Prebble Richard: Urgent Debates — Collapse of World Trade Talks in Cancun Mexico 
Prebble Richard: Urgent Debates — Collapse of World Trade Talks in Cancun Mexico 
[Volume:611;Page:8671] 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE (Leader—ACT NZ) 
: 
 I move  
That the House take note of a matter of urgent public importance 
. This is a matter that we as a Parliament need to consider carefully. It has been suggested by the Government that there are few countries in the world that stood to gain more from a successful Doha round than New Zealand. The converse of course must also apply: there can be few countries in the world more affected by the fact that the Doha round has collapsed. The reason that I say that is that if members care to examine this Government’s trade policy—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I am sorry to interrupt the honourable member. This is a serious debate and it is to be heard in relative silence. If members have to go to a select committee would they please do so quietly. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: New Zealand’s trade policies effectively collapsed in Mexico as well. The Prime Minister told us earlier this year in a statement on 11 February that the Government was seeking to achieve a number of things in trade policy this year. Every one of them has now failed. The Government said it would get a free-trade agreement with Chile and was seeking one with Hong Kong. Those talks are going nowhere. We know that. 
The Government then told us on 11 February—and it now seems amazing that the Government was thinking that—that it had stepped up our promotion of free-trade negotiations with the United States following the positive reference to New Zealand in the US trade representative’s letter to Congress on his intentions to negotiate with Australia. In February it was the Government’s No. 1 trade policy to get a free-trade agreement with the United States but now thanks to the extraordinary lack of diplomacy by our Prime Minister—and I remind members that she decided to issue a statement saying that if Vice-President Gore had won the last presidential election then matters in Iraq would be very different—and as a result of her statements and others made by this Government we find that New Zealand does not even appear in the 2003 trade policy agenda and the 2002 annual report of the President of the United States on the trade agreements programme which I have in my hand. When we look through that list we see that over 20 nations will get bilateral talks with the United States and New Zealand is not on the list. It is my understanding—and I would like to hear from members on this—that the Government does not now believe that it will be able to get a free-trade agreement with the United States so the second leg of the Government’s trade policies has collapsed. 
We were then told by the Minister for Trade Negotiations that what the Government really wanted was the Doha round and that that was where it would get better trading access for our agricultural exporters in particular. Then we were hearing stories about how Mr Sutton was going to be in the “green room”—how he was going to be pushing hard for extra trade concessions for our forestry industry and how confident he was. Well now we find that the Doha round has collapsed. If one reads the statements in the media it would appear that this round of the World Trade Organization talks might never succeed. I would like to hear from Ministers about that but it is my understanding that the differences between the Third World nations and the United States put them as far apart as ever. 
The question that New Zealand wants answered is what is the Government’s plan now? One of the most important tasks a New Zealand Government should be carrying out is promoting our trade interests. My charge is that this Labour Government has been the most unsuccessful Government in promoting our trade interests of any that I can ever remember. This Government has failed in every single thing it has put up. Surely it is time as the  
New Zealand Herald  
states today in its editorial for the New Zealand Government to decide to repair our relationships with Washington. I make these remarks not just to the Government but to both old parties. It is time we repaired those relationships and the initiative must come from New Zealand. To the United States New Zealand does not count as a trading nation. From that country’s point of view the benefits it would get from a free-trade agreement with New Zealand are minor but from New Zealand’s point of view of course they would be enormous. 
I can still remember my geography teacher Mr Mayhill saying: “Boys if we ever get a free-trade agreement with the United States they’ll have cows in the grounds of Parliament.” That is the sort of degree of difference it would make—[ 
Interruption 
] Well we have them now I suppose with the “fart tax”—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: There is too much cross-talk. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: I realise that what I am saying is a challenge to both parties. I believe that New Zealand ought to recognise that the breaches we have had with the United States have come from this country. We ought to realise that we could rejoin ANZUS and that the advantages to us on defence grounds alone are reasons for rejoining ANZUS. We ought to acknowledge publicly as a Parliament that the United States has taken nuclear weapons off its ships and then a free-trade agreement would be possible. But the Government should also be frank with this House. A free-trade agreement between Australia and the United States that excludes New Zealand has always been the ultimate nightmare and that is the situation we now find ourselves in through failures of diplomacy failures in statesmanship and failures in leadership by this Labour Government. 
