Street Maryan: ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Bill — In Committee 
Street Maryan: ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:655;Page:4678] 
Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour) 
: 
 The ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement is much more exciting than we have been led to believe by listening to the two previous speakers. Although the acting Minister John Carter is in the chair and I acknowledge that a little bit of enthusiasm is justified because this is quite an extraordinary achievement. I understand that the Minister in the chair is acting for the Minister in charge of the bill but really and truly it is hard to imagine that something could be made to sound as dull as he made it. 
However the ASEAN free-trade agreement is hugely significant for this country. It is one of a kind. It is has set a benchmark I think for multilateral trade agreements in the rest of the world. It establishes an architecture around free trade that is novel and for New Zealand it is of particular benefit because of the speed at which we arrive at zero tariffs. That is one of the things that is most significant. 
I will give just a word on the ASEAN countries and New Zealand’s relationship with them. New Zealand’s exports to the ASEAN countries have increased by some 121 percent since 2000 to around $4.6 billion in 2008. This really is a free-trade agreement to get excited about. Over the same period imports from ASEAN countries have increased by 244 percent to almost $7.6 billion in 2008. This builds on what was already a dynamic relationship but it secures for New Zealand some significant advantages over previous agreements. With the passage of this legislation and with the passage of legislation in participating countries we will be able to access a market of more than 566 million people and that region accounts for some US$1400 billion of global trade. That is total trade not trade with New Zealand. That is $1.4 trillion if anybody can get his or her head around those sorts of numbers. 
Suffice to say that it is an extraordinary market. It is nearer to us than our traditional markets which is an advantage and these countries despite the recession have a growing and developing middle class that will be interested in the three things this free-trade agreement delivers. It delivers results in goods it delivers results in services and it delivers results in investment. In addition to that some sort of people-to-people flow mechanism will also enhance our trade relationships. This is an exciting development and it is something we can be very proud of. 
Even in this Committee stage—I know this has been done before—I commend the Minister Tim Groser for bringing this agreement to a conclusion. I also commend his predecessor Phil Goff and before him Jim Sutton who also contributed to the development and building of what I have referred to as this free-trade architecture. That is indeed what it provides for the future. 
One of the things that New Zealand will benefit from within 12 years is the elimination of tariffs on 99 percent of New Zealand’s current exports to the four key export markets in the ASEAN grouping: Indonesia Malaysia the Philippines and Viet Nam. That may be able to be said quite quickly but the important thing about it is that when this agreement is fully implemented there will be a saving of approximately $50 million based on current trade alone—$50 million to New Zealand exporters based on current figures alone. Of course I anticipate that we will do much better than that.