5 July, 2004
Helen, please don't buy Thai PM's dirty deal
The Green Party is warning that Thailand's already ultra-rich "business" leaders will be the only ones to benefit from a
free trade agreement with New Zealand.
"Fresh from his failure to buy into Liverpool Football Club using state lottery money, billionaire Thai PM Thaksin
Shinawatra meets Helen Clark tomorrow to push for another bad deal for his country - and ours,'' said Green Party
Co-Leader Rod Donald.
"Helen Clark has to ask the Thai PM exactly who will benefit from his 'deal'.
"It certainly won't be the thousands of New Zealanders still earning a living from the clothing and manufacturing
sectors. Nor will New Zealand's economy benefit, as our rapidly growing trade deficit with Thailand, which hit $240
million last year, continues to deteriorate.
"A new influx of 'made-in-Thailand' goods will cost New Zealand jobs, businesses and revenue. How can New Zealanders
compete when Thai sweatshop owners are allowed to get away with paying their workers - including at least half a million
children - 77 cents an hour? Even kiwi consumers will eventually pay a high price for cheaper socks and shirts, as
quality New Zealand-made goods disappear from the shelves.
"The Thai people lose out because such agreements reinforce medieval employment practises which do not recognise
international labour, justice or environment regimes. And Thai farmers are already warning that a similar agreement with
Australia has the potential to destroy their dairy industry.
"So, who benefits from this deal? Certainly, the tiny clique that pulls the strings of the Thai industrial-political
complex will make money.
"We don't expect the Thai PM to declare a conflict of interest, but Kiwis should know that his family is one of the
major players in the Thai banking, telecom and media industries, that Mr Thaksin himself personally intervened to
override environmental planning procedures for four huge energy projects and that one of his key political and business
allies also happens to be the head of the giant Thai agribusiness corporation CP - who was implicated in a cover-up of
the fatal chicken 'flu epidemic last year.
"So, we know who the winners are and we know the losers are from a free trade deal with Thailand," said Mr Donald. "What
we don't understand is why a Labour-led Government wants to do business with such a dubious regime."
ENDS