Dean Jacqui: ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Bill — In Committee 
Dean Jacqui: ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:655;Page:4685] 
JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki) 
: 
 I address Part 2 of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Bill as is a requirement of this debate and it will be easy to do so because the provisions in this part are exciting even though they deal with amendments to the Customs and Excise Act. I have to say that a distinct lack of excitement has been shown by Labour members in this debate. That might well be explained away by the fact that not one of them represents agricultural interests whereas the members on this side of the Chamber are good provincial electorate MPs— 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I point out that this is a serious bill and the Opposition is taking it seriously. We are not engaging in passionate debate about it . 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Rick Barker) 
: Points of order are about order. That was about the tempo. It is not a point of order. 
JACQUI DEAN 
: I am seriously proud to belong to a party and Government that represents rural and provincial New Zealand amongst its ranks of MPs. That is why it is so exciting to have the opportunity to speak on Part 2 which amends the Customs and Excise Act. 
The provisions of Part 2 allow the chief executive of the New Zealand Customs Service to designate certification bodies that are authorised to issue a New Zealand certificate of origin for goods to be exported to ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement parties. The reason this is so exciting is that the New Zealand Customs Service will be focused on delivering good service to our exporters. I mentioned this in my Part 1 speech but I think it needs to be said again: the New Zealand Customs Service will be focused on implementing Part 2 because it has a very important role to play in relation to the certificate of origin provisions and the certification bodies that are authorised to issue a New Zealand certificate of origin. 
What our exporters and our primary producers need—those people who produce the goods at the farm gate whom we represent—is a smoother process through the New Zealand Customs Service so they can take advantage of the excellent provisions in this bill. Part 2 creates criteria that the chief executive of the New Zealand Customs Service must measure applications for certification against. Again those criteria are very important because the applications must be measured against them before a body is certified to issue certificates. 
I want to address a submission made to the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee by Fonterra who note with regard to Part 2: “To ensure smooth implementation and maximise any tariff opportunities of the agreement lessons need to be drawn from our experiences with the China - New Zealand free-trade agreement in particular in regard to the operational and certification procedures.” I believe that the new provisions in Part 2 if implemented—and I am sure they will be—by the New Zealand Customs Service will make the way through the New Zealand Customs Service process smoother for our exporters. That is entirely consistent with and in line with this Government’s desire to create growth and jobs. 
Further Part 2 enables the creation of regulations that will set prescribed terms and conditions for certification set the criteria and set the application forms and fees. Speaking of application forms and fees I say that again there was a great deal of discussion at the select committee over application forms which must be the bugbear of many New Zealand small businesses many New Zealand producers and many New Zealand exporters. So it is good news that focus and attention have been given to the matter of application forms and fees which one might think is minutia but is not. I understand that my time is nearly up so I commend this part of the bill to the Committee.