Bidois DanDAN BIDOIS (National—Northcote): Madam Assistant Speaker it's a pleasure to take a brief call on what is a very important bill for New Zealand. There aren't really many bills that you can say have this much potential to make a difference to New Zealand's economy both now and in the future. So it's a pleasure to take a call to support the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP) Amendment Bill. I want to pick up on something from a contribution from the Green Party before. It was Golriz Ghahraman who mentioned that this is an archaic law—Simeon Brown: It's not even passed yet.DAN BIDOIS: Exactly—it hasn't even been passed. She should've said it's an archaic bill. But I want to rebut that a bit because I think that this bill is in fact very progressive. It's modern and it is really the gold standard of new trade agreements going forward. I want to just spend a bit of time outlining how this trade agreement is in fact different from all the other trade agreements that New Zealand has signed and why this is unique.The first is that it sets standards for trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The second is that it lowers barriers for services sectors across the region and that includes people that want to move around and work and it will give New Zealanders an opportunity to participate in a much larger global market. It creates a governance structure that will monitor and regulate trade across the region. It also creates channels for public-private collaboration on various trade issues. It's a catalyst for wider economic regional integration and political cooperation. That in fact is how this trade agreement differs from others that we have signed.The benefits of this trade agreement are very clear. It's going to promote a level playing field for all of our exporters provide greater opportunities for our businesses and also our workers and reduce the costs for exporters and it also provides cheaper imports for New Zealand consumers. My colleague the Hon Tim Macindoe outlined some of the economic benefits of this trade agreement: 480 million people in the area of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership with a combined GDP of well over $14 trillion and the projections for how much economic value this trade agreement will add to New Zealand by 2040 is anywhere from $1.2 billion to $4 billion per annum depending on the various scenarios that have been modelled. In terms of exporters this trade agreement will provide up to $2.6 billion in economic impact in our export sector by 2040. That's going to make a real difference to our economy and provide opportunities advance incomes and make us all a wealthier more prosperous country in the future.The National Party has a far longer history of supporting free trade than other parties in this House today. We believe in a country that is open to the world where our businesses are global and think globally and where we have opportunities for all of our people in a global country but I do agree with the previous contribution by Michael Wood that we must continue to ensure that we get economic value out of our existing trade agreements and that it's not in fact enough that we sign an agreement and there we go that's it. We must do much more to make sure that the economic value is in fact realised and therefore this side of the House will be making sure that the Government will be in fact delivering and engaging with the public of New Zealand whether it be businesses and private citizens to ensure that the economic benefits are in fact delivered from this agreement.Just to outline my final contribution there: a special thanks to all of the people and parties who have been part of this process. It's been many years in the making and I commend this bill to the House.