Dunne Speaks - I agree with Labour on the TPP
11 February 2016
I agree with the Labour Party on the TPP.
Well, some of what it is saying anyway. Actually, to be more accurate, some of what Andrew Little is saying, because
everyone else in his Caucus seems to be trying to cover all sides of the argument, all of the time.
No, I agree with Andrew Little when he says it would be crazy for New Zealand to pull out of the TPP once it takes
effect. He is absolutely right.
Over the summer period, I took the opportunity to listen quietly to what real New Zealanders, not the vocal protestors,
were saying. Their message is mixed. They hear the government’s story about the trade opportunities arising from the
TPP, and while, on balance, they are a little sceptical, they tend to see that as positive. They do worry about
sovereignty issues, but note that every agreement we have signed up to, including membership of the United Nations under
Peter Fraser and the World Health Organisation, has involved sovereignty issues, and there has never been a problem. In
any case, they tend to accept the view that New Zealand will make its own mind up if any clashes arise.
Some have seen it as ironic that when it came to issues like sending troops to Iraq, New Zealand did not do so, because
there was no United Nations mandate in place, and we believed in collective action, and the Labour government of the
time was insisting – correctly in my view – on there being such a mandate as a condition of its participation. Others
have wanted to know how come it was acceptable for New Zealand to take Australia to the World Trade Organisation over
its restrictions on our apple exports, but not acceptable for similar provisions to apply here.
A lot of scorn has been heaped upon academics like Jane Kelsey for their role in the debate. Part of that seems to me to
be the narrow anti-intellectual bias of some New Zealanders, which is a pity, but I did hear one comment to the effect
that never has someone said so much, for so little impact! (It is fun what one hears when sitting quietly in a café.)
People quite like Andrew Little’s line that we are a country built on free trade. They snigger a bit though at the
verbal gymnastics that have seen him go through saying that on the one hand, while saying he opposes TPP on the other,
but would not stop it if he won office.
But the common point all the discussions I have heard seemed to end up on was what happens if the TPP proceeds, and New
Zealand is not part of it. How does that help our exporters, and what will it do to the cost of imports? The xeonophobes
– who certainly do not like the TPP – splutter that not being part of it might make even us more reliant on China.
To me, it all sounds a little like the 1980s restructuring. No-one at the time particularly liked it, but most people
knew in their heart of hearts that it had to happen. The then Labour government got grudging support for staying the
course. Only when it flip-flopped, did it lose public goodwill. That is the lesson for the current government on the
TPP. Stay the course, capitalise on the hard yards already made, and lock in the benefits. After all, as Andrew Little
has made very clear, the TPP is here to stay.
ends