Christopher Luxon
Minister, Ministerial Services
Minister, National Security and Intelligence
Prime Minister
Permanent linkWell, kia ora koutou and good afternoon, everyone. It’s great to be back in New Zealand after a very packed schedule in Malaysia and Korea last week, meeting political leaders, investors and trade partners. When you’re a small island country like New Zealand, I think you have to be out competing on the world stage, opening up new markets, hustling and looking for fresh opportunities to create prosperity at home.
The good news is that there are some emerging signs of growth. MBIE confirmed last week that tourism revenue has grown by 17 percent in the last year, rising to $2.6 billion in the June quarter. But we also know there’s still a big job ahead with New Zealand’s current account deficit still sitting at 6.8 percent of GDP, albeit that’s down from 8.8 percent under the previous Government. There’s a lot that Kiwis have to buy or like to buy from overseas and we need to find a way to pay for it, and opting out frankly isn’t an option. That’s why the number one job for our Government is rebuilding the economy, and that includes hustling for more trade and certainly more investment from overseas.
A New Zealand Prime Minister last visited Korea and Malaysia nine years ago, in 2015. Both, of course, are very big markets for New Zealand. They are our sixth and our ninth-largest trade partners and they’re also big regional players that deserve our attention and focus, so it was fantastic to take a business delegation comprising of business leaders keen to build their presence in these markets, along with Ministers Grigg and Lee as well.
It was a positive trip. Prime Minister Anwar and I agreed that we had to get on and resolve the non-tariff barriers, like halal certification, preventing New Zealand exports of red meat into Malaysia. President Yoon and I agreed to measures that will lift exports of blueberries and also dairy products into Korea, even while we look to upgrade our relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership in the near future. Whether it’s in Malaysia or Korea, we acknowledged our proud history of standing together to support regional security during the Malayan Emergency and also the Korean War. If nothing else, the sharp contrast between the prosperity in Seoul and the challenging conditions that New Zealand soldiers face at the DMZ, I thought was a very timely reminder that peace and security in the Indo-Pacific are the bedrock of New Zealand’s prosperity and therefore our national interests.
Now back at home the hard work continues, strengthening those ties with partners in the region, supporting our entrepreneurs to lift their profile offshore and driving our reform programme forward to unleash investment to rebuild the economy. Of course, it is only with a strong economy that New Zealand can afford to invest more in the quality public services that Kiwis rely on, like more police on the beat, better schools and improved access to healthcare, and it’s that latter point that I want to touch more on today because today marks a significant milestone for our campaign pledge to improve access to newer and better cancer drugs.
Pharmac has announced that from 1 October the drug Keytruda will be funded for more people suffering from several types of cancer, and cancer causes heartbreak to thousands of Kiwis and their families every year. It is responsible for around 31 percent of all deaths in New Zealand. That’s why National promised 13 more cancer treatments when we reached Government, and since coming to Government we’ve gone much further through an unprecedented boost of Pharmac to the tune of $604 million over four years, and up to 26 new life-extending cancer treatments are being made available to Kiwis who need them. Of those 13 cancer treatments National originally proposed, seven are being funded, the remaining six are being replaced by alternatives which are as good or even better, and alongside this, an estimated 28 other new treatments are also being funded across a range of needs.
I think Pharmac’s announcement today marks the first of the cancer drugs to be approved and delivered by our new Government. From 1 October Keytruda will be funded for eligible people with five different types of cancer, at different points in their treatment, including advanced triple negative breast cancer, head and neck cancer, colorectal cancer, bladder cancer and Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Pharmac has also announced that Opdivo, which treats kidney cancer, will be funded from our investment from 1 November. It is expected that around 600 additional eligible people will have access to Keytruda and Opdivo in the first year and that around 2,300 will benefit in the first five years.
It’s the first step in the delivery of many drugs that will slow down the progression of cancers and improve survival rates for sufferers. A strong focus on prevention and better access to treatment is so important, and I know that this will be welcome news to many cancer patients and their families. I’m enormously pleased that we’re able to keep this promise despite challenging financial times and I look forward to further life-saving announcements from our investment in medicines in the near future.
We’ll get into some questions, but before we do, I’ll run quickly through the week ahead. Tomorrow Parliament will adjourn for the day, following speeches in the House to acknowledge the passing of Kingi Tūheitia. We’ll be back on Wednesday for Members’ Day and general debate, and then on Thursday we’ll have the second reading of the Education and Training Amendment Bill, which will re-establish charter schools, and the third reading of the Corrections Amendment Bill. I do need to hard stop at 4.30 but happy to take your questions now.