9. Question No. 9—Foreign AffairsHon DAVID PARKER (Labour) to the Minister of Foreign AffairsQuestion No. 9—Foreign Affairs9. Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour) to the Minister of Foreign Affairs: Has he agreed to find savings of 6.5 percent in the spending within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT)?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Minister of Foreign Affairs): As that member will well know all conversations with all colleagues—including the Prime Minister and most importantly the Minister of Finance—are confidential. However we are pressing on to ensure that on Budget day that member will know and so that then the only uncertainty at that point in time will be whether or not he is rightfully the leader of the Labour Party.DEPUTY SPEAKER: That last but was a bit unnecessary.Hon David Parker: There's no risk of that.Hon Members: Aw!Hon David Parker: Did the request—DEPUTY SPEAKER: OK. We're having a question in silence please. I know that was called for but we'll have silence. Thank you.Hon David Parker: Did the request for savings encompass expenditure by MFAT on overseas development assistance (ODA)?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: As that member will know by past experience over the years it's been enormously difficult for this country to replicate what happened under Norman Kirk where that was most properly addressed but still less than 0.7 percent. Now my point here right now is that in past times enormous struggles but twice—and he was here at the time—we did successfully get the turnaround of respect as a consequence. And focusing offshore and knowing that our very recoveries depend upon our success as an export nation and that such expenditure of course is anti-inflationary we look forward with confidence to a very positive outcome.Hon David Parker: It sounds like the Minister is aware that during the period when he was Minister of Foreign Affairs under the prime ministership of Helen Clark from 2005 to 2008 and again from 2017 to 2020 those Governments lifted ODA as a percentage of gross national income (GNI); is he also aware that during the intervening period it dropped and if so what will he do to resist efforts to drop ODA as a percentage of GNI during this Government?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: I am very pleased that member's raised that issue because when he said the intervening period" he means 2020 to 2023.Hon Grant Robertson: No.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Oh yes it started to go to 0.23 now. We left it at 0.34 when we left.Hon Grant Robertson: No you didn't.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Oh yes we did. Oh yes we did. And I can say under Helen Clark it wasn't so difficult—she understood foreign policy. But in 2017—and Mr Parker knows that—it was desperately difficult to try and extract out of people what was critically needed for this country's long-term image offshore and to gain the respect we possibly need.Hon David Parker: Has he seen reports this week that the Governments of the Federated States of Micronesia Palau and the Marshall Islands have written to the USA Government about the destabilising effect of uncertainty with USA ODA saying this plays into the hands of other actors in the Pacific?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Thank you to the member for that and he's quite right. Yes I have. But on two counts—first of all I've also contacted the United States myself with respect to those three beautiful countries; and the second thing is I'm in discussions with this Government to ensure that when it comes to our turn first known in Budget 2024 we are doing the right thing.Hon David Parker: So then can he confirm that given the crucial importance of New Zealand's ODA into the Pacific both to unlock the potential of our Pacific neighbours and to guard against other influences it is crucial that New Zealand's aid as a percentage of GNI does not drop?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Well I thank that member for that very insightful question as well because it has dropped. It is targeted to go to 0.23. This is shocking. And in 2017 we were facing it going to 0.21. Now I shouldn't have to come back time after time and try and save an industry but we are. That member knows more about it than anybody else because he was the Minister for Trade at the time. Unfortunately the COVID circumstances stopped us making any progress in India. But we're back doing all the same things this time though. With the assistance of this budgetary money it is our intention to get a result in India as fast as we possibly can."