Foss Craig: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFoss Craig: General Debate[Sitting date: 29 July 2015. Volume:707;Page:5437. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon CRAIG FOSS (Minister for Small Business): I return from our National Party conference—700 delegates positive about New Zealand confident about New Zealand. There were 700 New Zealanders with names that may come from all sorts of countries. There were 700 delegates who included those with names that may sound Chinese Scottish Irish Eastern European South American anything at all. There were 700 New Zealanders confident about where this country can go where we are taking this fine awesome country and 700 delegates looking forward to the future united in our aspiration and in what we need to do to help continue to grow our country.There were excellent sessions throughout the conference on all sorts of topics. I was particularly intrigued by the one that the Hon Paula Bennett ran where people were texting questions in and she kept getting texts from someone called Andrew asking interesting questions. We were not quite sure whether or not it was Andrew Little texting in. I was part of an economic session with the Hon Bill English the Hon Steven Joyce and the Hon Paul Goldsmith. We had a lot of wide-ranging discussions but one point was noted so I should pose it to the next Labour speaker. We talked about the 90-day trial. We were uncertain and unsure about what Labour’s position is on the 90-day trial—whether if Labour were to form the next Government it would repeal the 90-day trial or modify it in some way as Mr Little seemed to allude to the other day.At the conference we talked about and celebrated trade. We celebrated free trade. We celebrated the advances New Zealand has made over many years as we often lead the world as a small but confident trading nation. We were reminded about the Closer Economic Relations agreement which the Greens did not seem to know existed. We were reminded about the China free-trade agreement where a lot of the hard work was done by the previous Labour Government and which was ratified under the National Government. We went from about $2 billion worth of trade from New Zealand to China to I think about $11 billion now over just a few short years—the China free-trade agreement that helped haul New Zealand out of the global financial crisis.We talked about the Taiwan closer economic partnership which took a 20 percent tariff for New Zealand apples off the table overnight. New Zealand apple growers now no longer face a 20 percent tariff going into Taiwan. What better example is there of a free-trade agreement helping regions such as Hawke’s Bay into Taiwan? There is the Republic of Korea free-trade agreement which wipes 45 percent tariffs from New Zealand exports. And Labour seems now to be opposed to free trade.We talked about the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. It is very close down to the wire and I most certainly hope we get there because the logic or the illogic of the arguments on the other side against the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement if they were to be true should apply to all the other trade agreements we have. If we do not export we cannot deliver this country’s social and economic aspirations. If we want to pay the bucks we have to earn the bucks.What has happened to the Labour Party that was strong at the peak of Helen Clark’s Government around 2002 fresh after the apology to the Chinese community pursuing free-trade agreements around the world and aspirational trying to move up the OECD ladder? Listen to the Labour members now—anti-trade stirring the racial pot. It is disgraceful—absolutely disgraceful. But as TV reporters have said: if they want to play that card they have got to own that card. Interestingly they seem to have quietened down on it. Come out and actually apologise to all New Zealanders whatever the sound of their names for the disgraceful lurch the Labour Party took into the gutter of politics. Thank you.