I say to the House that we have no coherent trade policies at all. This Government that prides itself on its foreign affairs is prepared to send peacekeepers anywhere in the world but where is it promoting the interests of this nation? The failure of our trade talks will affect the standard of living of every New Zealander. Does any member of the House doubt that? It appears not and I do not think that even the Greens doubt that. 
Where is the coherent policy of this Government? Where was its plan B for the failure of these Doha talks? The fact that those talks have failed in Mexico has not come as a great surprise. I will not blame the Government for the fact that the Doha talks have failed; I blame the Government for the fact that it does not have a plan B. If we look at the Cairns group of countries what has happened—as the Minister says quite correctly—is that the developing nations who are part of the Cairns group have gone off and joined the G22 group. Apparently we could join that group but it is not really credible for New Zealand to claim that it is a developing country. It could claim that it is a “de-developing country” but not a developing one so we are left with Australia amongst the other six or seven Cairns trading nations. 
What members should appreciate is that every one of the countries left in the Cairns group apart from New Zealand now has an agreement with the United States—either a bilateral free-trade agreement or an agreement to negotiate one. There is only one nation in the Cairns group without such an agreement and that is New Zealand. What sort of diplomacy did it take for New Zealand to be the only country that is not getting a free-trade agreement? If one looks at this list one can see that all sorts of extraordinary countries like Morocco have managed to get an agreement with the United States. Our Prime Minister’s desire to get a one-liner on the 6 o’clock news has done that at the expense of the standard of living of every single New Zealander. 
I just say this to the Government: I know that the Government was a bit surprised when the President of China announced that he was coming to New Zealand. The reason he is coming is because people from China think as people often do that New Zealand and Australia are close together—he is actually going to visit Australia but he is coming here at Labour weekend. 
Darren Hughes 
: Does the member ever get sick of talking New Zealand down? 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: The member says I am talking New Zealand down. Here is a member of Parliament elected at age 8 who is not prepared to do anything about the trade interests of New Zealand. He is prepared to go on campaigning on Cold War slogans at the expense of every one of his constituents’ standard of living. That member does not like the fact that he is supporting a Government that has done more to sabotage our trade interests than any other Government in the history of New Zealand. If he does not agree with that I ask him which Government in New Zealand has been as unsuccessful as this one? Government members are shouting because they do not like that. 
What proposal will the Government put to the Chinese when they come to New Zealand or has it not been able to get agreement from the Green Party or the United Future party on a coherent trade policy? The duty of a New Zealand Government representing a trading nation in a global economy is to put forward coherent successful trade policies. We are entitled to ask the Government what those coherent and successful policies are. When will we see a free-trade agreement with Chile? What date will that be? Why does the Government believe it will be able to do anything in APEC? It has not managed to promote those talks one iota in the last 4 years. 
I tell the House that New Zealand has never been more isolated and has never had fewer real friends. We have never been in a more perilous position with regard to our trade than the one we are in now thanks to the Minister of Customs and Helen Clark. Helen Clark should be giving some real leadership to this nation. She should say that it is about time that New Zealand settled its differences with the United States and that we will put New Zealand’s interests first rather than her deciding to get some sort of support at cocktail parties with her socialist friends in Europe. 
What we want from this Government is coherent sensible trade policies so that the interests of our farmers and forestry-owners can be promoted and the standard of living of every New Zealander lifted. That is what this House demands. I will sit down now but I invite the Prime Minister to put forward a coherent plan as to how this country will promote its trade interests.