McClay ToddEUROPEAN UNION FREE TRADE AGREEMENT LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILLThird ReadingHon TODD McCLAY (Minister for Trade): I present a legislative statement on the European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill.SPEAKER: The legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the parliamentary website.Hon TODD McCLAY: I move That the European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill be now read a third time.Thank you Mr Speaker. Thank you to all those who have been involved in progressing the European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill this far from members of Parliament previous Ministers select committees to members of the public including civil society and business representatives. Your engagement has been crucial in getting us to this point. This is a process which started more than a decade ago when we first launched preparatory talks with the European Union to start negotiating the free-trade agreement. Trade Ministers Tim Groser Todd McClay David Parker Damien O'Connor and now Todd McClay again have all had input into the formation and delivery of this agreement. Now after many years of work by successive New Zealand Governments we're poised to bring the agreement into effect and this is an important moment.The free-trade agreement (FTA) will open up significant new opportunities for New Zealand businesses already trading in Europe but by levelling the playing field with their competitors. What does this mean in practice? Well for example New Zealand kiwifruit exporters currently pay a tariff of 8.8 percent on their exports to the EU while their competitors in Chile pay nothing. From 1 May those tariffs will be lifted saving our kiwifruit industry $47 million per annum and making them more competitive in the EU market. From 1 May 99.5 percent of our fish and seafood exports to the EU including hoki mussels and squid will enter duty free saving the industry $20 million in tariffs each year. But it's not just existing exporters who will benefit. When this agreement enters into force the proportion of New Zealand exporters covered by our network of FTAs will exceed 70 percent for the first time. This gives our exporters greater choice about where they do business and it opens up new opportunities for these businesses that might be interested in expanding into the European market. We'll also be lifting our remaining tariffs on European goods coming into New Zealand which is great news for consumers and retailers who will have access to quality European product at a more competitive price.This support we've seen for the bill from across the House means that we've been able to progress quickly through our ratification process. This means that we're able to bring the agreement into effect from 1 May earlier than expected. It's a great result for New Zealand businesses and for New Zealand consumers more generally. From here we'll be engaging with the business community to make sure they are poised to take advantage of the agreement and all the benefits that it brings.At this point I'd like to recognise the work of the House and thank all parties for engaging and agreeing to progress this quickly and particularly the members who sit on the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee. I had an opportunity to appear before the committee and to speak to a number of them directly personally to make the case for why the House should come together in this instance and work as fast as we could. I know the committee met outside of the normal hours on days when the House was meeting and when it wasn't including during recesses. In that I'm grateful for their help and their assistance. I also want to recognise submitters who were called to give their views on this and did so. I recognise that the committee ensured that all submitters were afforded the time they wanted and needed to raise their thoughts so that the process—although shortened from the point of view of Parliament—wasn't shortened or diminished in as far as the opportunity for New Zealanders to have their say.Can I also at this stage in recognising earlier in my speech all of the trade Ministers who have been involved and therefore suggesting that this House often can do its best internationally particularly on trade when we find ways to work together and finding solutions mention the former trade Minister the Hon Damien O'Connor who was the Minister that concluded the agreement went to Europe and signed it. I know what it's like to have been involved in an agreement that has landed and then the importance of New Zealanders making decisions means that someone else gets to either sign or put it into law. But I recognise the work of Damien O'Connor and I thank him for that. And whilst not all parts of this agreement have met the level of aspiration that everybody in New Zealand has this House and Damien O'Connor can go away after this enters into force knowing that we have helped New Zealanders that we are growing the economy that it is a high-quality agreement and that actually we will do better with this agreement with the European Union than we would without it. With that in mind I commend this legislation in the third reading to the House.