I told you last week it would happen this week and Labour would give it the green light because there was really no other way for them to go.
If Labour had said no and blocked the agreement, they would have been accused of stopping New Zealand businesses - like apple growers - from making money that is effectively there for the taking.
I think Labour simply dragged this out for political reasons. Saying yes straight away would have meant acknowledging they liked what Todd McClay and National had done.
Instead, they dragged it out, looked like they were agonising over the decision and pretended they improved the deal by getting National to hire 14 more inspectors to focus on migrant worker exploitation.
All of that was done to give the impression the deal isn’t actually as good as it seems, while still saying yes so businesses can benefit from it.
And let me remind you: this is an incredible accomplishment when you think about it. Remember when Chris Luxon said during the 2023 election that he wanted this deal signed in his first term? He was poo-pooed for dreaming.
Ambitious, yes. Likely, no.
And yet here we are. Todd McClay - a trade minister who keeps knocking it out of the park with the Gulf States FTA and the United Arab Emirates FTA - has done it again. Even more impressively this time because this is India. A huge market and New Zealand has just secured access.
And by the way, who do you think was more painful for McClay to negotiate with - the Indians or Labour?
Heather du Plessis-Allan is a journalist and commentator who hosts Newstalk ZB's Drive show.
2 comments:
How does anyone know if it's a good deal when no-one other than untrustworthy politicians has seen the agreement? We are told it's good, nothing to worry about. But it's still a big dirty secret.
"If it has to be a secret, you shouldn't be doing it".
The benefits of the proposed Indian trade deal have been widely signalled and acknowledged by business groups as being beneficial to the economy. Anon 7.37's comment is typical of the nay-saying, anti-progressive attitude of too many New Zealanders. We are very good at negotiating trade deals. They are not negotiated by politicians but by experienced officials who make their careers out of adding value to our economy. It's their job. