It has been ever so slightly quieter over the past two weeks. I was not required to speak in the House, as none of the legislation being debated was in my portfolio areas of tourism, trade, commerce, revenue or energy.
What I was doing with my time was trying to get to understand the legislation on cartels. That is my next piece of legislation that I will be speaking to on behalf of NZ First. Just so you are aware, I have taught economics for over a decade and am very conversant with the role of the Commerce Commission and oligopoly market structures, but it is one thing to know a thing in the real world, the theory and in practice, it is another to understand it from the legislator's point of view. It has certainly been a most welcome challenge. In fact, I spoke about oligopoly market power in my maiden speech. Cartels and abuse of market power is something I am passionate about and something that when I see it happening gets me hot under the collar. It usually makes me angry because in this kind of situation it is usually a large corporate on the one side, and on the other it is we the consumer, and we are usually made to suffer the abuse.
What filled in the spare moments was related to the fact that I am one of 10 people on the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade select committee, and this necessitated an extensive exploration of the literature on Iraq, Syria, Kazakstan, Russia, China and the European Union and other players along with the US. The disintegration of the USSR and the declarations of independence of the Central Asian states of the former Soviet Union has brought about the reopening of the so-called "Great Game" in central Asia.
The rich energy of the Caspian Basin, and in particular those of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, is the main feature of this geopolitical struggle in the region. It is in this broader arena that the ISIS movement is unfolding. Our select committee wants to know what we are committing to and why.
I was able to attend an Armistice Day commemoration last Tuesday here in Rotorua. It brought our New Zealand troops to the forefront of my thinking and the Government's stance on our commitment to the war against ISIS. When looking at our returned veterans, I prayed that when our soldiers touch down, whether it be behind or in front of the "wire" that they are well resourced. We want our young men and women to come home safe and well.
