Twyford Phil: ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Bill — Second Reading 
Twyford Phil: ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:655;Page:4489] 
PHIL TWYFORD (Labour) 
: 
 I rise on behalf of Labour to speak in support of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Bill. I will start with just a few brief comments in response to earlier contributions from Green and National members about the ethical underpinnings of the debate around free trade. I think they are important and are worth discussing. Out there in the community and in the public New Zealanders like people all over the world have some anxiety about globalisation and fears about the possible loss of jobs and livelihoods as a result of free trade and globalisation. I say very clearly that on the Labour side of the House the approach we take to this issue is one of engagement. We are internationalists; we believe we have an important role internationally on all sorts of issues. The purpose of our foreign policy is not about only our own economic prosperity; it is about being part of an international community. We believe that we can do well through trade and that we can also do good things in the world. 
I was disappointed by the contribution that I heard from the member for Wairarapa John Hayes. He seems to practise a fortress Wairarapa mentality when it comes to foreign affairs. He thinks that in a recession we should retrench back behind our picket fences in the Wairarapa and look only to our own short-term economic benefit. That is precisely the kind of attitude that is driving the protectionism that we see in Europe and in the United States as a result of the global economic crisis. 
When it comes to matters of trade we differ from our friends in the Green Party. We embrace wholeheartedly the need for trade and economic engagement. It is not because we are blind to the economic and social downsides of globalisation; it is because we believe that globalisation is a reality in the world today. There is no choice but to engage and to do so economically socially politically and diplomatically. If one looks at the amazing developments in New Zealand foreign policy over the last decade or so and particularly the free-trade agreement with China one sees that the developments have been pursued with a view that our economic destiny lies with Asia. The prosperity of our children and our grandchildren rests on how successfully we can engage with our neighbours in that region which will be the economic powerhouse in the global economy for the next century. 
We cannot engage simply on the basis of treating those countries and their people as potential customers. It has to be a fully integrated strategy that has been thought through and that sees us becoming truly a part of that regional community. The free-trade agreement with China was premised on that kind of thinking which is that we have to have a full relationship with the Chinese Government and with the people of China so that our firms can do business there. We also need to have a full relationship with China so that we are in a position to have conversations with them about human rights labour standards the environment and the rights of Chinese people to organise themselves into free and independent trade unions. How will we do that if we do not have a substantive real relationship with them? 
Labour believes that we must engage trading opportunities in our region as vigorously as we possibly can. We also believe that we should do as we have done with this agreement and talk about labour and environmental standards. We were able as part of this process to conclude agreements with the Philippines on both labour and the environment. We must continue to talk to our trading partners about human rights and we must pursue those concerns in multilateral forums at the same time. 
Labour strongly supports this bill. It is a major achievement in our foreign policy and in our trade agenda over the last few years. I recognise as colleagues have before me the work that has been done by previous Ministers of Trade including Phil Goff. I commend the way that the current Minister the Hon Tim Groser has continued with this work in a bipartisan way and I also commend the work that has been done by officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. They have conducted the entire body of negotiations in a really— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: I am sorry to interrupt the honourable member but the time has come for me to leave the Chair. 
Debate interrupted.