United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement Legislation Bill

I present a legislative statement on the United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement Bill. I move that the United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement Bill now be read a first time. I nominate the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee to consider the bill, and, at the appropriate time, I intend to move that the bill be reported to the House by 13 October 2002, and that the committee have authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting—

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): Order! May I ask the Minister to present the full name of the bill first, please—including the term “Legislation”.

I present the United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement—NZ-UK FTA—Bill to the House.

💬 Hon Member: “Legislation Bill”.

Legislation Bill to the House.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I apologise for the procedural inconsistency there. Can I say that I also intend to move that the bill be reported to the House by 13 October 2002—22—and that the committee have authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting, except during oral questions, during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House, on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House, and outside the Wellington area, despite Standing Orders 193, 195, and 196.

Concluding a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the UK has been one of the key priorities—

💬 Hon Todd McClay: Point of order, Madam Speaker. I’m sorry to interrupt the Minister—I know he’s reading—but could he clarify that date again? I thought he said “2002”, and then “22” afterwards.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): I’m sorry, Minister. If we could just begin from the beginning, where you present the legislative statement and then I say my bit, because there are some words there that have not been presented.

Madam Speaker, look, thank you very much. I present a legislative statement on the United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement Bill—

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): “Legislation Bill”.

—Legislation Bill—thank you very much.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I move, That the United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement Bill Legislation Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee to consider the bill. At the appropriate time, I intend to move that the bill be reported to the House by 13 October 2022, and that the committee have authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting, except during oral questions, during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House, on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House, and outside the Wellington area, despite Standing Orders 193, 195, and 196.

Concluding an FTA with the UK has been one of the key priorities for the Government’s trade recovery strategy. The UK was our seventh-largest trading partner pre-COVID, with two-way trade of over $6 billion for the year to March 2022. The New Zealand - UK FTA signed in February this year will support New Zealand’s efforts to diversify our trade and deliver preferential access to the UK’s $3 trillion consumer market, with over 67 million people, for the first time in nearly 50 years, since the UK entered the European Community in 1973. Conclusion of this FTA is, furthermore, an important stepping stone for the UK’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The relationship between New Zealand and the United Kingdom is deep and broad. It is a partnership grounded in common traditions, experiences, and values, strengthened and maintained by deep people-to-people links and made relevant by a close cooperation across the entire spectrum of engagement: economic, health, science and innovation, sport, defence, and security.

Negotiations on the FTA were launched in June 2020, with negotiations occurring to a very large extent by virtual meetings against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. We reached a significant milestone on 20 October 2021, when New Zealand and the UK reached agreement in principle, which confirmed the parameters of the deal and set out the terms on which the text was concluded over subsequent months, with signature occurring in London in late February. I’m very pleased to say that our relationship with the United Kingdom is further strengthened by a gold-standard free-trade agreement. With the agreement now signed, both sides are working to bring the FTA and its benefits into force as soon as possible—ideally, by the end of 2022.

Despite the challenges of negotiating during the pandemic, this is a comprehensive and ambitious free-trade agreement that sets high-quality precedents in international trade rules. The FTA will create the conditions for New Zealand trade to grow, particularly in the areas where it has previously been constrained due to very high tariffs—such as beef and dairy—and in new, innovative areas such as gaming and fintech. It comes at a time when our societies are calling for different and better trade agreements that deliver for the environment, for small and medium enterprises, for women, and, in New Zealand’s case, for Māori. I’m proud to say that this FTA, building off our Trade For All agenda, delivers in all these areas for New Zealand.

The market access package we’ve agreed is one of the very best New Zealand has secured in a free-trade agreement. We have secured immediate, comprehensive, and commercially meaningful access for New Zealand exporters and businesses, including for our primary sector. The UK will eliminate all tariffs on New Zealand exports, with duties removed on 99.5 percent of our current trade, from entry into force. Comprehensive tariff elimination will translate into savings of approximately $37 million each year on our goods exports. Overall, the deal will provide a boost to New Zealand’s GDP of between $700 million and $1 billion. Exports to the UK are projected to grow by over 50 percent once the FTA is fully implemented.

The deal includes new guarantees of market access and more certainty for our services exporters and investors, and for Kiwi businesses wanting to access the UK Government’s procurement market. It will establish a level playing field for New Zealand businesses operating and investing in the UK. We’ve also agreed to cooperate with the UK in a range of areas, including in digital trade, to assist our growing tech sector.

This is the second FTA that New Zealand has negotiated that includes a specific chapter on Māori interests. In a strong signal of the importance of Māori interests to New Zealand, the agreement contains the broadest set of outcomes for Māori that New Zealand has negotiated in an FTA, recognising the importance that Māori place on this agreement. This includes prioritisation of early tariff elimination on a range of goods of interest to Māori, the inclusion of Māori perspectives and concepts in the environment chapter, and a Māori trade and economic cooperation chapter that will create a platform for cooperation on a range of issues important to Māori. Importantly, the preamble to the FTA recognises the unique relationship between Māori and British Crown as an original signatory to Te Tiriti o Waitangi—the Treaty of Waitangi.

This FTA includes the most far-reaching commitments New Zealand has ever negotiated on trade and the environment. This includes concrete steps to eliminate subsidies on fossil fuels, new prohibitions to combat overfishing, and specific articles on climate change, biodiversity, and sustainable forestry. The environment chapter will also prioritise the elimination of tariffs on over 290 environmentally beneficial products, the largest such list agreed in any FTA to date.

This is the first FTA launched and concluded under New Zealand’s Trade For All agenda. Trade For All principles and priorities were embedded in New Zealand’s approach to the negotiations from the outset and are clearly reflected in the final outcomes. We have set new levels of ambition and inclusion and sustainable trade, including new chapters on trade and gender equality to support women’s economic empowerment, and on consumer protection; outcomes reflecting Māori interests, including trade and economic cooperation; and outcomes on trade and development, small and medium enterprises, trade and labour, and anti-corruption. In addition, the UK FTA does not constrain the New Zealand Government’s right to regulate for legitimate public policy purposes.

As with all FTAs since 2001, this agreement includes New Zealand’s Treaty of Waitangi exception. That ensures that nothing in the FTA would prevent the New Zealand Government from meeting its obligations to Māori.

Given the difficulties both of COVID-19 and the challenges to the international trading system, the achievement of this gold-standard deal cannot be overstated, and it speaks to New Zealand’s long history of negotiating high-quality and inclusive agreements. This FTA sends an important signal of New Zealand’s openness to trade and our ability and commitment to progress and conclude trade agreements that deliver for New Zealand. This includes our latest free-trade agreement with the European Union, one of our largest trading partners, for which an FTA has been a longstanding trade priority of successive New Zealand Governments. Prime Minister Ardern and European Commission President von der Leyen announced conclusion of these negotiations just a few weeks ago, on 30 June.

The New Zealand - European Union free-trade agreement will create significant new opportunities for New Zealand exporters into a market of 450 million consumers, in which two-way goods and services trade was already $17.5 billion in 2021. Importantly, the deal helps level the playing field in sectors that have been to date at a disadvantage against many of our key competitors. From day one of the agreement entering into force, there will be tariff savings of around $100 million per year on New Zealand’s goods trade to the EU, and the potential for up to $1.8 billion per year in extra export revenue in the EU once the deal is fully in effect.

