increase font size
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison have agreed in principle to a free trade deal.
OPINION: Australia and the UK have just concluded a free trade deal.
According to multiple news sources, it includes a substantial revamp of visa requirements to make it easier for professionals and young travellers to work and live in both countries, recognises a raft of qualifications, welcomes investment, especially in green technology and phase out tariffs and quotas.
This is a good result for trade liberalisation, but frankly it should have been us.
Both New Zealand and Australia started their negotiations last June, but Australia seemed to want it more. There has been an urgency from Australia that has been lacking with NZ.
Dan Tehan, Australia's Trade Minister, flew to the UK in April to negotiate with his counterpart face to face to ensure Scott Morrison could conclude this deal off the back of his G7 invitation.
Damien O'Connor arrived in London last week to begin his equivalent face to face meetings. He deserves to feel uncomfortable sitting watching the formal announcement of the Australian deal - it's not good enough.
Now the really tough test goes on O'Connor and (Prime Minister Jacinda) Ardern to match if not better the Australian deal.
Our NZ exporters want no constraints in exporting their goods and services to the UK, accepting that there will probably be a transition period of some sort. Our employers want access to significant numbers of UK skilled people to help the recovery of their businesses from Covid-19. Our businesses want UK investment and global perspectives to help fund their growth. Our young people want to travel to the UK and ensure those OE years are a part of their lived experience.
Bi-lateral trade deals are a moment in time for governments to showcase how much they value strengthening integration between two peoples and nations. They are litmus tests on how they see the future.
In Boris Johnson and Scott Morrison, with their respective 'I love Australia' and 'Global Britain' mantras express a contagious enthusiasm for what is possible. For them, connecting their countries with each other and the world is critical and Australia and UK appear set on coming out of Covid with a 'go get 'em' attitude creating a pervasive domestic momentum.
New Zealand, by contrast, seems locked in perpetual hand wringing and self-flagellation. We are locked up, seemingly without a plan to unlock; closed to migration of any substance, afraid of foreign investment.
At the very time our Trade Minister should be promoting our agricultural sectors sustainability credentials with gusto, this government holds it up to the light, not to celebrate but to find flaws to critique, regulate and tax.
The Government even frames climate change not as an exciting opportunity to embrace innovation and amplify our strengths, but to close down whole sectors, destock and plant trees.
Worse still is the 'life and death' catastrophizing language used to frame it from the very top.
Bringing this 'hunker down' and defensive attitude to a negotiating table is bad for NZ exporters and I fear it will pervade the UK/NZ FTA deal.
The urgency, the enthusiasm, the passion for NZ exporters needs to be front of centre - starting now!
Todd Muller is National's spokesman on trade and export growth.
Talk the language of business when communicating the benefits of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) - that's the message to the Government and its officials from public and international trade law expert Sarah Salmond.
A trade deal with the United Arab Emirates has moved a step close following a meeting between NZ's Trade Minister Todd McClay and UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi.
ANYTHING GOOD for Australia is in the long run good for New Zealand. That’s the reaction of Trade Minister Tim Groser to the news that Australia has signed a free trade agreement with China, and to speculation that their FTA with China is better than NZ’s, especially regarding dairy products.
National Party trade spokesman Todd McClay will become the party’s agriculture spokesperson, National leader Christopher Luxon announced today.
National's agriculture spokesperson says his absolute priority, if his party gets into power, is to get rid of what he calls the 'punitive model' of engagement between government and farmers.
The Neogen World Angus Forum, a major event in global Angus beef industry, is set to return in 2025.
Whatever an animal is raised for, it deserves a good life — and just as importantly, a “good death”.
North Canterbury dairy farmer and recently-elected deputy chair of DairyNZ, Cameron Henderson, is enjoying a huge reduction in irrigation water use after converting a pivot irrigator to drag perforated drip tubes across the ground instead of elevated sprinkler heads.
OPINION: Without doubt, a priority of the Government this year will be to gain traction on the elusive free trade deal with India.
Rugby league legend Tawera Nikau is set to inspire, celebrate and entertain at the East Coast Farming Expo's very popular Property Broker's Evening Muster.
Fonterra has announced $15 million in investments in electrification projects across the North Island over the next 18 months.
OPINION: A keen pair of eyes wandering down the main street of the hub of the Horowhenua, Levin recently came…
OPINION: The demise of Organic Dairy Hub is official.
