Street Maryan: Tariff (New Zealand-Hong Kong China Closer Economic Partnership Agreement) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Street Maryan: Tariff (New Zealand-Hong Kong China Closer Economic Partnership Agreement) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:663;Page:11592] 
Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour) 
: 
 I rise to speak to the first reading of the Tariff (New Zealand-Hong Kong China Closer Economic Partnership Agreement) Amendment Bill. Listening to the Acting Minister of Trade give the introductory speech one could have been forgiven for nodding off but I have to say that this initiative is really interesting and quite exciting. I have a degree of excitement about this initiative that clearly the Minister does not share. However I recognise that it was probably not his own speech as he was filling in for Minister Groser who is even at this moment treading the boards overseas on behalf of New Zealand’s interests most particularly in Russia. That is another innovation that will be of particular interest to New Zealand exporters. 
Getting back to the matter in hand which is the New Zealand - Hong Kong China Closer Economic Partnership Agreement this is an interesting agreement we have reached with Hong Kong. The origins of this agreement go back quite some way. In fact they go back to 2001 when this matter was first mooted by Jim Sutton who was the Minister for Trade Negotiations at the time. New Zealand and Hong Kong became bogged down in discussions around rules of origin and problems with labelling rules. The rules of origin of goods tended to bring the negotiations to a shuddering halt. In 2002 the talks were suspended but they were revitalised under Phil Goff as Minister of Trade and pursued by the current Minister Tim Groser. So as always with these agreements they are not represented simply at the moment in time when the legislation that is required to enact them is introduced into the House; in fact this agreement has an almost 10-year pedigree. But it is worth traversing some of the things that will be of benefit to New Zealand. 
I will also talk about some of the things that sometimes people raise as disadvantages to New Zealand when we strike these free-trade agreements which is essentially what this is albeit it is called a closer economic partnership agreement. First of all as the Minister said Hong Kong is our ninth largest export market. Just as important it is our eighth largest source of foreign direct investment. That is significant. In these negotiations we went looking for a high-quality outcome that could be used as a model. An added attraction of course was the Chinese free-trade agreement which is already in place. Hong Kong—with its own closer economic partnership with China in fact—could see that it was a good idea to align the trading arrangements between it and New Zealand because of our free-trade agreement with China. So this agreement broadly mirrors the Chinese free-trade agreement. 
I will speak briefly about some of the advantages and if I have time some of the disadvantages but I can pursue those in the minutes of my speech that remain after the debate has been interrupted and resumed on a later day I imagine. A number of things are worth noting. People who are watching may be interested to know just what New Zealand exports to Hong Kong. Particularly we export food and beverages some hides paper and wood products and—this will be of interest to one or two people in this House—race horses. Also it is an important quite mature source market for high-end tourists and for students both secondary and tertiary. More specifically in regard to trade and economic links New Zealand focuses on encouraging the greater take-up of New Zealand goods and services both in Hong Kong and China including through partnering with New Zealand enterprises into China increasing the current levels of investment into New Zealand and encouraging Hong Kong people to see New Zealand as a good place for students to study—whether at secondary tertiary or vocational levels—or undertake research. We have also emphasised quite recently the need to encourage research collaboration between New Zealand and Hong Kong research institutions in areas such as nanotechnology medical research and renewable energy. This agreement also promotes the bilateral working holiday scheme and promotes New Zealand as a distinct and attractive tourist destination. 
It is interesting to note that when the free-trade agreement was signed in Hong Kong the  
South China Morning Post 
—a newspaper known to anybody who has ever flown a route through Asia from New Zealand—made the point in the first paragraph where one assumes things are put that might be of greatest interest to the people of Hong Kong that “Hong Kong and New Zealand have ratified a free-trade agreement that will allow people travelling on business between the two places to stay for up to three months.” It also highlights the fact that New Zealand opens its doors to more “work as you go” Hong Kong holidaymakers. Clearly the Hong Kong media immediately decided two points of this agreement were of significance. The fact that business people travelling between the two places can stay for up to 3 months on a business visa is important. Establishing relationships building networks and moving from Hong Kong into China takes more than a week. It takes more than one trip. So facilitating longer stays without bureaucratic trammelling is an important consideration in this closer economic partnership. Business New Zealand business people who accompanied the Minister on the visit to Hong Kong at the time of the signing of this free-trade agreement were very pleased to see that. It made their life easier and facilitated the establishment of businesses and therefore the trade relationship between Hong Kong and New Zealand. 
Debate interrupted.