I’d just like to acknowledge the good work done by negotiators in both of those agreements, but particularly in the UK in a virtual world, where technical issues of trade that are always complex were worked through to the point where this trade agreement is a successful one for both the UK and for New Zealand. I’d like to acknowledge the outstanding work of our trade negotiation team on both the UK and the EU agreements. I’d like to thank the Prime Minister for her commitment to this and for being ready to step in and connect with any international leaders that should help us in this direction.

Our trade recovery strategy drives our economic strategy, and that has benefits for New Zealand but also benefits for all New Zealanders. We’ve done a good deal here—we’ve done two good deals here—and New Zealanders will be the beneficiaries for generations to come. With that, I’d like to acknowledge, as I say, the work of everyone involved. Kia ora.

Thank you, Minister. The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Madam Speaker, thank you. If Minister O’Connor has said that this agreement with the UK is the gold standard, unfortunately, for so many of our exporters, the agreement he spoke about—concluded by the Prime Minister a few weeks ago in Brussels—is a brass standard. The reason for that is: the Minister has spoken widely about the great benefits that are being delivered for the agricultural sector in New Zealand through the UK free trade agreement (FTA), but, actually, it is not the case when it comes to the EU deal.

I too would like to recognise the trade negotiation team, and particularly Brad Burgess, who’s our Ambassador to Ireland at the moment, for the great work he and others have done. Brad led the trade policy dialogue that took place long before this agreement was launched, and that was the important first stepping stone to actually getting the launch and to getting agreement from the United Kingdom that they should forge a relationship, a trade agreement, with New Zealand. The sad news for Brad is that after his hard work, everything he’s done for the country to make sure this is a good deal that can deliver for Kiwis, he’s about to get the sack, get sent home, so the Speaker can go and take his place. That’s the type of thanks you get from the Labour Government. But he and others have done a great job and, actually, they deserve a huge amount of credit.

At the time the UK announced that they were to leave the European Union, New Zealand officials and Ministers were there very, very quickly to talk to them about the importance of a trade agreement with New Zealand—but, more than that, to talk to them about the type of trade agreement or relationships they should have with the world. I want to particularly recognise a former trade Minister for the United Kingdom, Liam Fox, who made the first clear, absolute commitment to New Zealand, to me when I was there at a Commonwealth Trade Ministers Meeting, when he said that New Zealand would be the first cab off the rank, along with Australia, once they had left the European Union. I am so very, very pleased that the UK honoured that commitment they made to New Zealand and that this Government has followed through with them—the new Government in New Zealand—to make sure that we got a trade deal, because trade is important for New Zealand. We produce more than we can consume. We are an export nation, and we often are held at a disadvantage.

To the negotiators, this is a good deal. It is one of the better ones that we could have hoped for from the United Kingdom, and it lays out the type of agreement we should always be aiming to achieve whenever New Zealand goes out to negotiate. You often only get one go at this, one bite of the cherry or, in the case of the EU deal, one bite of the onion—because we have tariff-free access from day one for onions into the EU, and that’s a good thing for our onion producers.

But in as far as how good this agreement is, unfortunately—the Minister also talked at some length in his speech about the EU deal, and it hasn’t delivered in the same way and, unfortunately, I fear that we weren’t able to even come close to emulating what’s in the UK agreement. The commitment the UK made to us early on about wanting to be free traders, about setting the bar very high and, as far as free trade agreements should be about free trade, there should be few if any restrictions at all—that’s what the UK said to us, that’s what they fronted up and delivered to us in this agreement, and that’s why we are in part looking to pass legislation in the House very quickly, so it can ratify and enter into place.

But I’ve got a question for the Minister—and I know he can’t answer now and, therefore, he’ll have many other opportunities to. In the Farmers Weekly, soon after this agreement was signed, he spoke at length about the extra trade that there would be, the unfettered access for our dairy products and our meat into the UK market, some of it over 15 years but, actually, as a great win. When, just a few weeks ago, with the Prime Minister, they announced that they were ending negotiation with the European Union and accepting what was on the table, he published another article in the Farmers Weekly, where he spoke about actually how good our dairy and meat access to the EU was under that agreement.

Minister, you said that we already had 75,000 tonnes of butter access, 11,000 tonnes of cheese access. Well, actually, that’s not correct. That’s not what we had with the European Union. That was their figures and those were the figures pre - Brexit split. If you add what we actually had on the table for butter plus what was gained for butter with tariffs within the quota, we are worse off for butter under the EU agreement than we were before the negotiation started. So I’d ask him to go and clarify that, because members of this side and I have started to receive emails from the agricultural sector, farmers who are confused or concerned that, actually, it’s not as good as he said. That needs to be clarified, because his figures were wrong. The reason I state that is this Minister and the Government go out on the international stage and say to New Zealanders, “Trust us, we know what’s best for you and we will negotiate the best deal that we can.” In the case of the EU, they said, “We have negotiated the best deal that we can.” But, when the Minister comes home to sell that to our farmers, he gets his figures wrong—just like at the beginning of this debate; he had to read it out again.

The reason it is so important is, actually, we are only as good as our next trade negotiation, not our last one. In that respect, the UK deal is a very good one for New Zealand. Our negotiators have done a great job, and the Government made the right decision to conclude negotiation at the time they did and sign this deal and get it on paper. However, with the EU deal, they didn’t to that, because it isn’t as good in many respects as the UK one was. Yes, it’s challenging to negotiate with the EU when it comes to agricultural access, but if New Zealand won’t sit at the table and continue to make the case for free trade, to bring down barriers, to not have subsidies that distort markets around agriculture and so on—if we won’t do that with the EU, one of the greatest, most protectionist trading groups of countries in the world, well, what does that say when next we go to negotiate?

We’re only as good as the last deal. That’s not the UK one, it’s the EU one. And when the Minister goes to India one day—although he said it’s too tough to go to India at the moment—or goes to the US or somewhere else, sadly, here is what will happen: they will look at the deal and the Minister will say, “We got this great deal with the UK and over 15 years there’s complete tariff-free access for all of our product. We should do the same thing.” And they’ll say, “Ah, but here’s the problem: just before, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, went to the European Union to try and finalise a deal. She sent a signal through the media that they were willing to do a deal that actually wasn’t in the best interests of New Zealand, and that they were willing to settle. And here’s what happened: the EU negotiators, who come under pressure from their farming interests, heard that and they offered no more in those areas.”

You know, it is important that we level the playing field and we have better access to the European Union, particularly as the UK has left. But, actually—

💬 Dr Duncan Webb: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. The first reading—I refer to Speaker’s Ruling 108/1, which makes it clear that a first reading is about the bill before the House—is relatively narrow. That speech might be appropriate in the second reading, but it’s not in the first.

