Foster-Bell Paul: Debate on Prime Minister’s StatementText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFoster-Bell Paul: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement[Sitting date: 01 March 2016. Volume:711;Page:9251. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PAUL FOSTER-BELL (National):E Te Mana Whakawā Tuarua tēnā koe; tēnā koutou katoa e ngā mema o Te Whare.I take pleasure in speaking in support of the Prime Minister’s statement in this debate on his statement in the House. I will be sharing my call with my colleague Ian McKelvie the honourable member for the Rangitīkei so I plan to cover the town issues and I will leave it to Mr McKelvie to cover the country.Here in Wellington we have enjoyed a wonderful summer. Not only has the weather been superb and allowed us to enjoy some great cricket on display but we have had some extraordinary events here. The hotel beds have been full. In fact we have had a record year for tourism in Wellington and everything from that Sir Peter Jackson Gallipoli exhibit at Te Papa through to The Great War Exhibition at the National War Memorial museum—and I want to pay tribute to Christopher Finlayson and the input he had into that wonderful attraction—has been awash with tourists and visitors spending their money here in the capital. Similarly Weta Workshop—when I had some relatives staying over the summer I decided to take them out to Weta Workshop to see the Thunderbirds Are Go exhibit where they can see the sets used to recreate that iconic 1960s TV series—also enjoyed large numbers of visitors. Wellington has benefited from record tourist numbers.We have also seen significant Government investment into the capital. I would point to the ICT Graduate School which will upskill our workforce with those modern technical capabilities that they need to be able to earn those good incomes. That will be implemented here in Wellington hosted by Victoria University over the coming year.If I can turn to another issue it is that this year is the 30th anniversary of the legalisation of homosexuality in New Zealand. I want to put on record that I enjoy working cross-party with colleagues including the member who just resumed her seat Louisa Wall. We will be hosting an event here at Parliament on Saturday that kicks off Pride Week here in Wellington and I am looking forward to doing that. But later on this year there will be events I think in the parliamentary precinct to commemorate the decriminalisation which was a significant event in New Zealand’s history. I am proud to be a member of a Government that also looks out for the interests of all members of our community not just the majority.I had an interesting discussion recently with a constituent here around refugees and I would point in the Prime Minister’s statement to his comments around the threat posed by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and also the refugee problem that the world is facing. This person with whom I was chatting was a Polish migrant—one of the Pahīatua Poles. She was an orphan who after her family was treated horrendously by the Soviets—she and her mother were deported to a gulag in Siberia—then came to New Zealand via Iran actually of all places. They stopped there for a few years on their way to New Zealand. In the discussion with this constituent a very clear point came across. She was pointing out that actually the last thing that the refugees who are coming to New Zealand need is pity. Pity is not what will help them to integrate into our community. It is not what will help them to get jobs to become educated and to make a contribution to their new home New Zealand.I am proud to be part of a Government where there will be an additional number of refugees accepted into New Zealand but that is being done in a controlled way unlike what we are seeing in Europe. We will have the health facilities the transport the housing the social development and the educational services in place to make sure those people are properly looked after. I look at the approach taken by some of the parties in this House and by some of the lobbyists in the community who are promoting either what I would describe as the hard-hearted approach—that is to reject all even those who are fleeing from some of the worst atrocities in the world; fleeing for their very lives—or the soft-headed approach where we want to open up the doors in such a way that we would take numbers that we are not able to properly support. I am proud to be part of a Government that is actually taking the right course of action which will be looking after those who are escaping from real danger but we are not opening the floodgates to New Zealand. I fully commend the Prime Minister’s statement to the House.