Source: Radio New Zealand
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters. RNZ / Mark Papalii
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says the India free trade deal has been rushed through for political gain, and more wins could have been secured with longer negotiations.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Trade Minister Todd McClay announced the deal at the Beehive on Monday.
The agreement – which Luxon hopes to have signed off next year – includes significant wins for several industries, but only limited gains for dairy.
With New Zealand First agreeing to disagree with National and ACT, support will be needed from across the political aisle to get the majority support needed to pass it through Parliament.
Labour is also withholding support for now, saying the deal does look like a “very small step” forward in a world of trade disruption but the dairy sector will be disappointed.
Labour’s Trade spokesperson Damien O’Connor said meaningful access for the dairy sector must be the priority, and it was naive of Luxon to commit to a deal with India as a campaign commitment in 2023.
The Green Party says the government has not approached it seeking support, and would want to see the full text of the agreement before making any commitment.
Te Pāti Māori is refusing to support the deal, saying Māori have not been consulted, the Treaty of Waitangi clause is too weak, there’s too few wins for dairy, too few protections against corporate exploitation and no transparency.
Peters told RNZ the deal was neither free, nor fair.
“We should not have rushed it through,” he said. “We had been set a target by the prime minister of over the next three years from 2023… well, we got almost a year to go. This is not a good deal, because it has that aspect of being rushed about it.
“I’ve seen deals where the objective was for political purposes rather than economic advantage for New Zealand. This is one of those.
He said the deal was “far too generous”.
“Australia’s Free Trade Agreement has no such conditions. The UK free trade deal has no such conditions. So, why did they get imposed upon us?”
Peters said he would be surprised if the other parties in Parliament, like Labour, did not share his concerns.
“When you make a campaign commitment inside a coalition government, you listen to your partners… I’d be surprised if those other people in Parliament were not concerned with the same issues of alarm that we are facing on this matter.
“The previous Labour government was trying and it failed because of certain barriers, and here we are in this case signing a deal because we’ve taken down our barriers, and those barriers were in our national interest.
“Our market’s totally open to India and has been for a long, long time. All we’re asking for is a fair deal in reverse. And this is not.
He said in the 1980s we thought the whole world would adopt free trade, but they haven’t.
“They’ve kept their protections up, and here we are trying to graft ourselves back into the international economy.”
Peters pinpointed a lack of wins for dairy.
“We needed to spend more time with time to get them to understand that they’re going to need huge food supplies. Going forward, their level of production per cow is far too low compared to New Zealand,” he said.
“It’s in that way we could have helped them in their own market, and both of us profited.”
He said he was confident better terms could have been secured.
“I believe that by spending more time with Indians, we could convince them of the advantages of a fair deal for us. That’s what I’ve always believed.
“Because if you can’t get a fair deal, then you just have to walk away.”
RNZ has sought further comment from Trade Minister Todd McClay.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