Madam Speaker, speaking to the point of order.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): I do want to remind the member to come back to this bill. Yes—

Yes, well, speaking to the point of order—

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): Yes, the Minister—if I can just finish. The Minister actually spent maybe a minute talking about the EU free-trade agreement, but this particular first reading is about the UK free-trade agreement. The member has spent most of his time talking about the EU FTA. We will have a chance to talk about the EU FTA later on this year, but please come back to the UK free-trade agreement. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So as I was saying, our negotiators have done a good job in this agreement. It has levelled the playing field and it will help New Zealand business and industry, particularly our agricultural sector, gain more from the UK market. In that, our negotiators actually deserve a great vote of thanks and the recognition. The Government rightly chose the time to finish the negotiation and conclude with the United Kingdom and sign this, and that was a good thing in as far as the New Zealand economy is concerned. We owe it to Liam Fox, a Minister of the UK who, long before negotiations started, committed to a high-quality outcome and us being one of the first cabs off the rank, with Australia. They delivered on that.

Sadly, it was 2½ minutes the Minister spoke about the EU deal, and we can’t draw the same comparison to this deal, because, actually, it’s not that it’s misleading—it gives false hope to our farmers. The National Party was very pleased to be there in the early days, in Government, talking to the UK, opening the doors to make sure that we had a chance, in the shortest period of time possible, to do the highest quality deal that could be done with the United Kingdom. That’s been delivered on. It’s a great shame that the Government and the Prime Minister decided to conclude the EU negotiation, because when that Minister next goes to another country to start a negotiation, they won’t be talking about the UK agreement that we are voting on today; they will look at the EU agreement and realise that New Zealand under this Government is willing to settle for less than they should and they are no longer willing to argue the point that free trade is good for countries and good for economies. In that respect, for our dairy farmers and our meat farmers, they’ve let New Zealand down.

Tēnā koe, Madam Speaker, and I’m absolutely delighted to speak in favour and in wholehearted support of the United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement Legislation Bill. This Government is committed to delivering high quality trade agreements that open up opportunities for New Zealander exporters—and we’re doing it; we’re doing it through this United Kingdom free-trade agreement (FTA). I want to congratulate Minister O’Connor, the Ministry of Manatū Aorere, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and all of the stakeholders that have all pulled together their efforts to pull this agreement off. This is a fantastic agreement for New Zealand, for our exporters, negotiated in the most difficult of circumstances during a global pandemic, mostly over Zoom. This agreement was able to be pulled off, and I’m so proud to be Minister O’Connor’s under-secretary for Māori trade to really support the world-leading provisions that are contained in this agreement concerning Māori and promoting Māori interests in trade.

This is a gold standard agreement, and I know the member opposite, Mr McClay, will always try and—just doom and gloom, every time he speaks about what we’re doing in trade. But, man, we are delivering. Let’s talk about what we are delivering on trade. We’ve delivered the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. We’ve upgraded the China FTA. We’ve now delivered the UK FTA and the EU FTA, and the work continues—unlike the other side when Todd was the Minister. Or he was for a short time. The deep divisions that went through New Zealand society around the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement—we’ll all remember those dark days; absolute protests up and down the countryside. That is why our Government—we’ve reset our trade agenda. We’ve set a Trade For All agenda to ensure that we can build that social licence, to ensure that the benefits of trade go right across New Zealand, right across our society. We don’t just serve the farming interests; we don’t just serve large corporations. Trade for all is about ensuring that trade benefits everyone in Aotearoa New Zealand, and this free-trade agreement is the first that we’ve delivered under our Trade For All agenda, and it delivers on all those aspects. I’m very proud of this agreement; I’m proud of the positive impact this will make.

We’ve heard about the market-access benefits. Right from day one, there are going to be immediate benefits to our exporters. This is a huge market. We know we’re talking about some 60-odd million consumers; $6 billion of existing two-way trade that took place before COVID. This is a huge market where we immediately gain traction, get more money in our pockets for selling our good products up into the UK market. And it’s more than just our goods; it’s about our services as well, and that’s why we are delivering for our digitech sectors, and in the likes of investment and in Government procurement. There are huge opportunities that are now opening up for New Zealand businesses up and down the country as a result of this free-trade agreement.

But I want to focus on the great benefits that this agreement delivers for Māori, because with this free-trade agreement—again, done under our Trade For All agenda—we now have a new approach to how we engage with Māori in respect of our free-trade agreements. The engagement that now takes place is right across our Māori representative groups, from the Federation of Māori Authorities, from the Iwi Chairs Forum, from Te Taumata group, from the Ngā Toki Whaka-Rururanga. There is a huge amount of engagement that is taking place, and that engagement has helped craft the Māori Trade and Economic Cooperation Chapter, which is a world first in this free-trade agreement, and I’m very proud of these new territories where we’re taking indigenous trade through our free-trade agreement. And that has been continued into the EU agreement. So I want to acknowledge all of the Māori Treaty reference partners that have been engaged with the negotiating teams, working—sure, not everything was able to be reflected in the final chapters but what we have achieved is a world first, and it’s all about building a platform for cooperation. I think the fact that in the preamble to the Māori Trade and Economic Chapter we talk about the British—the UK Government—having accepted the history and the importance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, having that in an agreement between the New Zealand and United Kingdom, is hugely significant for Māori, as the British Crown were the signatories to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

So there is much to celebrate about this free-trade agreement, and I’m really looking forward to putting it through all stages in this House so our exporters can immediately benefit from those benefits. And can I once again just acknowledge all of the stakeholder groups, in particular the negotiators that we have—high-quality public servants, officials—who do a fantastic job for New Zealand. We’re only a small nation. We’re a small nation of five million in the bottom of the South Pacific. We’re dealing with massive, big economies when we talk about the UK and the EU. So for us to be able to achieve these agreements, get the benefits of our high-quality goods into those markets tariff-free, to benefit the pockets of our New Zealand exporters and increase those revenue returns, and lift our standard of living, is just something that we should all celebrate. With that, I commend this bill to the House. Kia ora.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Well, just at the start of this first reading of the United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement Legislation Bill, I could see why Minister Damien O’Connor is not the racing Minister, because after two false starts and looking back to 2002 twice, he finally got this race on the road. I’m hoping, and we all are hoping, that he is more confident in the barriers that he has up at the borders at the moment for keeping foot-and-mouth disease out of New Zealand.

There was a comment before about the deep and broad relationships that we have had with the UK over many years, and of course this was brought about due to the vote for Brexit and having to renegotiate what we used to have in the past.

I think it was really interesting to watch on UK television, because obviously there is some protectionism goes on when we talk about free-trade agreements. I remember just after this agreement was signed in principle, I remember seeing on UK TV a couple of farmers who were talking to the interviewers, saying, “I thought that the New Zealand Prime Minister was a really kind person and look what she’s done to us; look what she’s done to our farmers.”

I thought that was a real shame because, actually, if we look into a world where we’ve known for quite some time that we’re going to have 2 billion more people at some stage in the future, we certainly do need to be feeding those people. Part of the reason I travelled recently was to talk to farmers in other countries and say—look, they’ve all got this fear that New Zealand’s all of a sudden going to double its milk production and dump it on their doorstep—“That is not happening any time soon.” So I think it’s really important that—as we work through this. When we travel, a farmer is a farmer is a farmer. We have nothing to fear from each other; we are all doing good things and we are all taking our role in feeding the world.

I would like to make a particular note of Her Excellency Laura Clarke, who made a lot of effort to keep our team up to date through this process. She has been an excellent high commissioner and I’ve got no doubt that during this process that she played a very big part in that. I also want to note that this was negotiated under the pandemic. Not an easy thing to do. I have not spent any time in managed isolation and quarantine, but I know a number of people that were part of this process, obviously, have.

But I also wanted to make note, given that this is a trade agreement, that now the borders are open. We are really happy that the borders are open after the pandemic. It’s good that the global world is getting back to some sort of normality, and hopefully that continues to happen. But when the pandemic first hit, I held my breath because I thought, if this world is turning upside down, what on earth is going to happen to our trade? How’s it going to get to where it needs to go? I have to say, remarkably across the world, apart from one or two ships getting stuck and some supply chains which are badly in need of some readjustment, we really largely have been able to get our trade through.

I have to say, as part of this agreement now, because we’re talking about trade—and bear with me, but right at the moment with foot-and-mouth on our doorstep and I know that the Minister and the Ministry for Primary Industries are doing all they can to make sure that it stays out of the country. It’s a very big risk to all of our trade deals, and I really think it’s important at this time that the public of New Zealand understand just how critical foot-and-mouth disease would be and how detrimental it would be to this trade deal and other trade deals in our country.

So I know that farmers will take biosecurity measures; they did this through the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak. But what I do want to say to people is that Mycoplasma bovis was different. It was devastating for farmers, it was awful, it was psychologically devastating, and it was a really hard time. I’m pleased to see that there’s a level of success—one much higher than I predicted at the time—but this is different. Mycoplasma bovis was—we’ve only got one other country in the world where we are free of Mycoplasma bovis. If it was foot-and-mouth disease, it would have every chance that it would threaten not only our farmers; it would threaten our whole $52 billion worth of trade.

So what I’d like to do—as we discussed as a Parliament, this trade deal—is to put out a call to anyone who’s listening to spread around the word that everyone in New Zealand and our visitors need to participate in ensuring that we keep this awful disease out of this country. So that’s every pair of jandals that might have been in Bali, and I would really discourage people from trying to bring in pieces of meat that aren’t part of trade agreements like this, and actually putting things in their suitcase that shouldn’t be there—that will be really detrimental, not just to our farmers but to our whole economy. While we’ve seen a benign version of foot-and-mouth disease in Australia, it could have just as easily been real and so we need to work to make sure that that disease never comes here. Otherwise, everything we’re doing here will be just in vain for a period of time.

So as I said before, this free-trade agreement came after the UK left the European Union. Preparations for this FTA actually began as early as 2017 under the National Government. But as we saw, over a long period of time, the UK took to actually finally negotiate its way out of Brexit.

So, you know, I do want to make a point—I know Mr Rino Tirikatene spoke before about the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. But actually, the Trans-Pacific Partnership: the Labour Party were out with their pickets and signs. I hadn’t actually ever seen a situation in this country where I thought one of the main parties in New Zealand would be out with their signs up protesting against trade. I have to say that I’m very, very relieved that actually, once they did get into Government, they actually did take up the opportunity. They might have stuck a “C” in front of the TPPA and have progressed trade deals, but actually I want to make a note of the people who did the trade negotiations for this deal and have been doing trade negotiations for other deals.

Because when I was recently at the primary industries summit up in Auckland, we had our trade negotiator, Vangelis Vitalis, actually came and presented to that conference. It was really interesting to listen to his perspective on things, because he’s been doing this for a very long time. It wasn’t long after the EU trade deal was announced and he got up and he said, “I’m probably the man in this room that’s probably going to be liked the least.” But actually, when he finished his presentation and gave a detailed explanation to the farmers of what he’d been through, there was a far bigger understanding of all of the components of these trade deals than what most of them had actually seen before.

So when these people sit in the room, I know that they are doing their best. I know we’re not talking about the EU trade deal—and it is disappointing for meat and milk. I do wonder if perhaps we’d left it to the people who negotiated and kept the politicians home for a while until it had its full time, maybe we might have been able to string it out and get something slightly better because I know that those trade negotiators are very, very, very good at the job they do.

So I think probably part of the disappointment from the EU one is this one with the UK is a very good trade deal. I think we were all surprised by how much better this one was than what we thought it might be.

So I just want to put a shout-out to farmers at the moment. Farmers, horticulturalists, and all the people that are participating in these agreements. We have some awfully wet weather out there, people are trying to calve, and we have people who are still trying to pick fruit and don’t have enough staff. You know, they’re really putting their heart and soul into everything they do for this country so that we have goods to trade, so that we have an economy in this country that keeps us strong and upright as a country and gives us a standard of living which we’ve come to expect, based on the economy that we run where this is the backbone. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It’s a pleasure to take a call on the United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement Legislation Bill. The UK is a very important and credible partner to New Zealand. Our relationship is robust, healthy, and necessary by nature. COVID-19 hit our economy hard, as it did many countries. As we open to the world, our businesses will be looking for opportunities of any nature anywhere, but when there is the opportunity of a free-trade agreement with a country like the UK, it’s very special. An open access to the market as big as the UK with 69 million people—about $3 trillion GDP—it’s a huge success.

On 28 February, New Zealand signed the free-trade agreement with the UK that would further strengthen the relationship that’s already thriving between two countries by creating stronger trade and investment ties. The UK was already New Zealand’s seventh largest trading partner pre - COVID-19, with a two-way trade in goods of about NZ$6 billion for the year of March 2020, and the goods trade comprising $3.2 billion of that.

This free-trade agreement is wholesome, and amongst many things, it will deliver for the environment, for small and medium enterprises, for women, and Māori. As a result of this deal, the UK is going to eliminate all the tariffs on New Zealand exports with duties, to remove it on 99.5 percent of current trade from entry into force. This will provide New Zealand exporters more favourable access to the UK market. As UK exports increase by 50 percent, this will provide a much needed boost to New Zealand’s GDP—between $700 million and $1 billion once fully implemented. It will create opportunities for Kiwi businesses, small and large, to grow, invest, and diversify, supporting New Zealand’s economic recovery from the pandemic.

I would like to outline some of the good outcomes under this free-trade agreement: allowing New Zealand exports to enter UK markets on a level playing field, and duties and tariffs removed on 99.5 percent of New Zealand exports to UK. This free-trade agreement underlines the urgent need to address climate change by eliminating fisheries subsidies, takes steps to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, promotes sustainable agriculture, and many other measures. There are dedicated chapters on trade and gender, Māori trade and development, and small and medium sized enterprises. Visas for business persons—makes it easier for people to get it if they fall within the specific category, and this includes their family members. Finally, it reserves the Government’s right to regulate in the public interest.

This free-trade agreement is a big deal. It’s a success. I’d like to commend the Minister and all the negotiating team for this success, for getting this over the line. I’d like to commend the Prime Minister’s leadership and encouragement to get this over the line. This is, indeed, a gold standard deal, and I commend it to the House.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I do want to acknowledge you as the chair of our Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee, which is the committee which heard submissions on this trade agreement. I do want to begin by, having acknowledged you in the committee, acknowledging also that that meant 10 days afforded to the public to prepare and to submit on a 1,700 page trade agreement.

Now, New Zealand needs trade. We are a small island nation. Trade upholds the rule of law internationally; it connects nations; it means that we can exchange culture, skill, expertise, and goods. We do need it, and the Green Party understands and commends trade, as long as it is fair, inclusive, and sustainable.

💬 Dr Duncan Webb: We agree.

We do agree on those aims.

What we are concerned with, and I speak now as a lawyer that has dealt with international instruments, is that where you mention the environment—not you, Madam Speaker, but trade negotiators—where trade agreements and trade deals mention women’s rights, workers’ rights, indigenous rights, we would like to see those rights expressed in the same binding, detailed terms that the rights and privileges of multinational international investors are expressed. And that is not what this agreement represents. We note that there is a Māori trade chapter. We note that the mention of Te Tiriti o Waitangi is in this trade deal. We note that women and workers are mentioned, as they were in the so-called Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement—I’ll just call it the CTTPPA. That doesn’t mean that those groups, that those interests, and those rights are in fact protected in an international instrument like this in the same way that multinational investors are.

I’ll begin with the Treaty of Waitangi clause. We know that almost everyone other than the Crown—that includes the Waitangi Tribunal and other groups—have called this particular wording of this clause “inadequate” to honour or enforce Te Tiriti o Waitangi. We’re not sure why the Crown persists with using the same exact wording, why we haven’t revisited that.

Leaving that to one side, and this agreement and others have mentioned this, there is a new and a first chapter on Māori trade. I pause because it is a little bit emotional, as it will be for others. When we were hearing submissions on this, we were meant to hear from the late, great Moana Jackson on that chapter, on the day of his passing—but we do have the written submission. And what is noted is the inadequacy, because there is a protection, to some extent, of Māori commercial interests, of those who are in a position to trade internationally, but to say that this protects Te Ao Māori in trade is absolute wrong. The chapter, in fact, explicitly rejects any recognition by the UK of, and I’ll read this, “Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge, or Traditional Cultural Expressions [in any form] of intellectual property.” Does that accord with Te Ao Māori understanding of the world or our own understanding of what it means to honour, protect, and enforce Te Tiriti o Waitangi? It does not.

So then there are the workers’ rights, there are the environmental chapters—and we know because our negotiators sometimes told us when they appeared before us as a committee—they are set in separate chapters, enunciated in aspirational terms. And I say again, as a lawyer, that that does not make them enforceable. We in fact know that wording from the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), we know it from other agreements, and we know that when the CPTPP came into effect with very, very similar wording for the protection of workers’ rights and environmental rights, that about 86 percent of cases would fail to enforce environmental protections or workers’ rights.

Now, we know that this agreement sets a baseline. So with workers’ rights, for example, yes, it does protect us from being pressured into lowering those rights in our legislation or policy by future Governments. But it doesn’t protect us against the pressure of being sued by multinational international investors if we want to improve workers’ rights protections or environmental protections. What that looks like in reality, and it happened in Australia and it’s quite a nice demonstration of that, is when you want to put warnings, for example, on cigarette packets—now, that’s not in this, but in a similar way, if we wanted to improve our workers’ rights in a way that risked the profit margins of multinational international investors, we’d be in trouble. So yeah, it protects the bottom line of environmental protection and workers’ rights maybe—we’d have to test that. But it certainly—certainly—risks future Governments’ abilities to improve those rights. That’s undemocratic.

So coming to democracy, when it comes to free-trade agreements and to trade deals generally, this is a deal that was negotiated in secret. The consultation mechanisms that we talk about—in terms of Māori, at least—were engaging Crown entities and representatives, and consulting with Māori without talking about the actual terms that were on the table, without talking about the mandate of negotiators, without a guarantee that those consultations would ever be taken into account. And how good would it ever be as a consultation mechanism if the people being consulted with have no idea what they’re feeding back into? What does that look like? What’s on the table? What’s off the table?

So yeah, there were conversations, but the trade deal itself was negotiated in secret, the terms were done in secret, and then once we knew anything about it, we gave people 10 days to come to select committee. That all goes against the Government’s own—and this was last term, to be fair, but it is a Labour Government, and a Labour-led Government last term that set into place the Trade for All agenda consultation and the expert group. They came back with a very clear recommendation that the national impact statement should be done by an independent entity—it wasn’t—that there should be more democratic transparency around the way that trade agreements are negotiated and the way that the consultations are done. That wasn’t there.

So we’re dealing with an international instrument that has had input and direct negotiating rights from multinational investors who are impacted, but not the New Zealand public. But that binds this and future Governments in terms of the policy that we can make, and upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi, workers’ rights, women’s rights, environmental protections, and our ability to meet our climate targets. That isn’t right. That isn’t a sustainable, fair, and inclusive trade agreement, and for those reasons the Green Party does not commend this to the House.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It is my pleasure tonight to rise on behalf of the ACT Party in support of the first reading of the United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement Legislation Bill. It’s not often that I find myself standing here in support of a Government bill, and it’s not often that the ACT Party are agreeing with the Government on an issue. But we do agree on free trade, because free trade is very important to everybody who lives in New Zealand. Now, we are a very small island nation at the end of the world and we are a trading nation. ACT has always been the strongest proponent in this Parliament for free trade, because we see the benefits that come from having markets for our New Zealand producers to export to. And so we should always be seeking to increase the number of countries and markets that we can have our exporters export to. So that’s why the party is in support of this bill tonight.

We’re happy it’s being ratified into the law, but we must make sure that this isn’t the end of free trade and the end of us looking around the world for more opportunities. I’m happy to see that we’ve recently signed an agreement with the European Union. There are parts of that deal that the ACT Party believe could have been better, but, on the whole, we’re very happy that we have signed another deal for more trade and more benefits for New Zealanders. We also look forward to seeing any potential movements in a US free-trade agreement in the coming years. So it’s important that we’re signing this deal and it’s important that we’re signing it for the benefit of New Zealanders, but also because we’re in a time where we’re seeing a lot of countries turn inward and closing off from the rest of the world. We need to seek out other countries that are likeminded, who share our values, who want to benefit from trade with each other.

Our foreign policy, for the ACT Party, is a belief that we need to uphold the safety of our citizens and that we also should be signing deals to reflect our interests and our values on the world stage. That is why, in particular, we are very happy to support this UK fair-trade agreement (FTA). Because the UK is a liberal democratic country that we share a lot of history with, but, importantly, we share democratic values, and that is of huge importance to New Zealanders.

Every day, New Zealanders get up and they create jobs and opportunities for each other, and that’s in a whole range of different industries, whether it’s dairy, sheep, goat meat, beef, fresh fruit all the way through to wood, honey, wine, aluminium, and even computer machinery and software development. There’s a lot of industry happening in New Zealand and there will be many more that I haven’t touched on. But these jobs provide stability for New Zealand families and they give people purpose and a pride that, you know, if they’re working for themselves, or starting a company, or even working for someone else, they can get up and provide for their families, provide for themselves, and provide for their communities. I think it is wonderful that people every day get up and provide those opportunities for each other. But as a Government and as a Parliament, it is our duty to provide even more opportunities where we can find them. Having these free-trade agreements allows us to help New Zealand businesses grow, to help us find more opportunities, to create more jobs, create higher paying jobs. It’s also good for consumers. It’s not just good for the exporters, it’s good for everybody who’s really struggling through the cost of living crisis and anybody who is finding it harder and harder to get food and goods for their families.

Every time that we sign an FTA, or every time that we see tariffs drop, it is good because it reduces prices. And, you know, the ACT Party actually goes further than this Government and we say that we don’t actually need an FTA to do this. In our recent cost of living document that we released on the economy, we said that we should just remove all of the existing tariffs that we have because there’s about $200 million of tariffs that are being imposed on New Zealand consumers now, even without these FTAs, that is increasing prices on basic items like clothing, chocolate biscuits, and Chardonnay. There’s a whole range of different goods that we can make cheaper for all New Zealand consumers by removing all existing tariffs across the board. Importantly, these free-trade agreements also increase productivity, and that’s extremely important for the future of New Zealand and the development of more businesses in our country.

I want to pick up on one other aspect of this free-trade agreement in which the ACT Party once again goes further than the Government, and that is in investment from foreign countries. This bill, in particular, says there will be an increase in the investment screening threshold from NZ$100 million to NZ$200 million for non-Government investors from the UK. I think it’s wonderful that the Government and the negotiators on behalf of the New Zealand Government have acknowledged the importance of bringing foreign direct investment to New Zealand, because it increases productivity in our own country. The ACT Party believes that we should allow this for all OECD countries, that we can have more investment to boost productivity in New Zealand. One of my colleagues—Damien Smith—currently has a member’s bill in the ballot ready to go and it’s called the Overseas Investment (Exempt Investment from OECD Countries) Amendment Bill. I would urge the Government to support this bill, not just the UK FTA, which increases foreign direct investment coming from the UK, but to acknowledge that this is important for all OECD countries so we can have more investment from overseas in New Zealand to boost productivity across our country. This will help all New Zealanders with the cost of living crisis that we’re currently under, but it will also help our exporters grow.

Finally, I think we need to acknowledge the real reason why this is such a huge deal for New Zealand and why the ACT Party is so proudly supporting this bill. It’s because the UK is the world’s fifth-largest trading partner—

💬 David Seymour: Economy.

—economy—and now one of our largest trading partners. It’s a significant opportunity for us because the economic modelling that New Zealand has done shows that our exports to the UK could increase by over 50 percent, and that will boost our GDP from around $700 million to $800 million every year. The UK modelling shows that they expect around 1 billion dollars of GDP per year increase for New Zealand and around 7.3 percent increase in UK exports. So it’s good for our exporters and it’s good for our consumers. It’s good to be part of a country that acknowledges that free trade is important, and it’s good to be part of a party that is the strongest proponent of free trade in this Parliament.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure and privilege of attending the farewell for Her Excellency Laura Clarke at Homewood. Normally, the Homewood Ball is something of a great occasion to attend, but this one was particularly special, and it wasn’t because Laura Clarke can speak te reo Māori and that her children, who have been here for a number of years, were learning te reo Māori. It wasn’t because of the festivities that had been held over because COVID had stymied the Christmas plans. It was because there was a real sense of achievement that a group of different people from different organisations had come together and achieved and landed something absolutely historical, something more important than had been landed in about 50 years, and that was the free-trade agreement between New Zealand and the UK.

I spoke to Chris Insley from Te Taumata, who had also done a submission, a really powerful submission, to our select committee about the benefits to Māori and the Māori economy and the way that this negotiation had been so different from previous ones, where there was just unprecedented face-to-face contact, and how proud he was of that, and the benefits that it would bring to the Māori economy, which we know was $68.7 billion in 2018 and which a Chapman Tripp report in 2021 says will grow by 60 percent over the next five years. So when I hear the Green member speaking about Te Tiriti and the problems about this gold standard UK - New Zealand free-trade agreement, I’m not sure that we’re talking about the same Treaty. Certainly the people we heard in the select committee from Te Ao Māori, people like Chris Insley, had a very different perspective, and I’m inclined to take their word for it rather than politicians sitting in this House who don’t represent those communities, as well intentioned as they are.

Now, we’ve heard a lot about the economic benefits of this. It is a gold standard free-trade agreement. It will eliminate all tariffs between UK and New Zealand both ways, and I repeat “all tariffs”. That is absolutely remarkable: 99.5 percent of those when the agreement comes into effect and the rest of them over a number of years. So apples, butter, cheese, beef, sheep, meat, and so on. But I want to really say that this is much more than just the economic side of it. This is about the commitment and the deep friendship between the UK and New Zealand that has never been more important than now in a space of contested geopolitics, contested political ambitions, ideologies, and rules-based orders. We have heard about the value base that has not only allowed us to sign this agreement but also enabled negotiators to be able to do so in a digital world, in a virtual world, through COVID. That speaks volumes to the level of friendship, the deep level of friendship, that we have with the UK and also speaks volumes to the commitment from both sides for this agreement.

I can say that I was the former director of the British Council in New Zealand and the Pacific. I know how much the UK values the friendship with New Zealand. Today, happenchance, I was having a coffee in Copperfield’s with my successor, Natasha Beckman, who’s doing a fantastic job. That organisation’s been in New Zealand for 70 years. There is a big difference in the scale between the UK and New Zealand in terms of what we stand to gain. It is a massive market for us, but I would just urge people who are listening at home to remember that this is more than just the economics; this is about our friendship. I absolutely tautoko the teams that have made this happen. I felt that at the farewell for Her Excellency Laura Clarke. And I really want to tautoko her for what she has done for that agreement. It’s a day of celebration and I can’t believe that I’m speaking about the same bill that the Opposition clearly don’t want to celebrate, because it is a great day for us. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Well, as a member of the Opposition, I feel it’s my duty to rise and celebrate this bill, because, since its very inception, the National Party has been welcoming and, indeed, congratulatory towards the Minister for getting it across the line. So I’d just like to correct that for the record, to the member of Taieri over there.

As discussed, I do rise on behalf of the party to support the United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement Legislation Bill. My family was actually one of the very first farmers to put frozen mutton carcasses on the ship Dunedin that went all the way to London back then.

Tim van de Molen: 1882.

So—thank you, Tim van de Molen; I’m not so good at dates. So we do indeed celebrate our export industry.

And while we’re on history, I think it does need to be acknowledged to this House that this agreement would never have actually come about if it weren’t for the groundwork laid by the National Party and various National Party trade Ministers, particularly the Hon Tim Groser and the Hon Todd McClay. Because while Labour was out there with their signs and their placards protesting the Trans-Pacific Partnership, National was out there getting out around the world and getting deals done, getting deals inked, and they started with the UK and the EU and the Pacific Alliance. I often think back to that former National Government and some words that John Key always used to use, and I quote him where he said, “New Zealand will not get rich selling to itself.” And that’s always stuck with me, because it really, I think, identifies the huge importance that trade has for New Zealand.

So it is good to see the Labour Party has finally put down their placards and got on board with the idea that free trade is a good thing for this nation. And one would hope that in a utopian world, perhaps the Green Party might also see a similar sense, but I think that unlikely.

The immediate elimination of 97 percent of tariffs on our exports is unprecedented. Damien O’Connor: I think I have described in the odd interview to the country that this deal is a cracker. So well done for getting it over the line. We do congratulate you and your predecessors and, of course, the many, many officials who have done the hard yards and actually got the groundwork done, and paved the way for you to sign and ink the deal.

