Wood MichaelMICHAEL WOOD (Labour—Mt Roskill): In his comments earlier on in the debate the Hon Todd McClay said that we should take the politics out of the conversation around trade and in the brief contribution that I make today I want to refute that motion. I want to refute it very strongly because it is my view that those of us in this House in the political system who want to strengthen trading relationships who for the most part believe in free and open trade are making a very very bad mistake if we believe that ignoring legitimate community concerns about the world trading system the distribution of wealth that it feeds into one way or another and other such factors—if we ignore those concerns all we will do is drive the rage machine and undermine the agenda for trade.I think what is the responsibility of members in this House is to actually engage with the community through our political system. Our political system is about mediating community concerns and feeding them into our decision making. For those of us who believe in free and open trade and the benefits that it brings benefits which are brought through the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) we will actually be doing that cause a disservice if we pretend that it is not political—if we just put in a box and say It's a little technocratic project that is run by people in the political world and our diplomats and don't you people worry about it. We'll take care of it. It's not political. It doesn't involve you." That is what has in fact driven the opposition and the concern about trade and about the previous Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPPA) not just here in New Zealand but around the world. So I'm actually very proud of the position that the Labour Party has taken across the course of this issue because before the TPPA was initially negotiated every other party in this House had a position for or agin. The Labour Party was the only party which said "We will judge the outcome of those negotiations on the basis of a series of tests based on our values—based around issues such as the Treaty the right to regulate for health and education the right to control our own land the issue of investor-State dispute settlement and the position of Pharmac." We made our position based on whether the original agreement met those tests and it didn't meet enough of them. That was the position we took. I'm then exceptionally proud that upon taking Government the Hon David Parker and the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern went to bat for this country—went in worked with partners in the agreement and managed to bridge the gaps in most of those areas. So for example we ensured that we have the right to control the sale of land—an issue that is incredibly important to New Zealanders. That is engaging in the democratic the political process. That is about taking care of community concerns. And we can do that at the same time as negotiating a high-quality agreement such as this one that brings huge economic benefits to our country. So that really is my message. If we want to rebuild the consensus around trade which has broken down through the course of the TPPA process we don't do that by ignoring politics. We do it by engaging with our community and engaging in politics listening to the concerns and rebuilding the consensus. This is a good bill because this Government the Labour Party has done that and I commend it to the House. Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker."