Punching above our weight: John Key outlines his government's approach to New Zealand's role and place in world affairs.

• Author: Key, John
• Position: Essay

New Zealand's future is in being an open, outward-facing country, welcoming of people and ideas from other countries, and part of wide-reaching global supply chains. Immigration and tourism are bringing people to New Zealand in record numbers. The former bring investment and new ideas, the latter provide increased jobs. We have led the way on free trade, played our role as peacemaker and stood alongside our allies in conflict zones. The TPP is part of the government's wider programme of building ties across Asia and the Pacific, and when it comes into force it will benefit people throughout the country.

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New Zealand's place in the world is always the focus of much debate. The debate revolves around issues like whether we should join trade agreements, welcome immigration or join international efforts to combat terrorism. Two schools of thought stand out. One is a very defensive position: put up barriers to imports and restrict investment; be suspicious of foreigners, especially those who do not look or sound like us. And they would tell those with the gumption and drive to travel across the world in search of a brighter future here that we are not that interested in having them. Other people think New Zealand's future is in being an open, outward-facing country, welcoming of people and ideas from other countries, and part of wide-reaching global supply chains. They think we should be a good global citizen and promote ourselves on the world stage.

I am firmly of the latter view. Fortress New Zealand simply does not work. New Zealand has tried it before and it failed. We sought shelter in tariffs and subsidies because we believed that is what we needed to do to survive. We tried to protect our businesses from the full force of international competition and our citizens from such evils as cheap imports. But we did not get ahead. In fact, the result was quite the opposite: we were inefficient, insulated and inward-looking.

Then in the 1980s we were forced to forge our own path. We went through enormous reforms, cutting subsidies, tearing down trade barriers and opening ourselves up to the world. And we emerged as a free trade trailblazer, setting the standard in a variety of industries and helping create the prosperity we enjoy today.

Stark differences

The differences between then and now are stark. Some of the wines we made then you would struggle to sell to university students today. Now Marlborough sauvignon and Central Otago pinot are sold and savoured around the world. In 1975 our national sheep flock was 75 million strong. Today, it is less than 30 million, but through investment in research and development and the incredibly hard work of our farmers we produce as much lamb meat now as we did then. Our farmers are world leaders because we forced ourselves to do better, build new markets and find newer, more efficient ways of doing things. And because we forced ourselves to front up, we have gone from producing goods that could never have competed internationally to products that excel on the world stage. We got better because we had to and we are now reaping the rewards.

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The same goes for immigration. No-one should fear people who want to come here and contribute, no matter where in the world they are from. There is no worldwide conspiracy to take jobs from New Zealanders or suppress wages or buy all of our houses. Immigrants make an incredible contribution, bringing capital, skills, knowledge and experience. They support existing businesses or start their own. And they bring contacts, expertise and differing views and ideas...