The UK is a very important market to New Zealand because of our deep and abiding historical links, and obviously the future which we see as very bright. It is our seventh largest export destination. Many people have discussed our two-way trade already at about $6 billion. And I think, in the context of Crown debt heading towards $164 billion, our exporters are going to play a crucial role in rectifying the New Zealand economy. So securing high-quality trade agreements and comprehensive free-trade agreements is a really important part to that solution. Already, our agri-exports are tipping $52 billion. That too is unprecedented. And I would like to acknowledge the agricultural sector for the fine indictment on that very, very hard work that they do.

I’d also note within this particular bill the inclusion of that increase in foreign direct investment. The National Party does also agree with and support that. To raise that screening threshold from $100 million to $200 million for non-Government investors is key. I do note huge concern at the moment around the performance of the Oversees Investment Office, which also falls under that Minister’s purview, and I do hope that he has got the blowtorch to their feet at the moment.

As we said at the time of the signing of the agreement in principle, the Australia-UK agreement was the benchmark for where New Zealand should have been aiming for in terms of the time frames for that tariff-free trade. And it is really good and pleasing to see that the dairy tariffs occur pretty quickly, but we are disappointed and would like to register our disappointment on behalf of the red meat sector that that tariff elimination will take quite a lot longer than our Australian counterparts. And while it does appear our quotas of sheep meat will be greater, beef will be less, but, obviously, in trade deals there is always some give and take.

💬 Anna Lorck: Back to the negatives.

Anna Lorck, I haven’t finished. We would also like, in my remaining 9 seconds, to acknowledge the British desire to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership, and the momentum that that is gaining. And the National Party encourages the Government to pursue that.

Kia ora, Madam Speaker. Thank you for that. I always enjoy going after the member for Selwyn. It doesn’t matter how bad I am; I’m always better than she was! And I must say one other thing, though: seriously, I’m surprised the Māori Party has not chosen to take a call tonight on this bill, the United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement Legislation Bill, which does great things around embedding Te Tiriti issues in trade. That’s something that this Government has done, and I commend the Minister for taking a new approach to trade agreements, in making sure that they are values based and that not only are they focused on enhancing trade but they are focused on enhancing the quality of that trade and making sure that all aspects of trade—the environmental bottom lines, the working conditions of the trading nations, and things like Te Tiriti and indigenous people’s rights—are respected in the trade area. I think that this Government has really moved the way we think about trade agreements here, and this is one of the first trade agreements of real significance that’s a top quality trade agreement not only in terms of the reduction of tariffs but also in pushing forward those other agendas. So I really commend the Minister for the hard work that he and the whole team have done on this, and it is great that we do have the Opposition benches largely in support of this bill as well. Kia ora, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I rise from an export-driven region as the member for Tukituki and Hawke’s Bay. There are big benefits for Hawke’s Bay in this trade deal. And not only is it going to see us continue to deliver and maximise the opportunities from all the great things we grow in this region—and do we grow some good things? We do wine. We do fantastic, award-winning wine. And perhaps the National Party, particularly the member Todd McClay, could take a leaf out of the positive book of growing great regions. Because all I heard was whining—not wine, whining and whingeing. Whingeing and whining about what they couldn’t get. And yet on this side, this Government, where we absolutely support free trade and have a record of securing great deals, it is being done under this Government, the Labour Government.

Now, if I talk about our region—and I’d just like to acknowledge what the Hawke’s Bay wine region said “We are a big winner, a big winner of the free-trade agreement between New Zealand and the UK.” Our largest export to the UK is wine, approximately 500 million a year. Overnight, $14 million worth of wine tariffs will evaporate. Now, that is just phenomenal, absolute brilliant results that we’re going to see through free trade and doing business. It’s about produce. It’s about doing things with our wine, our kiwifruit, our honey, all the great things that absolutely champion New Zealand across the world. It is about celebrating these great things that we do as New Zealanders. We are an export-driven economy. We grow jobs in our region.

I’d like to take this opportunity to acknowledge Napier Port, who last week celebrated the opening of wharf six, another way for Hawke’s Bay to absolutely maximise the most from our export-growing potential and to be able to free up even more opportunities for us to be able to export hundreds of tons of our quality exports. That’s right, wine. That’s right, we’ve got honey. We’ve got kiwifruit, we’ve got cherries, we’ve got apples, we’ve got lamb, we’ve got beef, we’ve got everything. And it’s coming out from an export region like Hawke’s Bay.

That’s why this is how we need to continue—continue. Unlike—unlike—that side of the House where they just whinge and whine all the time. How about taking a bit of time to celebrate? How about—absolutely that negative National Party never got the deal done. Labour got the deal done. We’ve had record after record of doing the deals. And I thank everybody who has got this free-trade deal over the line. I’d like to commend this bill to the House with absolute positivity and admiration for everybody who’s been part of it. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

I’d love to say to the other side, because of Anna Lorck’s actually exceptional speech, that I’ve run out of adjectives be able to use. But unfortunately, that’s not the case.

💬 Anna Lorck: Not positivity. Come on, get that positivity going!

Oh no, I’m very positive. I think this is a very good agreement and it’s actually really positive to see that Labour has returned to the bipartisan approach to trade. And so, look, the United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement Legislation Bill—particularly for those at home—this is not the trade negotiation itself. This is the piece of domestic legislation that’s required to bring that that treaty, that trade negotiation into effect. And those who have sat on the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee will have already spent some time going through the agreement, but I think it’s really important for New Zealanders at home to understand that the way that our system works, and in the likes of this free-trade agreement (FTA), this is done by Ministers, the Government of the day, the executive, and obviously through the likes of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade—they negotiate the deal and they bring it back to Parliament. The select committee—as the Speaker will know—for various reasons will interrogate it, look at it, but it doesn’t really bring about substantial changes. And then we are here tonight, as we say, the first reading of a piece of domestic legislation. Being a staunch monarchist, I love the idea that once this is signed, the same woman, the Queen of the United Kingdom and the Queen of New Zealand—as I say, the same person will sign off this piece of legislation. And I think there’s a lovely comity in that.

Look, this is a very good agreement. This is a very, very good agreement. It’s one that, obviously, has come out of Brexit. And that’s not me opining on the Brexit question, but it has come out of that moment in time and, rightly, those speaking tonight have acknowledged the immediate, now-past high commissioner Laura Clarke—or rather, coming to the end of her term, her work. But I think it’s also useful to mention in passing Jonathan Sinclair, who was the then high commissioner at the time—only for a few months, it must be said, but who had things started.

I think it’s also important, as others have done, to acknowledge the Minister—or all those, actually, all the Ministers involved. But it’s right and proper to acknowledge Damien O’Connor, who is the current Minister, and the work that he’s done, and through him, too, all the officials within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade who have championed—there’s too many to name. I’m conscious the Minister of Foreign Affairs is in the House—to acknowledge her work as well. These things are big, and it takes a lot of work and effort.

So, look, overall it’s very, very positive, and it’s on the background of that that I just want to raise a couple of, I think, relatively small points from my side—more considerations; as I said the trade deal is done. But just signalling with my arts, culture, and heritage hat on, we’ve obviously seen a change in the copyright laws, or rather we will see within I think 15 years that New Zealand has to move its copyright laws from 50 years to 70. I’m happy to be corrected on any of that—that’s going to be a little bit of an adjustment for various Kiwi artists, those who rely on copyrights. For what my own opinion’s worth, I’m more in line with aligning with other countries around the globe, and I’m conscious for New Zealanders used to a particular system that any change is disquieting. But I think the more regular or normalised our rules are with others, the better.

