9. PITA PARAONE (NZ First) Link to this
to the Minister of Foreign Affairs
What recent announcements has he made with respect to New Zealand’s level of overseas aid?
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Minister of Foreign Affairs) Link to this
Yesterday I announced the most significant ever increase in dollar terms to New Zealand’s aid spending. As a result of this year’s Budget, New Zealand’s aid and development programmes will increase by 21 percent, or $70 million, in the next financial year, and by a total of 69 percent over the next 4 years. This is by far the largest commitment for decades to increase official development assistance spending. The increase will take our official development assistance spending to $429 million in 2007 and 2008, representing 0.30 percent of gross national income. Further funding increases over the following 3 years commit us to reaching the gross national income figure of 0.35 percent by 2010’s Budget. On current figures that will see our aid budget reach over $601 million.
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS Link to this
The increased funding will go where it is most urgently needed in the Pacific and in Asia. Over half of the new money will be spent in the Pacific, particularly in the Melanesian countries of Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu where the need is greatest. Pacific-wide programmes targeting education, health, livelihoods, good governance, and economic growth will all increase. New Zealand’s capacity to respond to humanitarian crises will also be bolstered in a region as vulnerable to natural disasters as the Pacific. This is an obvious priority. In conclusion, funding for this work will increase significantly and will continue our long history of working closely with key multilateral partners such as UN agencies during times of humanitarian crises.
John HayesWhat is going on when you increase the aid budget by $70 million against the background that $40.6 million spent last year on the Cook Islands, Tokelau, and Niue resulted in depopulation of those countries; $26.7 million spent in Tonga and the Solomons resulted in riots, and the capitals of Honiara and Nuku’alofa being razed; and $8 million spent in Fiji resulted in a coup—and now you plan to spend—
Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this
I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. That member has been here for a number of months now. Three times, I think, in the supplementary question he has mixed you up with the Minister, and all of us can tell the difference.
Madam SPEAKERI agree. I let the member go because he does not often ask questions. But would the member please observe the normal rules.
No. I would also remind members, both those who ask questions and those who answer them, that they should be succinct.
And why will we be spending more money in Viet Nam, where Viet Nam’s aid will be the same as the aid going to Samoa plus the Cook Islands, which is to be doubled, and are you satisfied with the quality of the spending?
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS Link to this
This country has had a long, recognised special relationship with Niue, with the Cook Islands, and with Tokelau. It is one that has had bipartisan support over many decades and is a responsibility that we have undertaken with the UN. I would hate to think that that comment means that the National Party intends to abandon its support for those three special countries, which has enlarged massively our footprint in the Pacific. The second thing is that depopulation is a priority, in terms of the policy to rectify that, and it is critical that the right policies be applied to those three countries—and that is our intention. The third thing is, with regard to Tonga and the Solomons, the riots there surely cannot be attributed to the aid that New Zealand has been giving in those countries, but the issue requires us to better understand how we might act within the community to ensure that those sorts of reactions to the Governments of those countries are not to be repeated. On the issue of the coup in Fiji, I do not recall the Governments of the day in 1987 or in 2000 being accused of initiating the coup in Fiji. So I am astonished that this member, Mr Hayes, seeks to follow some policy of recrimination against his former employers—namely, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs—in this House, and I would like to know whether Mr McCully endorses his approach.
That was a very good example of a very long question with lots of issues getting a very long answer. So I would ask members to please restrain themselves.
Keith LockeCan the Minister explain the attention being given to what could be called climate-friendly aid projects in the Pacific—renewable energy and the like—and the potential for using some of the commendable increase in aid that he has just announced for this purpose?
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS Link to this
For some time NZAID has been looking at the possibility of expanding, for example, biofuel alternatives in the Pacific and ensuring that we can facilitate, if possible, the technology in those remote islands to be put in place and used, thereby saving substantially on the cost of fuel in those islands. With the rise in petrol costs, that has become more and more imperative. So it is within the programmed extension of aid, and increase in funding, that we look seriously at those possibilities. I thank the Greens for their support for this policy and this increase, and I just would hope that the ACT party and the National Party would get with the programme.
Tēnāanō koe, Madam Speaker. How has the proportion of overseas aid spent on the Pacific changed since the incoming Minister pledged an aid focus on the Pacific in 2005?
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS Link to this
Madam Speaker, can I just say—[ Interruption] I just want to say that this is very interesting. Mr Hayes is a member of the New Zealand parliamentary Pacific group, and has himself argued for an increase in aid within that parliamentary group.
Gerry BrownleeI raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. You can probably anticipate my point of order. That was a most inappropriate way for Mr Peters to begin answering his question. We have noticed that he is struggling today, but he should not be relying on notes from Brian Donnelly to get him through things.
I thank the member, but it is also an example that when there are interjections, they tend to provoke a response. So would the Minister please just address the question.
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS Link to this
The answer is—[ Interruption] But that is his background and training for this place—No. 3 in his party.
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS Link to this
A number of members are in the same boat, actually. The proportion of overseas development assistance spent directly on the Pacific has increased—[ Interruption]—Madam Speaker, could I—
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS Link to this
I am trying to, and I am on the first line, and all I am getting is a barracking act from my right, which is what the National Party is wont to do. With respect, if those members want to make those sorts of comments, surely I am—
Please be seated. We are getting close to having to hear this answer in silence. I will have one more go. The Minister will please address the question, so I would ask members to please let us hear the answer.
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS Link to this
The change in aid focus that we pledged is seeing overseas development assistance spent directly in the Pacific increasing from an average of 41 percent to over 50 percent. These figures represent an increased focus on our neighbours in the Pacific, as I have said, as signalled by me as incoming Minister post the election 2005. I am also very pleased to see that people as eminent as President Bush have now declared that 2007 is to be the Year of the Pacific. At last we are getting our message away.
Taito Phillip Field Link to this
I know I have exhausted my allotment of questions for this week, but could I just seek leave of the House to ask a question in relation to—
Leave is sought to ask an additional supplementary question. Is there any objection? There is no objection.
Taito Phillip Field Link to this
Given the announcement of the increase of aid money to the Pacific, should more independence for Pacific nations be promoted by way of trade, rather than by continued dependency on aid money into the future?
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS Link to this
That is an excellent question, and the answer is, of course, yes. Our aid budget should be designed to ensure that people who are currently dependent will be able to conduct their economic and social lives with as great a degree of independence as they are able to sustain, given that in some parts of the Pacific the average age in society is under 18 years. That is pretty dramatic in terms of what the needs are, if one is a Minister of Finance in that country. But I agree with the sentiment, and our policies are focused towards that being the final outcome.
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS Link to this
Because I made a serious request to an enlightened Minister of Finance, and he said yes. Tackling poverty and encouraging sustainable development in partnership with our neighbours is a central part of New Zealand’s national identity as a responsible international citizen. The substantial increase has resulted from a full assessment of future needs of our overseas development assistance programme.