Nash Stuart: ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Bill — In Committee 
Nash Stuart: ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:655;Page:4682] 
STUART NASH (Labour) 
: 
 I stand in support of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Bill for many reasons. I would like to make it clear that we should give credit where credit is due—as should Mr Macindoe and Mr Hutchison. There is no doubt that Mr Groser knows a little bit about trade. I have never heard him speak on trade in the House but I am sure he knows a lot about it. But let us face facts: this deal was negotiated by the Hon Phil Goff. The great thing about that is that the next Prime Minister of New Zealand will be Phil Goff. I should correct myself there: the next Prime Minister of New Zealand will be Bill English but the next elected Prime Minister of New Zealand will be Phil Goff. Phil Goff understands the true value of international trade because he is the man who negotiated this deal. He also negotiated the free-trade agreement with China and opened up the first step into a whole lot of other markets that New Zealand will have free-trade agreements with. 
I ask those members to please give credit where it is due. Their smiles say they know it is true and the public know it is true and good on them. We also know that not just free trade but all trade is vital for the growth of New Zealand without a question of a doubt. Trade is the only way that New Zealand will achieve sustainable economic growth. The last time we were in a recession we got out of it by trading our way out. We are a trading nation; we always have been and we always will be. 
We face barriers to successful trading in the global economy. One of the problems is the tyranny of distance so we must seek new markets with countries that are close to us. Unfortunately the countries we are talking about and those within the ASEAN region have different languages different business cultures different legal systems different ways of doing business and a different mentality. That is why free-trade agreements that allow the opening up of those areas will make us so successful. Trade is the only way we will get into the top quartile of the OECD. 
Let us get back to the bill. Without a question of a doubt it is absolutely fantastic. The figures speak for themselves. Here is a market of about 500 million people who are entering the age of consumerism. That means they have discretionary money to spend on the products and services that New Zealand produces. As my learned colleague Dr Ashraf Choudhary mentioned education is a huge portion of New Zealand’s export and import industry. 
The ASEAN region is vital to New Zealand’s trade. It accounts for around 10 percent of all our exports at the moment before this bill goes through or about $4.7 billion which is a hell of a lot of money. We also import about $7.5 billion worth of products and services from the ASEAN region and $3.1 billion is in crude or non-crude oil. This bill will be good for the consumer because hopefully the tariffs on oil will drop and petrol prices will be cheaper. 
There are also some other surprising things. We bring in $42 million worth of caviar—Todd McClay will be happy about that; his caviar may come down in price which will go down well—and the value has increased by over 50 percent. The people of Rotorua will be happy to know about that. As Mr Cunliffe said this is one of our largest trading blocs and it is very very important to us. That is why this bill is so important. 
I have to say that $2.2 billion of the products we export to the ASEAN region are dairy products. We all know that the dairy industry is vital to New Zealand’s economy and that it is the backbone of our economy. The industry is innovative geared up incredible and has good leadership and it will really benefit from this agreement. One thing that worries me ever so slightly is that as a country we need to diversify. We need to get hold of our competitive advantages outside of dairy and agriculture and diversify. The problem we have is that 97 percent of New Zealand businesses are small to medium sized enterprises. The vast majority do not have the ability money or resources to hire an international market development manager. They rely on the New Zealand Government through New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Rick Barker) 
: Before I take the next call I remind members that this is the Committee stage. It is about the nuts and bolts of the bill; it is not a general debate or a second reading. I remind members that we are on Part 1 of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Bill