Donald Rod: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Donald Rod: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:607;Page:4538] 
6.  
ROD DONALD (Co-Leader—Green) 
 to the  
Minister for Trade Negotiations 
: Will the Government heed calls by the Green Party and the Council of Trade Unions to publicly disclose its initial offer in the current General Agreement on Trade in Services negotiations? 
Hon JIM SUTTON (Minister for Trade Negotiations) 
: 
 The Government has previously stated it would consider making public its initial General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) offer. We intend to do so. 
Rod Donald 
: Has the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade told the Minister of the concerns of the Forest and Bird Protection Society that measures to restrict the number of tourist operators on conservation areas such as limiting the number of hotels in a sensitive area may breach New Zealand’s GATS commitments under the market access rules and how will he modify our commitments to avoid that possibility? 
Hon JIM SUTTON 
: I have not been told of that particular assertion but it is clearly nonsense because the Government will retain its powers to regulate. 
Tim Barnett 
: Is the Government obligated to respond to all the requests that have been made of New Zealand particularly in areas of sensitivity to us? 
Hon JIM SUTTON 
: The answer is no. The fact that other countries have made requests of us in any given sector does not mean that we are going to offer what they have asked for. As members will see in due course from the initial offer New Zealand is being very cool-headed in deciding what should be put on the table. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: What differences in principle does the Minister see between the Greens’ and trade union opposition to liberalising trade in services and the European Union’s and Japan’s opposition to liberalising trade in agriculture a position that costs New Zealand and the world hundreds of billions of dollars a year? 
Hon JIM SUTTON 
: I note that most of the Greens’ complaints about trade in services are taken directly off the Internet from European websites. The trade union movement in New Zealand on the other hand has been faithfully reflecting its members’ concerns and has been a very constructive interlocutor on this matter. 
Hon Brian Donnelly 
: Will the Minister give this House a cast-ironguarantee that his Government’s signing of GATS will not have any deleterious effect upon public education in New Zealand? 
Hon JIM SUTTON 
: The currency of cast iron deteriorated considerably during the coalition Government of which that member’s party was a part. I can however give the House an assurance of the nature he seeks. 
Rod Donald 
: Is the Minister aware of the views of the New Zealand Vice-Chancellors Committee that GATS will be of no benefit to them as education exporters and that it may enable foreign education bodies to apply for funds currently available only to the domestic research funding pool thus threatening public research funding; and what is his response to these concerns? 
Hon JIM SUTTON 
: It would be news to me that the Vice-Chancellors Committee is not capable of speaking for itself. But if that is really its view obviously it has got hold of the wrong end of the stick. New Zealand education exports are one of the most successful parts of our external economy and going from strength to strength. The vice-chancellors would be aware of how much their universities have benefited from the opportunities to trade internationally. 
Rod Donald 
: Why are we rushing into making a GATS offer when the gains for our largest service export sector tourism are virtually nil and does the Minister concede that GATS will in fact only make it easier for foreign firms to buy up New Zealand – owned tourist ventures further increasing foreign ownership of the New Zealand economy? 
Hon JIM SUTTON 
: I do not concede any of that. The GATS makes New Zealand’s access to service sector markets around the world more secure and more reliable. It is entirely good for New Zealand. 
Rod Donald 
: I seek leave to table three documents. The first is the submission from the New Zealand Vice-Chancellors Committee. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Rod Donald 
: The second is the  
Dominion Post  
article in which Helen Clark expressed a dim view of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s performance on consultations. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that newspaper article. Is there any objection? There is. 
Rod Donald 
: The third is the letter from the Christchurch City Council refuting the claims made. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.