Robertson Grant: Tariff (Malaysia Free Trade Agreement) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Robertson Grant: Tariff (Malaysia Free Trade Agreement) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:664;Page:12139] 
GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) 
: 
 I will take a brief call on two or three matters. The first is my response in part to Dr Graham’s comments particularly in relation to the question of how the national interest analysis discusses the missing 0.5 percent. I appreciate the Minister’s explanation about those issues and indeed I understand the point particularly about alcohol. I am not sure that we could make quite the same point about firearms and tobacco but I endorse Dr Graham’s comment about the way in which the national interest analysis raises this matter. I think that something for future thought is the fact that the language and phrasing in the analysis does not pick up the spirit of the Minister’s comments and indeed of others in the House about showing our respect for other cultures and our belief—and I was perhaps diplomatic in my language earlier—that we do not need to do that. We do need to respect and understand other countries and the limitations of these free-trade agreements and I think that some of the language in the national interest analysis on that issue perhaps left a little to be desired. 
The second point that Dr Graham raised that I will respond to concerns the importance of environmental cooperation agreements and the actual discussions that take place as a result of them. One agreement I know a little about was with Chile in the Pacific Three Closer Economic Partnership which is now morphing its way into being the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement. I know that significant work was done there with a number of meetings particularly in the eco-tourism area. A lot of information was shared about how to grow that sector but also about how to ensure that the effects of tourism were mitigated on the environment. There was significant exchange. The Ministry for the Environment in New Zealand was actually the lead agency. It brought in a number of eco-tourism operators who were able to share their experience but they heard equally from the Chilean side. In fact in talking to a number of the eco-tourism operators who were involved in that I discovered that they felt they learned as much from the Chileans even as the learning went the other way. That is the advantage of those agreements. 
That brings me to the point that I will raise to build on Maryan Street’s comments about the environmental cooperation agreements. Those agreements were seen as I said in my second reading speech somewhat as tack-ons. I think it is important that in this House we make clear that the expectation of parliamentarians is that those agreements are much more than that. They are treaty-level agreements that are of significance to us. They round out our relationship with countries so that it is not just about free trade and tariffs it is actually about building a stronger and deeper relationship in which environmental cooperation has leveraging possibilities for services. But it is more than that as well. It is in fact a sign of our values and that is why the labour cooperation agreement is significant and important as well. 
There are obligations in the agreement to set up committees and to have those committees meet and I implore the Government to continue to see those parts as important parts of free-trade negotiations. It is true that in the early years of this century a number of other countries were reluctant to have those parts but New Zealand has pushed on. As Maryan Street said we have in fact led the way in those agreements. We are the ones who have said no those must be part of our free-trade agreements. I think we now need to back that up with further action and ensure that they are meaningful. 
I do not believe I say to Dr Graham that such agreements are a sign that the Green Party should recommence morris dancing—in fact nothing should encourage the Green Party to recommence morris dancing—but they are a sign that there is an understanding of the importance of environmental cooperation the importance of labour cooperation and the fact that as Maryan Street said we are referencing International Labour Organization agreements and the outcomes of the Rio Earth Summit. That is important. It gives great stability to those agreements to have international agreements alongside them. I think it is important to note that environmental cooperation agreements and labour cooperation agreements are rising in their importance that their status has been increased by being at a treaty level and that they are now a very important part of free-trade agreements.