Wagner NickyHon NICKY WAGNER (Minister of Customs): New Zealand is a stable well-functioning democratic country with one of the longest continuing parliamentary processes in the world. We are consistently ranked as one of the most peaceful and one of the least corrupt countries in the world. I think we should be very proud of that. It means that we are not quick to anger we are reasonable and rational in our thinking—most of the time—we respect the opinions of others we respect the rule of law and we respect our democratic history. We are an exception in this modern world. So let us just reflect on the past decade. Internationally there has been a series of traumatic events: wars uprisings terror attacks and of course the global financial crisis. All of these things have created huge disruption huge uncertainty and misery for many many people around the world. And New Zealand has had its fair share of challenges during that time. We have had the Canterbury earthquakes we have had the Pike River disaster we have had the Rena wreck and of course we too suffered from the global financial crisis. But I think we have managed to come together we have managed to work hard together and we have managed to get over those difficult events as well as possible. The New Zealand economy was in recession in 2008 and it was later hit by the global financial crisis. A large spending increase by the Labour Government in the 2000s proved to be unaffordable when our revenues fell. If we look at the projections for the Budget of 2009 it showed that if the National Government had continued and maintained that lavish spending we would have faced never-ending deficits and net debt would have exceeded 60 percent of GDP in the early 2020s. We would have had no buffer to manage international uncertainty. The Government's plan throughout the global financial crisis was to invest to support the economy. It was an approach that cushioned New Zealanders and their families from the worst effects of that recession and we have worked hard to get on top of spending and to deliver better public services within tight financial constraints. We focused on getting better value for taxpayers' money and particularly supporting our vulnerable people. We even managed to increase benefits for the first time in 43 years. National remains focused on managing the Government's finances responsibly and sensibly. We continue to pay down debt. We are building a more productive more competitive and more resilient economy. But the rest of the world is not as prudent nor as stable. The world is full of political unrest. During the time that John Key has been our Prime Minister Australia has gone through four Prime Ministers and one of them was a retread. Canada has moved from a Conservative Government to a high-spending Liberal Government. The US has moved from Republican to Democrat and we now have the Hillary and Donald show. Some people are calling that Trumpsit" because it could be equally as disruptive as Brexit and equally as dangerous to us and the rest of the world. But New Zealand maintains a stable strong consistent fiscally responsible National-led Government and we are being rewarded by solid economic growth. The latest GDP data shows New Zealand's annual growth rate is 2.8 percent which is in the top 10 of the OECD. I think it is important that we understand that being a stable predictable democracy with a resilient and an inclusive population gives us a huge advantage on the global stage. We have done well under the leadership of John Key and Bill English. We are in good shape to face an increasingly uncertain world. I am proud to be a New Zealander and proud of our track record. Thank you."