I noticed, too, we have an artist resale rights scheme being put up, and for those at home—“R”s in a very long sort of elongated “R”—but artist resale rights scheme basically says that if you are selling artwork, there can be a royalty on resale. So just because I might buy a piece of artwork at first, I don’t get to enjoy all the benefits of reselling it into the future—the artist gets some money.

So there’s two points I just want to raise in this first reading on this. The first is: I think there’ll need to be a bit of explanation to the public to understand what this is about, and obviously getting the scheme set up. But I also understand we’re going to have to have another piece of legislation come to this House to bring that into effect. So again, I think particularly for our artistic community to understand that the legislation we’re discussing tonight does not bring about that resale rights scheme—another piece of domestic legislation will be required, and I encourage the Government to begin consulting on that swiftly and bring that legislation to the House.

The other hat I want to quickly put on is around customs. Look, it’s not going to be a surprise to this House that by and large that activity between the UK and New Zealand already works very, very well. But I see that in the agreement there’s a commitment to robust electronic systems, and I suppose it’s not so much to the Ministers here tonight in terms of foreign affairs and trade, but through to the Minister of Customs to ensure that the necessary resources are put in place, that New Zealand can make this work and work well. But I actually have quite a lot of confidence in that the customs guys and women are amazing and do a great job.

A couple of other wider topics—and again, this is not a complaint, but I’m a great believer, Minister, in CANZUK—this is an acronym for Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK; a much, much greater cooperation. I think this free-trade agreement, particularly around the movement of people, is a really positive step, but it’s certainly my bias—or happy prejudice—I think, to want to keep working towards a much more mobile, flexible system of movement, effectively, movement between our countries. And the reason I mention that is I think that’s a good in itself. There is much which those five Commonwealth realms share in common, but I think a wider part of it—and it’s something I’ve waxed lyrical on for many, many years, and particularly, not to New Zealand, but to our British counterparts and certainly to our American ones who we’re still waiting for an FTA from—is that we must now in New Zealand and in the UK, Australia, Canada and certainly in America understand trade is as much about our national security and sovereignty; it’s as much about our national security and sovereignty.

And I know, and I’m sure Ministers on the other side of the House get this, often we get told off for our reliance on the likes of China, for example. Well, my message remains to the likes of the United States as it has to the UK over many years: signing free-trade agreements with us in New Zealand is vitally, vitally important. And to put it in a different context: we have free-trade agreements with China, or an agreement with China. We don’t with the likes of the States. And as I said, up until recently we did not have one with the UK. So it’s really positive—really positive to see this in place.

Recounting a bit of history, I did have the pleasure, it would have been about three-and-a-bit years ago, of actually meeting with Liz Truss when she was then the trade Minister—I had the great pleasure of having lunch with her, a private lunch, which then got me somewhat into trouble because then the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time were a bit miffed at why I was having a one-on-one lunch with her and they were not. But, you know, those are how things break. I think that’s interesting. And I noted at the time—to be somewhat anecdotal—that the Brits, if I might be so derisive, were already nicking our New Zealanders to go into their Foreign and Commonwealth Office because they didn’t have any of the expertise. So again, being somewhat tongue in cheek, Ministers, I suspect New Zealanders in New Zealand and New Zealanders in the United Kingdom have negotiated this agreement, which is probably one of the reasons it is relatively—if not very, very—good.

Last couple of points. It’s echoing what others have said and I know what I believe pretty strongly—this is in the Government’s agenda, supporting the likes of the United Kingdom to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. I think that’s a positive thing. Obviously, these bilateral agreements are positive, but turning them into something multilateral is very, very good. I will just signal the EU side of things; I think it’s positive that we’re moving towards an agreement, but there is a little alarm in my head, and it has been noted by others, that the last agreement that is signed is often the datum point for future ones, and I think that will be a challenge for the Government moving forward as it seeks the new—and it will keep seeking, I’m sure—free-trade agreements. Those they go to, doesn’t matter if it’s India, or parts in South America, or South Asia, or wherever—Africa, those countries will be looking not so much to the gold standard, which is this free-trade agreement with the UK, but they’ll be looking towards the EU one.

But with that little caveat aside, just wanting to acknowledge again in this first reading the great work that has been done, I look forward for this progressing swiftly through the House and want to once again reiterate the National Party’s support for this agreement.

It is a great pleasure to stand and take the final call on this first reading for the United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement Legislation Bill. I have taught economics; I have taught trade agreements in schools for a long time. We’re often talking about those big numbers, you know: increasing New Zealand exports up more than 50 percent, increasing real GDP between $700 million and $1 billion, saving $37 million per annum on tariff elimination; that is the stuff we have been talking about when we think about how good or how bad a trade deal might be for the last few decades.

I’m so excited for the economics teachers who will be teaching about this deal in the future, because what they’ll be talking about is how progressive it is, how actually what we are doing is talking about how inclusive it is, how we’re thinking and ensuring and locking in accountability around sustainability and trade that we want to make sure that our planet is a good place to be in a little while. It would be an exciting place to be an economics teacher in the future.

We’ve heard about the big numbers and that they will happen very, very soon and this deal is progressive and ambitious. It is a chance to maximise opportunities and minimise risks with global issues including environmental issues such as climate change. There are far-reaching environmental provisions in this deal. It’s exciting stuff. It commits us alongside the UK to work together on those climate change commitments. It affirms our commitments to the Paris Agreement and preserves our right to regulate for environment and climate purposes. We heard concerns about those issues, and I’m pleased to stand here and reassure members that this is a progressive and solid deal.

I just want to, I guess, talk about the real impact of this different type of deal. Some say we shouldn’t be global leaders in sustainable food and fibre because poor practice will simply slip in behind us and replace us in global markets. The clever thing about this progressive agreement is there’s a bilateral commitment to global progress on sustainable development.

Just a couple of different things: we’ve heard about the big stuff, and I want to narrow in a bit. A particular industry we’ve heard about from our fabulous member from Tukituki is our fabulous wine industry. I just want to reflect on the grape growers and wine makers from Marlborough who have reflected on the fact that tariffs don’t just come in numbers and dollar bills but actually through technical barriers. This agreement removes so many of those technical barriers, and they are excited.

I just want to finish by reflecting even more particularly in a more granular way on the impact of one little company and future of our export industry: the Raglan Food Co. Coconut-based yogurt—if you haven’t tried it yet, best you go out and get yourself some. They were recently celebrated as the supreme winners of the Primary Industries Good Employer Awards. They’re not just local leaders, they are national and global leaders. They are proudly carbon zero, proudly certified B Corporation, Toitū Envirocare—they are living wage employers; they contribute to their community in the sustainability and restoration of their local environment.

This deal is for exporters like them. This is our future: for our exporters who are innovative and ambitious and for our children. This is a deal that is not just about taking advantage of the fact that we are the best in the world, but we are the best for the world. I commend this bill to the House.

The question is, That the United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement Legislation Bill be considered by the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee.

Motion agreed to.

Bill referred to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee.

Instruction to Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee