Street Maryan: Tariff (New Zealand-Hong Kong China Closer Economic Partnership Agreement) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Street Maryan: Tariff (New Zealand-Hong Kong China Closer Economic Partnership Agreement) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:666;Page:13391] 
Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour) 
: 
 The very few clauses that exist in the Tariff (New Zealand-Hong Kong China Closer Economic Partnership Agreement) Amendment Bill belie the expansiveness and the potential of this closer economic partnership. 
I listened with great care to the Green Party members’ speeches about this. There was an earlier occasion when we were debating the Malaysian free-trade agreement I think when there was very useful dialogue amongst the parties in the House about what potential pitfalls there might be and how the whole trade process might be improved. It seems to me that the Green Party contributions have misfired in respect of the New Zealand - Hong Kong China Closer Economic Partnership. When I look at the national interest analysis particularly the bits that relate to the clauses on investment I find that the only disadvantage that is noted about the clause relating to investment and the exchange of letters on investment is that at the moment there will be no investment chapter in the closer economic partnership because that issue is being resolved by an exchange of letters over a 2-year period. So within 2 years of the entry into force of the closer economic partnership a comprehensive investment protocol will be agreed by an exchange of letters and added to this closer economic partnership. What remains in place is the current New Zealand - Hong Kong Agreement for the Promotion and Protection of Investments. That investment protocol does exist. It provides some minimum protections for investors including national treatment fair and equitable treatment and also some disciplines on expropriation. I think the Green Party’s objections to the clauses on investment are somewhat overstated. 
Labour welcomes this bill and the closer economic partnership because they develop what is already a very close relationship with Hong Kong and they give us and our businesses the opportunity to maximise not only opportunities within Hong Kong but opportunities in China as well. As I alluded to earlier this very short amendment bill is deceptive in its brevity because it encompasses an extraordinary range of things particularly services that we will be able to trade in and benefit from as we go forward with this closer economic partnership. 
It is the services component of this legislation that I celebrate the most because I think it is the thing that will have the most vitality for New Zealand businesses. But I would ask that New Zealand businesses in their efforts to maximise the opportunities that this closer economic partnership provides are not hampered by a lack of resources being appropriated by this Government to allow encourage and facilitate businesses to take advantage of business opportunities in Hong Kong. It is one thing to have a closer economic partnership in place and all the tariff reductions in place such as they are—and all gone by 2016. It is all very well to have greater trade in services. But if the Government is not prepared to assist businesses to maximise those opportunities then this bill is hardly worth the paper it is written on. There are wonderful opportunities but not all of our services and our manufacturers are geared up to take advantage of those opportunities. Thank you.