McClay ToddHon TODD McCLAY (Minister of Trade): If I may before I start my speech I would like to give my thoughts to Steve Chadwick the Mayor of Rotorua whose husband sadly died on Friday of last week. I have just been at home this morning to John Chadwick's tangi his funeral. It was very well attended and it was obvious the great affection that all of Rotorua and many others around the country had for John. I am sure as a former colleague in this House the thoughts of the Parliament are with her and her family at what will be a difficult time.This was a good Budget. Contrary to the last speech by Catherine Delahunty it was a good Budget. It delivered for families and it delivered for workers and it was able to achieve something that the Government has not been able to do over the last 8 years and that is to start spending money in areas that are important for the economy are important for society and are important for New Zealand. The reason we are able to do that in this Budget is the hard work of New Zealanders and the focus of Bill English as finance Minister and now as Prime Minister on growing the economy through very difficult times to create surpluses that we can now apply to important areas of Government spending. That has happened only because of that hard work and it will happen only through continued hard work of this Government to focus on what matters for New Zealanders to create opportunity and to make sure that as the Government has choices going forward in what it spends money on—because there are surpluses—so do New Zealanders have choices as well in so far as where they want to focus their activity.The Budget does offer more in education. The education budget has gone up. We will spend more on education in the coming years than in any year before. Actually as we go through all the policy areas more money has been attached to them but it is not just about more money as opposed to what the last speaker said. It is about making sure that the Government spends taxpayers' money taxpayers' resource as carefully as it can. There is a return for the taxpayer and that return is that they get more productivity out of the Government out of Government agencies and at the same time their taxes go further. This is a Budget that is delivering more money in the pockets of New Zealanders through changing the tax rates through the different bands as well as recognising that movements are needed around Working for Families. Families up and down New Zealand will find that they have more money in their pocket. This is a Government that believes that they are the ones who are working hard they are the ones who should decide what their money is spent on and they should get to keep more of that money to make those decisions.I am very proud that as part of Budget 2017 we have seen the largest investment ever in trade policy in New Zealand. Two months ago we launched Trade Agenda 2030: Securing our place in the world the Government's trade policy for the next 10 to 15 years. Trade is exceptionally important to a country like New Zealand. If we are not out there finding better access to markets overseas to sell our goods and services in then the Government will not have the choices it has in so far as Budget surpluses and New Zealanders will not have the choices that they have they demand and they deserve because their economy will shrink. You see we are an export nation and we have to sell the goods and services overseas that we produce. The reason for that is we are 4.5 million people and nobody owes us a living. We must have a very secure place in the Asian market. We must have high-quality free-trade agreements (FTAs) that give us better access to Asia. We need to make sure that the European Union opens its markets to New Zealanders and does not put up barriers so that New Zealanders and our goods and services can flow there more freely. We need to be out continually fighting for arguing for persuading for a better go for New Zealanders so that they can do more overseas. This Government has done that and I am very proud of our record.We have set an ambitious target under Trade Agenda 2030 that 90 percent of our goods trade should be covered by FTAs by 2030. That will take detailed focused work on the part of the Government. It will have to work closely with New Zealand businesses but it is achievable. It is ambitious; we must be striving to do more because we will not become richer as a nation if we are merely selling to ourselves.We have backed it up with $91.3 million of additional money over the next 4 years through this Budget. This is to support Trade Agenda 2030. Of this $35 million will go to the primary sector exporters to help them do more in markets overseas—to see if we can reduce some of these non-tariff barriers (NTBs) that get in the way of them fairly accessing these markets. There will be a $27 million boost for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade so we can have more trade negotiators and we can accelerate the pace at which we are negotiating. We are also investing $55 million—aside from the $91 million—into Expo 2020 Dubai and what that will allow us to do is to showcase the very best of New Zealand to make sure that we are relevant that we have a place in the world and that people are reminded of all the things that we have to offer them.In reaching this target of 90 percent of goods trade by 2030 we will have to do more trade deals. We will have to make sure that we have a deal with the European Union that we upgrade the current deals that we have—such as with China—and that we are out seeking opportunity wherever we can. It is not just about goods trade any more. Large parts of the New Zealand economy are now growing quickly providing jobs and they are involved in the digital services in services themselves and in investment. Over time under a Trade Agenda 2030 I would like to see our services and investment profile receiving as much attention as goods trade does because that is the area where in services young New Zealanders can exchange their high-quality and very expensive educations for higher-paying jobs everywhere in the world including right here at home.We want to focus on non-tariff barriers. The thing that is probably raised with me the most from business and industry—and people who are not involved in exports—is non-tariff barriers: all of those barriers that stop New Zealanders selling overseas that do not have a tariff rate attached to them. We want an all-of-Government approach to dealing with these because that is fundamentally the No. 1 area where the New Zealand economy will grow the most through exports if we can reduce some of these barriers that our exporters face overseas.This is not a matter of others changing their rules. The Government of New Zealand reserves the right to pass good law and pass regulation as this House does. At the same time we think we can line up some of our rules so that exporters can do better overseas. We are creating an NTB flying squad with that $35 million attached to the Ministry for Primary Industries. That flying squad will be made up of detailed experienced individuals who when a problem comes up for New Zealand exporters around the world will be able to deal with it more quickly. We already have a lot of capacity in this area but we want to focus and be dedicated because we think this is where the real challenges of the future will be.We also want it to be easier for New Zealanders to engage with Government agencies when it comes to NTBs. We are creating an NTB clearing house so that exporters and business people will no longer have to wonder who they should talk to in Government; there will be an online portal where they will get a response within 72 hours and their concerns and requests will be directed by Government to the appropriate people who will then deal with it. All of this again is about that all-of-Government approach to fixing barriers so New Zealanders can export more.The final thing we want to do under Trade Agenda 2030 is to help New Zealand companies do better overseas. We have a number of New Zealand companies that are world-beating. I want to recognise that BurgerFuel just this week has opened a burger restaurant in Indianapolis in America. It is fantastic that they are over there doing that. That is New Zealanders doing well on the world stage. Who would have thought that that was possible? No harm at all with that. We should be backing more New Zealand businesses to do this. We want to help them go from market access to market success and the Government is going to apply effort and resource to help them here.It does not matter whether it is a large company or a small company this Government is ambitious for them. Be it BurgerFuel or Fonterra we want them to do well overseas because when Kiwis are doing well overseas New Zealand is doing well also. This Government more than any party in this Parliament supports business supports exporters works hard for them and wants to do more for them. We are unapologetically ambitious on their behalf. We are going to go out and find better deals for them in all parts of the world where they are available. We are going to help them to do more. We want the economy to grow through being an export nation. We back New Zealand businesses. We back the export economy and Trade Agenda 2030 supports that vision. Thank you.