Finding a way in a changing world: John Key reviews his government's links with a number of states and regions and approach to some big global issues.

• Author: Key, John

The Christchurch earthquake in February 2011 has been significant for all New Zealanders. I want to put that event in some perspective. The quake will be the fourth largest insurance claim arising from earthquakes in the world since 1973. Only the Californian earthquake that year, the Kobe earthquake in 1995 and the most recent Japanese earthquake and tsunami gave rise to bigger claims. That gives an indication of the size of the damage to Christchurch. We are currently estimating that it is going to cost about $20 billion to rebuild. But everything in Christchurch takes longer and costs more. My sense is that the total expense will be considerably more than the present estimate. It was a very major event for the city and the country.

There has been a lot going on since my last speech at an NZIIA dinner, in 2009. I was a pretty new prime minister then. I had less grey hair then and a better relationship with the media. But while we can look at a lot that has changed, in another sense much has stayed the same. Looking abroad, the basic principles of New Zealand's foreign policy have not altered. We are staunch advocates of an independent foreign policy. New Zealand has been and always will be a very strong voice on matters of global importance. The government's focus, outside of building better relationships internationally, is economic growth. Unashamedly that is an essential part of what we are doing. I want to first address our links with a number of countries and regions; then get onto some of the big global issues.

In the network of New Zealand's relationships, the starting point always has to be Australia. In truth, the connection we have with Australia is asymmetrical. New Zealand needs Australia; Australia actually does not need New Zealand. That is a statement of the reality. Australia is our largest source of tourists, our largest source of foreign investment, and our largest market for goods and services. From our viewpoint, Australia is the largest on pretty much everything. We are, for the record, the holders of the Rugby World Cup, but in most other fields they are very competitive, with us and with others.

When Julia Gillard came here in 2011 she made a feature of one very important point: that for Australia, only New Zealand represents 'family'. I think that really sums up the ties between us. It is a complex, many layered, and incredibly integrated relationship. I had the privilege of speaking in the Australian Parliament in 2011. Recently there were five prime ministerial visits across the Tasman in one year, which is quite remarkable. We have had everything from joint Cabinet meetings through to continuing progress towards a single economic market.

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We both now deploy 'smartgate' technology at the borders. When I first became minister of tourism, I wanted to move quickly and get the new technology into place. The Australians had it, and were satisfied with it. But our officials said to me: 'No, you've got to scope it out and draw your own conclusions'. I said 'Why on earth would I want to do that, when the Australians have got it, it works perfectly for them, and we're trying to integrate with Australia; why don't we just buy theirs?' To cut a long story short, eventually after three months of banging heads together we eventually did, of course, buy the Australian technology. And as I expected, New Zealanders have been swift to adopt this technology, and many of us are now crossing the border using smartgate. Next year we are going to celebrate 30 years of CER; it is astonishing how comprehensive and world bestpractice that trading and investment regime has become.

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With the United States, we have a relationship that has gone from strength to strength. Speaking in Auckland at a conference on the Trans-Pacific Partnership in early May, I recalled what Christopher Hill had said when his State Department role covered this region. He thought it odd, when he looked at this part of the world, that there were only three countries the Americans...