Street Maryan: Tariff (AANZFTA) Amendment Bill Customs and Excise (AANZFTA) Amendment Bill — Third Readings 
Street Maryan: Tariff (AANZFTA) Amendment Bill Customs and Excise (AANZFTA) Amendment Bill — Third Readings 
[Volume:655;Page:4910] 
Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour) 
: 
 It is with great pleasure that I rise to speak again in the debate on the ASEAN-Australian-New Zealand Free-Trade Agreement—this time for its third reading. This is an important moment. In the third reading I will simply recap four essential points that I and my colleagues have already traversed in the course of the first and second readings of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Bill which has been divided into the Tariff (AANZFTA) Amendment Bill and the Customs and Excise (AANZFTA) Amendment Bill. 
First I reiterate the opportunities that this free-trade agreement confers on and provides for the New Zealand economy. As was noted already the ASEAN free-trade area includes markets of some 566 million people. It is a 12-country agreement. If we take out our chief trading partner Australia and concentrate on the 10 ASEAN nations we see that we have an extraordinarily large market for which we can produce goods. 
It is important to note in this third reading that sometimes there have been difficulties presented with free-trade agreements and I will traverse two of those difficulties very shortly. I just say that the pedigree of this agreement reaches back to the time of Jim Sutton and to him all credit is due. It proceeded from him into the care of Phil Goff and to him all credit is due. It was finally signed and delivered into this House by the Hon Tim Groser and to him all credit is due. This free-trade agreement has been a long time in the making and it has been worth waiting for. It allows our export producers in New Zealand access on favourable terms to markets of enormous size. Even when the global economy is faring badly there is still room in these ASEAN markets for growth in New Zealand’s exports. Even a small percentage increase in growth for New Zealand exporters can be relatively easily achieved over time through this agreement. 
The second point I make is that some of the obvious benefits of this agreement come from its scope. It covers goods services and investment and on that basis it provides enormous scope for exporters and not just commodity exporters but service providers and exporters as well. As far as goods are concerned clearly New Zealand will benefit from the elimination of tariffs—within 12 years—on 99 percent of New Zealand’s current exports to the four largest markets in the ASEAN grouping. Those markets are Indonesia Malaysia the Philippines and Viet Nam. On full implementation this agreement will equate to a saving for our exporters of some $50 million even if exports to those markets were to remain static—in other words on current export numbers. A saving of $50 million is something that our exporters particularly our food production exporters but others besides are looking forward to. For example by 2010—and that is very quick in the process—tariffs will be eliminated on dairy products exported to the Philippines. As far as meat and wool are concerned tariffs on New Zealand’s key beef exports to the Philippines will be eliminated by 2012 and to Indonesia by 2020. Over the 12-year period that sees those tariff eliminations rolled out—country by country and year by year—exporters will see improved savings for their industries and their operations. That is very significant. 
The effect of the agreement on services will also provide some critical outcomes for New Zealand. The number of services that are included in this free-trade agreement is quite remarkable: not only do we have business services the usual things that one might expect such as legal services accounting services and so on but also we have communication services construction and related engineering services educational services environmental services health-related and social services tourism and travel-related services and so on—there are more besides. That list although not exhaustive indicates the breadth of this piece of trade architecture. 
The third thing that is important in the scope of this agreement is the investment outcome for New Zealand investors. Essentially this free-trade agreement provides additional protections for New Zealand investors in the ASEAN countries. Those protections include protections from arbitrary expropriation and compensation for losses owing to armed conflict civil strife and so on. Those protections are of comfort to New Zealand investors. 
There are two other points that I want to make. My first point went to the opportunities that this free-trade agreement provides. My second point went to the scope of this agreement. My third point relates to something that I talked about in some detail in the second reading and that was that some concern has been expressed by critics of free-trade agreements about arrangements with Burma. I reiterate that the level of trade that New Zealand has currently with Burma is minimal and none of it is in any way an obstruction to the registering of our profound concern about and condemnation of the regime in that country. We are obliged by other regulations to recognise Burma as one of the world’s least-developed countries. It has that status and therefore automatic access in some respects particularly with regard to quota protection to New Zealand. However that relationship remains fraught for us and our ability to be critical of that regime is not interfered with by this free-trade agreement. 
My final point—and it is one that I think one of my colleagues will pick up on later as well—is the preparedness of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise to invest in ASEAN markets to facilitate the reach of New Zealand export companies and export industries into those markets in order to maximise the opportunities that this free-trade agreement provides. We heard this morning at the Commerce Committee the Minister responsible for Vote New Zealand Trade and Enterprise say that there was not any reduction in the offshore capability of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. The point remains however that if we are to maximise the possibilities New Zealand Trade and Enterprise needs to have a plan for increasing its capability in the ASEAN markets.