Sio William: Airports (Cost Recovery for Processing of International Travellers) Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSio William: Airports (Cost Recovery for Processing of International Travellers) Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 12 February 2014. Volume:696;Page:15910. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Su’a WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Māngere): Talofa lava Mr Assistant Speaker. I am not sure whether I am going to be sharing my 5 minutes with the Green Party but I will take it anyway and see what happens. I rise to support the Airports (Cost Recovery for Processing of International Travellers) Bill as we have agreed. We support it for the reason that this is an appropriate development. International airports are important for our country. We support it for the reason that it is important that if these international airports are going to be established in other regions we should ensure that they have a resource in terms of protecting our borders with customs officials etc.My electorate has the Auckland Airport which is one of the busiest international airports of New Zealand. I refer to it as the gateway to New Zealand and the gateway to the nation the land of the young beautiful and gifted which is a reflection of the make-up of that particular community. I know that my colleagues who were in the former Labour Government prided themselves on the fact that we took care of that and ensured that the resources and facilities were available at the airport to ensure that our borders were well protected. That was an important aspect of our vision for the future. You will recall that since this Government came into power we have questioned the way that it has cut funding to resources particularly at the customs level. We have questioned the way that under its watch we have had the Psa disease which has hurt ourkiwifruit farmers. More recently there has been a fruit fly found in our regions. That is of significant concern and I know that my colleague Damien O’Connor raised consistently with the Minister of Customs—Hon Clayton Cosgrove: And agriculture.Su’a WILLIAM SIO: —and agriculture—how the cutting of the funding when National came into Government has hurt our borders in that particular regard.Airports are important and I know that in the last 5 years we have had significant numbers of New Zealanders use those airports to fly away—to flee from this country.Hon Clayton Cosgrove: A thousand a week is it?Su’a WILLIAM SIO: About a thousand a week—52000 in the last year or so all flying to Australia. Although they have been using the new facility SmartGate they could not wait to get out of this country since this Government came into power. I know that 52000 Kiwis have fled our shores for a better life out there in Australia. Even though this Government has in the last day or two trumpeted how the economic recovery seems to have improved our employment rate if those 52000 New Zealanders were to return to our shores I think we would be in a much worse state than the Government makes it out to be.I have a cousin who is leaving our shores for Australia unfortunately. She is married and has three children. Her oldest son is working. The three of them working have been able to support their family pay the mortgage and ensure that the younger kids get supported in their sports activities in their school. Last year my cousin’s husband lost his job out in Howick as I think a printer. As a result of losing that job despite the fact that his wife and their oldest son were working they could not afford to maintain their mortgage despite the low interest rates that we are experiencing. As a result in the last 2 or 3 months the husband has travelled to Melbourne to try to find work there. He has recently come back has got a job there and is now ready to move his entire family to live in Melbourne. They will not appreciate my naming them in the House but I am quite saddened by the fact that despite us trying to convince them to stay they do not believe any of the rhetoric that this Government has said. They do not believe any of the promises about the brighter future. That is why they are leaving New Zealand to go to Australia.Can you blame them? Can you blame the 52000 New Zealanders who have left our shores to try to find a better life in Australia? Despite this Government trumpeting and celebrating the improvement in our economic affairs I think a large proportion of working class communities—everyday New Zealanders—are not able to celebrate that recovery. Overall our Government is celebrating the drop in unemployment at 6 percent but I think if you look for example to the Pacific communities it still remains high at 13.7 percent. It is even worse for our young people. For our young people—Hon Maurice Williamson: And this has got what to do with cost recovery at airports?Su’a WILLIAM SIO: Absolutely airports—we are talking about economic development OK? People getting jobs people not getting jobs. As the Minister has intervened I do want to say that since he has been the Minister of Customs there have been regular complaints which I have referred to the Minister often from the Muslim communities who have been accosted at the airport. On one occasion I did ask the Minister whether he could assist in this because what happens is when somebody dies in the Muslim community protocols will permit that the dead be allowed to lie only for a certain number of days—Hon Member: One day.Su’a WILLIAM SIO: One day; that is right. So when a parent or somebody dear to them dies they are off. They are off. They are at the airport buying a ticket getting onthe first plane in and getting on the first plane to return. Often our officials looking at that get suspicious but the reality is that because of cultural customs they must do that so often these trips are never planned. I know that we raised it with the Minister asking whether he could do something about certain individuals being blocked off at the airport and being investigated for suspicion simply because they have not planned those trips. Well you cannot plan for somebody dying. So particularly in Muslim culture that is important. I know that the Minister has struggled with that. He has struggled with understanding that culture just as this Government has struggled to try to convince the rest of the country that things are better.Things are not better. Things are not better. All you have to do is look at the card. Look at this card that was released today by the Salvation Army. Look. Air New Zealand also prides itself on saying that it is a No. 1 airline—top of its game—but sadly we cannot say that about this Government. It got a D for child poverty not an A. It got a D. Unlike Air New Zealand it got a D. Children—it got a C-. Anyway I am disappointed that I have had to speak to this particular bill. There are so many things that we could have been talking about. We could have been talking about a better vision for this country where everybody benefits and where everybody is able to get the opportunities to get ahead. Instead we are talking about a bill that is as narrow as the arrogance of this particular Government. Thank you.