Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumePeters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 15 October 2013. Volume:694;Page:13838. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]10.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) to thePrime Minister: Has he briefed the Cabinet on the progress and details of negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement; if not why not?Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister): The Minister of Trade regularly updates his Cabinet colleagues on progress in the negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. As the member will be aware the Trans-Pacific Partnership has the potential to be worth up to $4 billion per annum to our economy. That is something that we want New Zealand to be part of. A report about my recent travel to APEC and the Trans-Pacific Partnership meeting which took place in Bali will be filed with Cabinet in due course as is normal after an overseas visit.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Does he intend therefore to brief the other MPs in the Government and for that matter Parliament?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Well in the fullness of time when a deal is concluded that the Government feels it wants to be a signatory of—as was the case with the previous Government—then that will go through the parliamentary process that is required.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I take that to be a no. Does he agree with the Malaysian Prime Minister’s recent comments that the Trans-Pacific Partnership goes beyond normal free-trade agreements and his view: “As you go beyond that into areas of intellectual properties investor-state dispute settlement government procurement state-owned enterprises environment and labour so you impinge on fundamentally the sovereign right of the country to make regulation and policy.”; if not why not?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: No not necessarily. For a start off I think one would have to look at all of the details of what is finally concluded. But if we take for instance investor-State dispute settlement provisions we have signed those in the past. They were part of the China free-trade agreement signed by the Labour Government. They were part of the free-trade agreement signed with ASEAN and Australia. The simple reason why it is OK to do that is there were safeguard rights in those free-trade agreements.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Why would it be right for the Parliament of Malaysia a far more recent democracy than New Zealand to have the right to hear about this Trans-Pacific Partnership before it signs or—Paul Foster-Bell: When did that member change his tune on Asia?Rt Hon Winston Peters: I beg your pardon?Mr SPEAKER: Order!Rt Hon Winston Peters: Well there is a moron up here but he is saying some things that are rather dangerous.Mr SPEAKER: Order! If the member wants to ask his question he will ask it. [Interruption] Order! The Hon Annette King has not ceased interjecting through the whole of this question time. If it happens again I will be asking her to leave for the rest of the day. Would the member please start his supplementary question again.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Why would it be right for the parliamentarians of Malaysia to be briefed before that Government signs any agreement or the Congress in the United States to have been deemed to have a right to see what is in the Trans-Pacific Partnership whilst this Parliament and New Zealanders are not taken into the Prime Minister’s confidence?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Well every Parliament has a different way of dealing with these issues. I cannot speak about the Malaysian Parliament but what I can say is that as is standard—and as was standard with for instance the China free-trade agreement which was handled by a Labour Government which went through the proper and full process as this will—it will go off to a select committee where submissions will be made. To quote the Opposition member Phil Goff he said last week that he understands why the Government is not releasing the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. He is a former trade Minister. He knows how these things work.Hon Member: Full quote.Hon Phil Goff: Why not the whole quote?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Well I am trying to defend you which is better than what you do for yourselves. But anyway the truth of the matter is that Winston Peters and New Zealand First are opposed to free-trade agreements—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The answer is quite sufficient.