Brown Peter: New Zealand-China Free Trade Agreement Bill — In Committee 
Brown Peter: New Zealand-China Free Trade Agreement Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:648;Page:17374] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 Boy when Tim Groser gets his knickers in a twist they sure get in a tangle. Let me say to the honourable member who has just resumed his seat that I have here an extract from  
Exporter 
 magazine. This is what it states: “For some exporters New Zealand’s free-trade agreement with China is a decisive triumph laying a clear pipeline for future revenues. For other China old hands the FTA’s future benefits remain illusory considering the sheer cultural divide and business complexity China poses.” It goes on to state: “Anecdotal evidence suggests Kiwi business owners are not rushing to the middle kingdom. Those already steeped in the Chinese market say the FTA with China should not be seen as a panacea to Kiwi exporters’ aspirations to crack the Chinese market.” If we listened to Mr Groser we would think it was the be all and end all of everything. But I say to the honourable member what is in it for the Chinese? That is what we should be examining. I can tell him that they see a huge advantage. But Mr Groser told us when he was debating the tariff issue that we are going to export more wine and the Chinese are going to drink our wine by the bucket load. Who is he kidding? The Chinese culture does not allow its people to get involved in wine. 
John Hayes 
: You don’t know anything. 
PETER BROWN 
: The Chinese do not drink grape-produced wine in great quantities. I can tell members that now. This is not going to change it. For God’s sake! 
Let me talk a bit about the humanitarian concerns that we share. China operates under a Draconian employment regime; that is the only way we can talk about it. It has very low wages—peanut wages—long hours of work for all ages with no age restrictions; young people old people all working long hours for peanut wages. It has very poor working conditions and little or no employment commitment from the employer. Is that the sort of people we want to have a free-trade agreement with? 
Dr Wayne Mapp 
: You want it to go faster Peter. Get your story right. 
PETER BROWN 
: Well we know that Dr Mapp wants to employ New Zealanders and sack them within 90 days. What about the working-holiday scheme that is in place? This is what it says in the select committee report: “The scheme is non-reciprocal and provides for a maximum of 1000 Chinese entrants per annum. As with other similar schemes the scheme is an arrangement of less than treaty status.” On an earlier page in the same document where it refers to temporary entry it states that it will: “provide for entry of Chinese business visitors and installers/servicers for up to three months in any calendar year. Executives and managers are permitted to enter as intra-corporate transferees for up to three years. Also as intra-corporate transferees senior specialists are permitted to enter for up to 12 months and other specialists—subject to labour market tests—for up to three years.” That is what we have agreed to. That is what we are rolling over. That is what this country is giving in to. I can tell the Committee that the Chinese have more intelligence in their little finger than that group of National Party MPs have in their whatever. 
I know that this agreement will pass tonight but I would have liked to see it pass for the right reasons. I have sat here and listened to National members for 2 or 3 hours now and I have not heard anything worthwhile. They have given me the total impression—and I have tried to approach it objectively—that they are rolling over for the Chinese and they want the country to roll over for them too. The Chinese have 1.3 billion people; we have 4 million people. They are taking us in and making fools of this nation. This party and the Greens and the Maori Party say that we will put New Zealand’s interests first and this free-trade agreement is not doing that.