Locke Keith: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Locke Keith: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:645;Page:14694] 
7.  
KEITH LOCKE (Green) 
 to the  
Minister of Trade 
: Will an outline of the proposed free-trade agreement between New Zealand and China be made public before the signing ceremony takes place in Beijing in early April; if so when will that outline be made available? 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Acting Minister of Trade) 
: 
 Details of the agreement will be made publicly available at the time of signature. The text of the agreement and the accompanying national interest analysis will be tabled in the House following signature and will be available on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade website. It would not be appropriate to make any substantive detail of the free-trade agreement publicly available until the approval process in both countries is completed and until then the agreement cannot be considered final. 
Keith Locke 
: I wish the Minister would forget about the free-trade agreement altogether; however is the Minister telling the House that the New Zealand public will have virtually no idea what is in this agreement until it is signed even though we will be giving preferential treatment to a country that has a most oppressive Government has virtually no labour law and has a very low-wage economy? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: First of all the negotiations for this agreement have been taking place over 3 years. Stakeholders in terms of this agreement have had consultation all along the way. The public of New Zealand will see what is in this agreement because it requires the approval of this Parliament before it becomes final. So the ability for the public to see what has been negotiated will be very obvious indeed. 
Martin Gallagher 
: Would this be the normal process for such international treaties? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: Yes. This is the normal process for treaties that this country signs. They come before this Parliament for its final agreement on them. 
Keith Locke 
: Does the Minister not admit that she is actually wrong in that the House will not be approving this treaty because treaties are approved by Governments according to our system and in that although there will be some implementing legislation we will see as was the case with past free-trade agreements like the Thailand - New Zealand free-trade agreement for example—where the legislation was minimal and it just stated there would be a preferential tariff and the details would be worked out by Cabinet later—that any select committee involvement is purely advisory? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: No I do not agree with the member. This House will decide on whether there is a free-trade agreement with China at the end of the day. I believe that most members in this House will vote for it. 
Peter Brown 
: Does the Minister regard China as a low-wage economy and as having major human rights problems? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: China is a country that has one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. There have been huge increases in standards of living in that country over the years. It does have problems with human rights but those are issues that we raise with the Chinese whether or not we have a free-trade agreement. This Government and the parties in this Government over many years have been free and frank about our views on human rights. That will not stop whether or not we have a free-trade agreement. 
Keith Locke 
: Following on from that will there actually be any clauses on labour and environmental standards in China associated with the planned free-trade agreement as there were in the Thai - New Zealand free-trade agreement—although China might not be as keen as Thailand was on that—if so will there be any legislative implementation of those labour and environmental standards because there was not in the Thai - New Zealand free-trade agreement? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: As I said in an earlier answer I will not go into details at this stage because we are still negotiating with China. But let me assure the member that the New Zealand Government would not contemplate any agreement that would provide a threat to the wages and conditions of New Zealand workers. Our minimum labour health and safety laws are not for negotiation.