te Heuheu Georgina: New Zealand-China Free Trade Agreement Bill — In Committee 
te Heuheu Georgina: New Zealand-China Free Trade Agreement Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:648;Page:17352] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (National) 
: 
 I am very pleased to take a call on the Committee stage of the New Zealand-China Free Trade Agreement Bill. I have heard the snipes coming across the floor from New Zealand First—my colleague Wayne Mapp referred to them earlier—and from Winston Peters who when this deal was originally signed said that it is not good enough and we need more and I am absolutely waiting for New Zealand First members to take a call and to hear what their objections are all about. 
This free-trade agreement has been negotiated with the overriding objective of opening up economic opportunities for New Zealand business in China. A growing part of New Zealand business is Maori business. As my colleague Dr Mapp also mentioned representatives from Maori business came to the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee and went through what they saw as the huge advantages for Maori business. 
I want to paint just a little bit of the context. This agreement is historic. It represents a challenge and a huge opportunity for Maori. In the current environment where over the last 10 or 15 years we have seen the quite substantial return of significant fish forestry land and other assets to Maori tribes—and that will continue over the next 10 years—this agreement is a major marker for what will happen going forward. Part 1 of the bill deals with the removal of tariffs. That could not be timelier for Maori business potential as we go forward. 
I think we are all particularly in this House and in the private sector pretty much aware now of the growing asset base of Maori. It is estimated to be anywhere between $9 billion and $15 billion and it is growing—it is huge. We also know that its future is dependent on export—exporting goods to China and to the world. We all talk globally now and free trade is what goes with a global economy. Free trade is absolutely critical and the removal of tariffs and other trade barriers is the core of the free-trade initiative that has started with this and will no doubt grow. 
According to Hui Taumata 2005 Maori enterprises are concentrated in export-oriented areas primary production and processing and about 60 percent of Maori commercial assets are reliant on international trade. This is significant. It is significant because 96 percent of Chinese tariffs and trade barriers will be removed by 2019. That is a huge achievement. That is not far away; it is just around the corner. An example of where Maori interests will benefit is in the fisheries industry with the removal of tariffs imposed by China on products such as live lobster and paua which are currently around 25 to 35 percent. We do not really have to think very far forward to see the immediate impact that this removal will have on Maori business and Maori exporters and certainly for the long term as tribes get their assets and organise their governance arrangements. 
There is a big challenge of course. Treaty settlements were one part of this equation and we all thought that was hard; actually the harder part is coming now. We are on to the harder part now: nurturing those assets growing them creating wealth and making sure we have access to world markets. The market in China is the biggest one could want to be in—the absolute biggest. Maori exporters are already going up into China; they have been for at least the last 5 years in a small way but that is growing. As I say there is no doubt whatsoever that free trade is the hallmark for growing Maori potential in the business and export sector going forward.