Flavell Te Ururoa: Tariff Act 1988 Repeal Bill — First Reading 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Tariff Act 1988 Repeal Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:662;Page:10802] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Tena no tatou e te Whare. With an 18000 kilometre coastline and a lack of land borders with other countries Aotearoa is probably ideally suited to levying border tariffs on imported goods. In fact tariffs have been a part of Government policies since right back in 1840. I am told that one of the first actions of Governor Hobson was to issue a customs regulation ordinance which imposed a tariff on alcohol tobacco tea sugar and grains. These days however most goods remain free of tax. I am told that in 2008 about 80 percent of New Zealand’s imports were tariff-free. Some tariffs of course are of about 10 percent and these apply mainly as other speakers have said to clothing footwear and carpet. 
I understand Sir Roger’s korero that removing the payment of tariffs from importers would have some immediate benefits for consumers with a likely reduction in the price of imported goods such as cellphones and computers. We know that the immediate income effects of lower consumer prices would inevitably benefit Maori and to the extent that tariffs are a tax on exports there is a school of thought that tariff reduction would benefit Maori relatively more than other groups. This is in light of the fact that on average the Maori economic base is twice as export-intensive as the New Zealand economy. 
But there are a couple of major hitches and I will outline those at this point. The Maori Party suggests that opening up the domestic market to a potential flood of imported goods could and would undermine locally manufactured goods. We say that this move might threaten our own local manufacturers at a time when we can least afford it and in the wave of the very successful introduction of the tobacco tax by my co-leader Tariana Turia just last week it would be devastating if removing tariffs suddenly opened the door to a mass of cheap alcohol and cigarettes. 
I will raise a couple of other issues very quickly. The first is that this bill is inconsistent with the Maori Party’s position about the bigger picture of our international relationships. In our policy document  
He Aha Te Mea Nui? 
 we made a commitment that “The economic benefits of international trade agreements need to be balanced with consideration of our own local regional and national social progress and environmental enhancement.” That is the first point. 
The second point is that as a political party the Maori Party has opposed all free-trade agreement legislation to date. Our policy position is probably summed up best by saying that we want fair trade not free trade. We seek a trading partnership that seeks greater equity in international trade that offers better trading conditions and that contributes to securing the rights of all workers. We say that more than profit is at stake. We want to see attention paid to labour and environmental justice issues and to human rights issues. 
Finally I cannot leave this debate without stating the obvious: the Government has decided against any review of tariffs until 2015 at the earliest. Quite simply nothing in the 105 words in this tiny little bill convinces us as the Maori Party to disregard our policy position to turn against our voting history to short-cut the Government’s deadline or to support this bill. That will inevitably tell this House that the Maori Party will not be supporting the bill at its first reading. Kia ora tatou.