Nash StuartSTUART NASH (Labour—Napier): I am not too sure what that member Barbara Kuriger was talking about but let me add a little bit of clarity to the debate here.Hon David Cunliffe: Nor was she.STUART NASH: I know ha ha! Well look the purpose of this bill is actually to promote effective export marketing of horticultural commodities. That is something that we all want but we must understand in the 21st century that it is countries not just companies that are seeking to develop a global competitive advantage in this day and age. Gone are the days when we can go overseas and hand out a whole lot of rugby jerseys and expect to do business.As I mentioned in a speech earlier on this evening one of the things that I think that Government has done incredibly poorly is manage our global brand. What is a global brand worth? Well in 2005 the then Ministry of Economic Development valued New Zealand's global brand—the clean green 100% Pure" brand—at $20 billion a year. At the same time Deloitte did a survey and found that 80 percent of New Zealand companies that sought to export leveraged off this clean green brand. Yet I think it was Amy Adams who talked about rivers; that it was acceptable if they were a good enough quality to go wading in—to go wading in.One thing that I think that I agree with Barbara Kuriger on—I think what she was trying to say is that the story we tell overseas about our brand the clean green "100% Pure" brand if we do not actually live that brand and if we do not walk the walk then what happens is it becomes a fallacy. What happens ultimately is we become just another small economy pushing commodities into an increasingly competitive global market. We need a global competitive advantage that stands for something. When someone buys a kiwifruit or an apple or a banana or a nashi in a supermarket and it has "New Zealand" on it they need to know that that stands for freshness for great systems for organic—or whatever but it has got to stand for something more than the same product from Australia or South America or somewhere else. If we do not manage this brand well we are in huge trouble. What I would really like to see is the environmental policy from that Government over the next 8 months—because that is all it has got—actually start to reflect the value of this brand in a way that is walking the walk because if it becomes a myth we are in trouble.When we talk about horticultural exports what are we actually talking about? Is this a big industry or is this a small industry? Well it did increase by 9.5 percent in 2016—horticultural exports—to a record $4.3 billion. Kiwifruit exports in 2015 increased by $251 million to $1.2 billion and they are on target to meet their 2025 target of $3 billion. Apples—they are up by $25 million to $562 million and they are on track to meet their target of a billion dollars of exports by 2020.Let us put this into perspective and see how valuable this industry has become to this country. In terms of the total horticultural exports in 1985 they were worth $481 million or 4.4 percent of New Zealand's merchandise exports. By 2005 that had grown to $2.3 billion or 7.5 percent of New Zealand's merchandise exports. Move forward to 2015 and we are now talking about nearly $4.5 billion or 8.8 percent of New Zealand's exports and it is only going to get better. I know that in Hawke's Bay which has the second-largest area under horticulture—behind Marlborough and significantly more than most regions—there are literally millions of dollars being put into planting more orchards. This is a significant industry and we need to get this right.The products with export values of greater than $10 million are kiwifruit wine apples cherries and avocadoes—the things we do not necessarily think about. Asia for example—we sent $1.43 billion of horticultural exports to Asia in 2015 $826 million to Australia and $642 million to North America. Continental Europe—$632 million into the UK over $500 million of exports.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Now relate it to the bill.STUART NASH: Absolutely Mr Deputy Speaker.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: We are halfway through; you have not done that yet.STUART NASH: Yes well we are talking about the horticultural exports here Mr Deputy Speaker. The point I am making is that if we are to get this right if we are to really grow the premium brand—the Brand New Zealand—then exporting our horticultural products is just so important. This bill is a small step. It is not a panacea. We should be doing more; there is no doubt about that. I completely agree with the Greens in terms of country-of-origin labelling. Why would we not do it? We have absolutely nothing to lose by doing this. We have nothing to lose by doing this.Let us get "Brand New Zealand" out there. When I go to the supermarket I want to know where I am buying my food from. I want to know whether I am buying Kiwi or buying wherever. Why should we not do this? Why should we not know this? But also why should we not expect our export markets to do exactly the same? If we get this right the value of horticultural exports will go through the roof. Zespri for me is a classic case of how to de-commoditise something that was a commodity. It has done a brilliant job of really creating a differential in the market place around quality around different products actually. Fonterra—they could be doing better but brand Fonterra means something. This is what we need to do in the horticultural sector as well.Time and time again in primary industries whether it be meat or wool or wood we go overseas and we compete against each other. How does that help us in the 21st century? Quite simply it does not at all. So I am in favour of this bill but actually I would like to see a whole lot more done to really drive value to get that "Brand New Zealand" up there—not only "Brand New Zealand" in the global markets but to have "Brand New Zealand" mean something in New Zealand because probably like you Mr Deputy Speaker I grew up swimming in clean rivers and fresh lakes. Our kids are not doing that at the moment. We need to get back to that because that is what—[Interruption] I am sorry if I am keeping you up Mr McKelvie. That is what "Brand New Zealand" means to Kiwis but it also must be what "Brand New Zealand" means to our global markets. If we cannot get that premium we are in trouble. Conversely if we can get that premium around what New Zealand is worth then these exports will go through the roof.So I do support this bill but I think there is a lot more we could be doing. Thank you very much."