India Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill

Thank you very much. This is a critical part of this agreement, and perhaps one of the areas where, I guess, the New Zealand negotiators had something to put on the table. My questions go to the Minister for Trade and Investment, and there are a number of technical regulations in here. Clause 18, regulation 85 is the definitions, and it says, “India branch means a branch of an enterprise if the branch is (a) located in the India territory; and (b) is carrying out business activities in the India territory”.

My question to the Minister is, how do we know and is he sure that we have negotiated sufficient protection to ensure that companies from other parts of the world are not going to access this trade agreement—and it’s effectively their right to invest up to $200 million in our country—and that we’re not opening the door to some other non-Indian companies. I’m sure the Minister has gone through this, and he’s probably got a reasonably solid explanation, but I’d like for him to put it on the floor of the House here, because I know, from New Zealand First’s perspective, it seems to be an area of grave concern. I think the House and Parliament deserves at least a clear explanation that this and the provisions in here will not be rorted or sidestepped for whatever reasons for companies from other than India to come into our country.

CHAIRPERSON (Maureen Pugh): Thank you. Unfortunately, there’s not time for the Minister to respond. The committee is suspended for a valedictory statement.

House resumed.