Parliamentary Report NEW ZEALAND NZ-China free trade agreement
On 24 July Hon. Annette King,Acting Minister of Trade, moved the third readings of the Tariff Amendment Bill, the Customs and Excise Amend- ment Bill (No. 4), the Radio Communications Amendment Bill (No. 5), the Fair Trading Amendment Bill (No. 2), and the Electricity Amendment Bill (No. 3)—Bills divided from the New Zealand – China Free Trade Agreement Bill. Mrs King explained that the Bills amended New Zealand’s domestic legislation to enable the free-trade agreement between the government of New Zealand and the People’s Republic of China to come into force.“Securing this com- prehensive free-trade agree- ment was a major achieve- ment for New Zealand and this Labour-led government. It took more than three
years and 15 rounds of negoti- ations to reach the deal. The agreement liberalizes and facil- itates trade in goods and serv- ices and in investment, removes barriers to trade, and promotes cooperation in a broad range of economic areas between New Zealand and China, our third-largest individual trading partner…New Zealand is the first developed country to seize the opportunity of nego- tiating and concluding an agreement with China. Being first will give New Zealand, for a time, a unique competitive advantage.” Mr Tim Groser (National)
saw the key to halting the “leaching” of New Zealan- ders—especially the young— overseas, as improving the functioning of the economy: “Central to that process is the promotion of a greater export orientation of New Zealand…this agreement is fundamentally important for New Zealand simply because of the scale of the issue; it is
about gaining access literally to a quarter of mankind.” The Bills were passed by a
Rt Hon.Winston Peters
PRIVILEGE—CONSIDERATION OF REPORT—MEMBERS’ PECUNIARY INTERESTS On 23 September the House debated the report of the Privileges Committee, which found Rt Hon. Winston Peters to be in contempt of Parliament, and recommended that he be censured for failing to declare as a pecuniary interest a donation from a businessman towards court costs for an electoral petition Mr Peters pursued in 2005, and that he file amended returns from the last three years.
vote of 104 to 17, with New Zealand First, the Green Party, and the Maori Party voting against them.
URGENT DEBATE—REPORT ON MINISTERIAL INQUIRY On 22 July an urgent debate was held on a report of a min- isterial inquiry into the Police, Department of Corrections, and the courts over the man- agement of a man who had been disqualified from driving, and was released on parole under the police witness pro- tection programme. The next time the offender was caught on a drink-driving offence, he used his fresh identity, sup- plied by the police under that programme, and four weeks after his latest court appear- ance he killed a woman through dangerous driving while under the influence of alcohol.
The minister of justice, Mrs
King, said: “Fundamental changes have been made to the management of offenders on the witness protection programme who are on parole, and I am assured by Department of Corrections and the police that the inquiry’s recommendations to prevent any further tragedies of this nature will be fully implemented.”
366 The Parliamentarian 2008/Issue Four There was considerable
debate, both in the committee and in the House, about—in the words of Hon. Dr Michael Cullen, Deputy Prime Minister, speaking against the report—“whether Mr Peters knew about the…donation…if he did not, should he in any case have found out about it”, and “whether he should have declared that donation on the pecuniary interests register”.” Hon. Peter Dunne (Unit- ed Future) outlined his party’s
Hon. Peter Dunne
premeditated, orchestrated, and relentless, in the hope of bringing him, his party, and the government down”.
The motion to adopt the
report’s recommendations was passed by 62 votes to 56, with Labour and New Zealand First opposing it, and Progres- sive abstaining.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT MANAGEMENT BILL The Public Transport Manage- ment Bill arose primarily to address the issue of public transport in Auckland. The importance of fuel economy was also a factor. In the third reading debate the Minister of Transport, Mrs King, said that the Bill “enables regional coun- cils to require improvements to New Zealand’s public trans- port system”, and “provides a mechanism enabling regional councils to require that some or all public transport services be provided under contract”. On 10 September the Bill was passed by 61 votes to 59. The third reading followed an extensive Committee stage, in which over 100 party votes were taken on amendments put forward by National, the Greens, and New Zealand First respectively.
support for the recommenda- tions:“We do so not with any great deal of alacrity, but with a heavy heart and a wish that the lessons of this case will be learnt and not repeated in the future”, but Rt Hon. Winston Peters complained about “an attack on an MP and his party,
National Members main- tained that they agreed with the original intent of the Bill, but that this had been altered at select
committee.The main point of contention between the government and opposi- tion was the degree of power that should be given to region- al councils over contracted public transport services. It was also questioned whether the legislation was even neces- sary, given current standards of public transport.
POLICING BILL The Policing Bill repeals and replaces the Police Act 1958. Mrs King, said in the third
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