Tabuteau FletcherINTERNATIONAL TRANSPARENT TREATIES BILLFirst ReadingFLETCHER TABUTEAU (NZ First): I move That the International Transparent Treaties Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee to consider the bill. This bill was written in response to the fear unease and confusion of our times in response to New Zealand's worry and anger with an out-of-touch and arrogant Government. I speak of course about the 6 years of secret Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations and a signing that deliberately excluded the majority of New Zealanders and in fact excluded those whom we call their representatives.For the spin acolytes across the side of the House there before they start dribbling the words anti-trade" and "build a wall" I remind the National backbenchers that one of New Zealand First's founding principles is to grow our country's exports through trade and favourable fiscal and monetary settings that actually work for Kiwi business. The TPP and the Trans-Pacific Partnership 11 (TPP11) will not do that for our country. You will be aware that trade in the sum of our economy has actually gone backwards under this National Government. It was a bad deal when the United States was involved. It will be a bad deal without the United States. The Government needs to let it go and work on real free-trade agreements so our exporters have open access and so they benefit from meaningful tariff reductions. We have recently seen the death of neo-liberalism and globalism—at least I hope so in its current form. Discussions over the decades have suggested that an unfettered globalist agenda without thought for the people they presume to represent would bring about its own demise. Yes expanded global trade under an interventionist US Government in a post-war era has grown the world economy and many of us have seen the benefit of that. But globalism I put it to this House has become the calling card of the global elite. Big business has hijacked trade and now New Zealanders know it. As the Brexit vote highlighted globalism in its current form must be considered dead and yet most commentators and most economists have been blinded by the backlash.In the late 1990s it became clear to observers that deeper economic integration required harmonisation of laws and regulations across countries. Differences in rules on employment conditions or product safety requirements or the environment for example are deemed to be barriers to trade in this modern world. Indeed as New Zealand First has always said the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPPA) was more about non-tariff barriers than it was about actually removing real tariff barriers for our exporters.The consequences of these agreements often run counter to what the majority of the people actually want from their Government and for their country. Deeper integration it was reckoned will therefore either lead to an erosion of democracy—sound familiar—as national leaders disregard the will of the public or cause the dissolution of the nation State as authority moves to supranational bodies elected to create harmonised rules for everyone to follow. The example of that that we see in the world does not seem to be working particularly well either.These trade-offs in these treaties create a trilemma. Societies cannot be globally integrated—Hon David Bennett: That's a big word.FLETCHER TABUTEAU: Sorry I will repeat that for Mr Bennett—a trilemma. Societies cannot be globally integrated completely sovereign and democratic. They can opt for only two of the three. Many international corporates and the servants of big business wagered that the sovereignty of nation States would be the item societies chose to disregard. It is now clear that the people of the world—Hon David Bennett: Andrew Little's Budget speech was better than this mate.FLETCHER TABUTEAU: —the people of New Zealand Mr Bennett—cannot and will not forgo their sovereignty and their right to determine their own future and that National Government sided with big business and it did not side with the people of New Zealand. Tonight its members will not want to discuss a more open democracy in a more empowered House of Representatives. They will have us continue with their current undemocratic power base.By way of example Parliament was not informed about the contents of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement when the executive signed it. Instead we were told to trust them and were described as breathless children. New Zealanders were rightly insulted and indeed infuriated. That was when tens of thousands of New Zealanders rose up in revolt. Kiwis protested up and down the country. They literally shut down Auckland in an incredible show of opposition to the signing of the TPPA. International partnership agreements were at the forefront of our consciousness and the Government did not want a bar of it. Our Parliament was officially informed only once the agreement had been signed and even then we were not actually ratifying the treaty; we were ratifying supporting legislation. By goodness were we shepherded in what that debate looked like in the House on those pieces of legislation. They were detailed and we were absolutely confined to the tedious law. We could not speak about what the enabling legislation meant for the rest of the country and what the trade deal meant for New Zealand.The real difference between the current system and what my bill proposes is that Parliament will actually matter. The people of New Zealand want Parliament to matter. They want representatives to think about them and not just the international corporates. There are trade-offs in these agreements and the National Government never looked beyond the infinitesimal benefits that were highly contested and highly debated—Todd Muller: Come on! Passion not volume—passion.FLETCHER TABUTEAU: —just not in this House Mr Muller. In fact the New Zealand people wanted their representatives to care about New Zealand.Outside of the Westminster jurisdiction in the developed world it has basically moved on. Across the world we see a more democratic process with greater restriction placed on the executive to enter into international treaties. Sweden France Ireland Denmark and the Netherlands are just a few examples of where parliaments must give approval for signing up to treaties. We should look to them with the modern world and cast off this antiquated anathema. Even within the TPP11 the zombie that the Government is trying to resurrect we are on the negative side of the ledger. Japan Malaysia Chile Mexico Peru Vietnam and Brunei all require parliamentary approval for treaties. New Zealand has a long tradition as an international player. It is a tradition we are proud of but in this we have fallen behind the times. We will be seen as lacking in our democracy and we will be tarnished for it. The system as it is absolutely fails when the executive signs New Zealand into treaties against the wishes of the New Zealand public. That is why parliamentary approval of treaties must be given before the executive signs us up. This Government has shown that public debate about and the opposition to international treaties does not matter to it one bit.In our democracy accountability matters. Not only did the TPPA take accountability away but so does the current outrageously outdated system that this Government so desperately clings to. This bill will allow New Zealanders to decide who is to be held accountable for the decisions made on their behalf. It will be clear and it will be transparent when they go to the polling booths. Democracy and accountability must be at the core of good Government. Thank you."