowledging the wonderful Pacific event I attended last night at the Civic Theatre in Auckland where 1800 New Zealanders showed up to watch the premiere screening of a film made by a Tongan film-maker with her Samoan partner called For My Father's Kingdom. Can I just say that we on this side of the House are very grateful to those everyday New Zealanders for the contribution that they make to New Zealand not just here domestically but on the international stage. We on this side of the House value the contribution the skills and the talents that Pacific people bring to this country.So with that I do have to say that I was incredibly disappointed this week to see the Leader of the Opposition speaking so dismissively of a Pacific country that is actually part of the Realm of New Zealand. Instead of criticising that country and being divisive as they continue to do he should be actually creating some public awareness about the fact that these countries are and have been for a very long time part of New Zealand and we have responsibilities to them. I really feel actually for the members of Parliament in the Opposition party that are Pacific because if I was sitting in that caucus and I had a leader that talked about Pacific nations in that way then not only would I be cringing but I would be having a quiet word to them. National can't go out and try and court the Pacific community for the Pacific community's votes and then go and disrespect the countries that the same Pacific people come from. In fact if we want to talk about Tokelau there's about 1500 Tokelauans in Tokelau. There are about 7000 Tokelauans in New Zealand and all of them are strongly connected to that place that they come from. So can I say again how disappointing it was this week to see the Leader of the Opposition so obviously blatantly disrespecting the Pacific.I do want to remind this House that not only is Tokelau part of the New Zealand Realm of nations but actually it's incredibly important to recognise that we aren't just an ocean of small islands. In fact there was an academic called Epeli Hau'ofa who said that we will not be defined by the smallness of our islands but by the greatness of our oceans. We should all be on board with that sentiment particularly when you look at an island like Tokelau which is 10.8 square kilometres in terms of land but is 318990 square kilometres in ocean. So we on this side of the House value our Pacific nations and really want to get that point across in the House today.Tokelau like many of our Pacific nations is at the forefront and fighting many of the international challenges that we speak about in this House including climate change. Why would it not be appropriate that our Prime Minister—our Prime Minister for the first time in 14 years—would go and visit this country one of our Realm countries to discuss issues of international importance like climate change particularly given our commitment to that country? We on this side of the House are not about being divisive; we are about making sure that as a Pacific region we are united on the big issues that matter internationally. We've made a commitment as a Government to ensuring that one of our priorities is valuing who we are and that's recognising that actually here in New Zealand we are part of the Pacific region. We are part of the Pacific region and so we will not buy into the divisive rhetoric that we see coming out of the Opposition.I really want to refer to and acknowledge our Deputy Prime Minister in his role as Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Pacific reset that he has undertaken and the value that he places on the Pacific region. In fact he's got a great line that I've heard him use on many occasions and that is that we're not just partners with regards to our Pacific Island nation States; actually being Pacific is part of our DNA. It is part of our DNA—it's certainly part of mine. On that can I just say we have a special relationship with the Pacific region which we value on this side of the House. It is part of our DNA. We are not only partners or not just partners; they are our cousins and this side of the House will not be disrespecting them like that side does.