McClay ToddHon TODD McCLAY (Minister of Agriculture): Let me start by saying it's a privilege to be here in Parliament and I hope every member of Parliament feels the same way. Can I congratulate you Mr Assistant Speaker O'Connor on your appointment to this role and say how much we look forward to working with you and with the Rt Hon Gerry Brownlee as our Speaker. If the last week or so is anything to go by the House will be able to flow freely. It's a place of robust debate and it's where we test out ideas.With that in mind it didn't take very long for nasty Labour to come back did it? Carmel Sepuloni was on her feet talking—making up actually some text message of fake news somebody happened to send her with such intricate detail from the Koru lounge from a drunk person. What absolute rubbish! But I'll tell you the problem we've got with the Labour Party—and we've been there. We know what it's like. It's hard to accept that you've been rejected by the public—we were there for six years. And what we have heard or will continue to hear is that actually nothing is wrong—the public got it wrong and actually they'll change their minds very soon.Carmel Sepuloni actually reminded me of Chris Hipkins. It's a little bit like that story I used to tell my kids—you know the little engine that thought it could: I think I can I think I can." and then the public said "You can't." And now they're over there not sure what they're doing. Carmel Sepuloni said she'd been to that circus once and she'd never go again. Sorry Ms Sepuloni you've got to go back to the Labour Party caucus every single week because I think that's where the circus is.Can I say on behalf of my colleagues that we are very proud to have formed what will be a strong and stable Government. Carmel Sepuloni says she thinks about those who have the least the poor in society. The bit that she forgot to say is that over six years those poor people the vulnerable she's so worried about are worse off today than they were six years ago. It is an obligation on this Government to grow the economy and help people to help themselves so they get ahead and with New Zealand First and with ACT in coalition the first coalition Government ever formed in the history of New Zealand where three parties sign up to a deal together we are focused on what needs to be done and we should be judged on what we deliver not "I think I can I think I can I hope I can." And of course Labour never did—they couldn't.Can I thank the Rt Hon Prime Minister Christopher Luxon for the confidence he has shown in me and all of our caucus in asking us to work very hard on behalf of New Zealanders. I'm extremely proud to be given the opportunity to serve as a Minister in this Government. And as with every single other Minister in this Government in National and ACT and New Zealand First we pledge to work hard for New Zealanders and put their interests first and deliver for them not just put out press releases about houses that nobody can live in or under not just put up roading cones around the country but to do the hard work and deliver for Kiwis to get the country back on track and make sure that actually they are better off.I have been given agriculture as a portfolio and it's one of the best portfolios you could have because of its absolute importance to New Zealand and the New Zealand economy. Every morning all around New Zealand in every part of the country hard-working men and women get up they put on their gumboots they get on their tractors they go to milk the cows they work hard because they care about their land and they care about their animals they care about their communities and they are the heavy lifters of the New Zealand economy. And actually if you have a look over time this place—they say there have been fewer members of Parliament than there have been All Blacks but if you actually look at the All Blacks a team that all New Zealanders can be proud of over the history of it the number of farmers that have served as our top sportspeople in itself talks to the importance of rural New Zealand to the fabric of society in New Zealand. And to anybody in this House that doesn't understand that when rural New Zealand does well all of New Zealand does well and when the rural economy is strong the New Zealand economy is strong they will be on that side of the House because of all the things that Labour did to our farmers over six years.We have a strong team in the Government. Our rural team Nicola Grigg Andrew Hoggard and Mark Patterson; a rural team to go out and deliver on the commitments we made before the election—because we trust farmers—to get Wellington out of farming to stop Wellington trying to run farms to focus on outcomes not process. To trust farmers and work with them to find the solutions because they are committed to meeting their environmental obligations—they want clean water the same as everybody else in New Zealand—to meet their climate change reduction obligations sensibly not closing down farms and putting people out of business. On behalf of the National-led coalition Government can I thank those men and women of rural New Zealand for the hard work that they do and say they can be very proud of their contribution. Finally after six years they have a Government that backs and supports them will stand behind them and help lead in the great things they do. From horticulture where we are the best in the world at producing kiwifruit and there is so much more that we can do. You know the average kiwifruit grower gets more from their exports in international markets than kiwifruit growers anywhere else in the world and we thank them for that. In viticulture—very important—did you know Mr Speaker in the UK market a very competitive wine market New Zealand wine gets on average £1 to £2 more per bottle than anything else which means our wine growers are not competing on price; they're competing on quality and they are winning there. I thank them for their hard work. In apiculture—something we can be very proud of—our beekeepers and others who produce mānuka honey that others around the world in Australia and elsewhere are trying to emulate and take that name but the reputation of high quality of the great benefits of mānuka honey and all other honey that comes from New Zealand is the reason those prices are so high.To our sheep and beef farmers who actually probably have done it hardest over the last six years under a Labour Government and then a Labour - Green Government where it's very very hard. We have farmers who don't know whether or not they can survive the next winter let alone whatever else Labour had in store for them. To tell them that we value them we're going to work hard to get costs down on their farms because the New Zealand economy needs sheep growers and beef and wool we need that desperately. And to our dairy farmers who from time to time have had a bad rap from people who want to use their hard work politically: thank you for what you do. Without the contribution of the primary industries our economy would be poorer.To the foresters those who invest in forests who grow trees and those who process the wood: as a Minister of Forestry—and a previous Minister Shane Jones—we're going to work hard to make sure that everybody in New Zealand knows the importance of the contribution of forestry to the New Zealand economy and that people plant trees because of the value of wood not because the Labour Government told them they would give them bits of paper called carbon credits that would be worth more than the wood in the future. You know we want people to be growing trees we want to be processing that wood in New Zealand adding value creating jobs and the New Zealand First -National - Act Government will deliver upon that. We're going to do this by focusing on the rules and regulations that Labour forced upon farmers to put costs up to levels that now they cannot make money. We're going to focus on better rules fewer rules on the outcomes so that our rural sector can be as strong as we need it.Finally I'm given the privilege of being the Minister of Trade a very important role because as we produce enough food for 400 million people around the world to get 10 percent of their diet from New Zealand we have to sell it. You will see an unrelenting focus—a focus that New Zealand has never seen before—from this Government on growing exports by value. We're going to double that over 10 years; the building blocks will be put in place now. We're going to lead more trade missions around the world to help our exporters find new markets and we will judge the success of those missions not on the number of meetings they have but on how much more they will sell. We're going to make more of the agreements we have in place and negotiate more and I will be on a plane on Monday of next week going to India the very first meeting. Do you know the Labour Government said it was a priority for them? It took them virtually 4½ years to get anywhere near India and they've been there two or three times this year. It's a shame they didn't go last year or the year before. Well actually within the first hundred days before Christmas we'll be there showing India why the relationship that we share with them is a strategic priority for this Government. There are many great things we can do together in India and Indians in New Zealand but the first thing we have to do is rebuild the harm to the relationship that was done under the Labour Government.Finally can I thank the people of the Rotorua electorate for having confidence in me and giving me an opportunity to continue to serve for them. The time of the last six years of the talk about how you're better off because we are nice to people is over. We're going to roll our sleeves up and actually deliver for the people of the Rotorua electorate from Te Puke and the kiwifruit through to Rotorua. We've made commitments to close down those homeless motels that people were being dumped in from all around the country and they were languishing; it was harming them it harmed the reputation of our city. It's no wonder the then Prime Minister Chris Hipkins never came to Rotorua during the campaign. He was ashamed. I'm not ashamed of Rotorua. It's a great place full of great people. We will be fighting hard for them."