Tariff Amendment Bill
te-pati-maori
Thu Jun 24 2010 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Tariff Amendment Bill
Thursday, 24 June 2010, 10:09 am
Press Release: The Maori Party
Tariff (New Zealand-Hong Kong, China Closer Economic Partnership Agreement) Amendment Bill
Wednesday 23 June 2010; 11.30pm
Rahui Katene, MP for Te Tai Tonga
This is probably not the best time to be considering a bilateral trade agreement between New Zealand and Hong Kong.
If we were to ask Hong Kong based Natural Dairy (New Zealand) Holdings about their perspectives on the viability of a New Zealand Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership they would probably raise the context of the 100 million dollar deal they were attempting to seal with the bid to purchase the sixteen North Island farms formerly owned by the Crafar family.
The receivers handling the sale of the farms, KordaMentha, had already signed a sale agreement with Natural Dairy, conditional on our Overseas Investment Office approving their application.
And then suddenly, out of the blue, Landcorp Chairman Jim Sutton suggests they might put in a tender, because of the reputational risks to the New Zealand Dairy Industry and New Zealand Inc. He referred also to concerns in the wider community about the sale.
The Maori Party, ourselves, has raised the particular concerns around one of the Crafar farms which is part of the Maraeroa A and B blocks, over which Ngāti Rereahu has a settlement interest.
The sixteen farms are located in the Waikato, King Country, Bay of Plenty, Whanganui, Taranaki and Rangitikei and there may well be other iwi with significant issues yet to be settled who are watching the events unfold with great interest.
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The next turn of events for the Hong Kong based company was that Agriculture Minister, David Carter, stepped into the ring saying that a sale to that company was unlikely to go through. The Prime Minister publically censured his free-thinking Minister, but the damage had been done.
I remind the House this is about a company which has already signed a conditional purchase contract for the farms.
Is it no wonder that Natural Dairy New Zealand Holdings, now says Landcorp’s interest looks like the result of political interference?
Mr Speaker, I thought that the Crafar farms context is a very relevant setting in which to consider the environment for a free trade agreement with Hong Kong.
It underlines the range of issues that the Government must consider when we look at the prospect of trade with overseas jurisdictions.
The Hong Kong based company, Natural Dairy New Zealand Holdings, is also implicated in the separate purchase of farms in February this year, at Norsewood in southern Hawke's Bay; Waitotara in south Taranaki, and the Manawatu.
That purchase, is now under investigation by the Overseas Investment Office to question whether the required consents were in place.
This action led Company Director, Mary Wang to retort:
"The plain fact is if New Zealand does not welcome the investment it is inevitable the company will take its $1.5 billion to another dairying nation that does want it".
Mr Speaker, none of this is the greatest PR for this Tariffs Bill we are debating today.
But it does provide us with an opportunity to address some of the long-standing concerns that the Maori Party has raised in the past about the nature of Free Trade Agreements in general.
We have raised concerns that while Free Trade Agreements are established to protect investors and their investments, they have the potential to threaten our own domestic programme, in raising concerns for Treaty settlements between Maori and the Crown.
In the case of the sixteen farms formerly owned by the Crafar family, it should be noted that they employed nearly 200 staff on 8000ha.
Our concerns, then with free trade agreements is to always consider how such relationships impact on the long-term prosperity of workers here in our land. We would hope that if such an arrangement was to take place with a Hong Kong Company, following the passing of this Bill, that the local mana whenua would be approached with a view to working together, collaboratively, on employment opportunities that might arise.
But if the Crafar farms issue has raised some concerns around this agreement, I want to also bring to the House the very real value that Maori businesses have talked to us about, in having the opportunity to go out and explore international economies.
There has been a growing interest, from Maori businesses and from iwi leaders, to be able to have access to the international market.
And I was interested to read some of the comments from Te Horipo Karaitiana who is Chair of the Awatoru Maori Economic Transformation initiative and a Director of a successful Maori Agribusiness with activities in Aotearoa and offshore.
Te Horipo recently participated in the prestigious FAME programme studying global food value chains and has shared his enthusiasm for working to expand opportunities from the China Closer Economic Partnership Agreement.
If we consider that the majority of the Maori asset base is in the primary industry – seafood, forestry and farming – all have major implications for how we operate in the international arena.
It is Te Horipo’s experience that Maori involved in the primary industry should look upon trade with the Asian economy as an opportunity to participate in the value chain, rather than remaining at the production or farm gate end.
A classic example is that provided by Patrick Watene (Ngāti Tamatera, Hauraki) who is the founder and executive director of Global Horticulture (Xi’an) Limited, which specialises in horticultural consultancy and bare-land orchard development.
Based in China, Globalhort provides expertise in value-adding through an integrated value chain from orchard to market.
It was because of the example provided by the range of Maori businesses already developed in the Asian economy that in this year’s budget, the Minister of Maori Affairs announced investment in developing a ‘Brand Māori’ to gain premium prices for Māori-produced goods exported to niche markets.
There was also investment in a delegation of Māori business leaders heading over to the World Expo in Shanghai in September.
The key purpose of the delegation will be to help Māori businesses enter growth industries, to increase Māori exports, and to increase the profile of Māori tourism experiences to overseas providers and visitors.
This is a really important not just for relationships with China and Hong Kong but for the wider growth of the Maori economy.
Māori economic development is not only important for Māori, it is important for New Zealand’s overall economic performance. Māori can represent a considerable source of future growth; and if so, it is our view that Māori must take a lead role in determining their economic development aspirations and fostering development that worës for them.
Trade is all about building and sustaining relationships.
What Maori businesses have been telling us is that they believe the culture of Te Ao Maori is one which connects and resonates particularly in places like Hong Kong, Shanghai and greater China.
The Maori Party does not want to close the door on their opportunities. While we acknowledge that there are a range of strongly held views that we ourselves have put forward about free trade agreements in generatl, the reality is that Maori are already confidently, enthusiastically conducting business throughout the world.
Maori businesses, and all those who invest in them, also deserve our support to benefit and develop the unique indigenous point of difference they contribute to business activities.
We hope that in supporting this Bill tonight, we encourage the development of a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, a partnership which tangata whenua will also be able to benefit from.
ENDS
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