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:13394] 
Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour) 
: 
 There are two areas of the closer economic partnership with Hong Kong that I am particularly interested in exploring in the Committee stage of the Tariff (New Zealand-Hong Kong China Closer Economic Partnership Agreement) Amendment Bill. They are the labour memorandum of understanding and the environment cooperation agreement which are outlined in the national interest analysis that accompanies this closer economic partnership. In fact the national interest analysis effectively does the job of a regulatory impact statement so there is no regulatory impact statement on this legislation. This is one of the few occasions when we forgive the Government for not attaching a regulatory impact statement to one of its pieces of legislation. The reason is that the purpose of a regulatory impact statement has been covered in the national interest analysis. 
The first point I want to make about the labour memorandum of understanding with Hong Kong is that it commits New Zealand to cooperating on labour issues including participating in a cooperation programme and to holding meetings on a regular basis with senior Hong Kong officials on the area of labour and also the environment. The labour memorandum of understanding contains generally understood or recognised core trade and labour principles and is consistent with the policy framework for integrating labour into free-trade agreements. These principles include explicit recognition by both Hong Kong and New Zealand that labour laws regulations policies and practices should not be used for trade protectionist purposes nor should they be weakened or reduced in order to secure trade advantage. In other words a country cannot deliberately beat down its labour costs in order to undercut goods that are being imported or exported. So there can be no contrived trade advantage by the repression of labour standards. 
The specific reciprocal obligations for New Zealand under the memorandum of understanding on cooperation and related matters are first to maintain close dialogue with the stakeholders in the formulation of labour policies and practices. The second is to promote public awareness of labour laws and regulations that apply domestically. The third is to cooperate with Hong Kong on labour matters of mutual interest and benefit. The fourth is to designate a national contact point for labour matters to facilitate communication between the parties and to establish the cooperation programme that I alluded to earlier. The fifth one is to seek to provide funding to support mutually agreed cooperative activities and the sixth is to meet within the first year of the labour memorandum of understanding’s operation and thereafter as mutually decided by the parties. The final obligation is to consult the other party in the event of an issue arising over the memorandum of understanding’s interpretation or application. 
So it is quite an active memorandum of understanding. It is not simply about having a talkfest; it is about making sure that there is a programme of meetings that these meetings are held regularly and that there is in effect a dispute resolution process in terms of differences in the way in which each party interprets or applies the memorandum of understanding on labour issues. Any differences or issues between the two parties Hong Kong and New Zealand should be settled by mutual consultation and negotiation. The memorandum of understanding does not allow for any differences to be referred to any third party or international tribunal. So we have here a concrete example of an agreement being examined on a programmed basis to confirm that labour practices are not being used for protectionism or to undermine or confer any trade advantage on either party. So there is a dispute resolution process which I have alluded to already. 
That this closer economic partnership with Hong Kong and the free-trade agreement with China have labour and environment clauses built into them is an advance. The Committee will recall that the free-trade agreement with Malaysia that was recently debated in the House represented the very first time that Malaysia had had a labour clause inside a free-trade agreement which is an improvement. 
The second point is the environment cooperation agreement. The environment cooperation agreement between Hong Kong and New Zealand is consistent with the policy framework of integrating environment objectives into free-trade agreements and includes the core principles that establish a foundation for the bilateral relationship. These include explicit recognition by both parties that environmental laws regulations policies and practices should not be used for trade protectionist purposes nor should they be weakened or reduced in order to secure a trade advantage. This takes on very significant meaning when one applies it to such things as the fishing industry. It can be used to ensure that there is no cutting of corners within practices in the fishing industry in order to undercut a trade advantage or to secure an extra trade advantage. Again there are some specific reciprocal obligations for New Zealand under the environment cooperation agreement such as cooperating with Hong Kong on mutually determined environmental issues of common interest providing a list of areas of New Zealand’s interest and expertise encouraging and facilitating information and cooperation activities between relevant experts which is significant and again designating a national contact point so that there can be free-flowing conversation between the two parties and the ability for the parties to meet to establish oversee and evaluate cooperation activities. 
There are some other points in the environment cooperation agreement. I think it is a suitable addition to the closer economic partnership with Hong Kong. I look forward to such agreements becoming standard practice—and only being strengthened—in our trade relationships and our trade agreements with other nations as we proceed. Thank you.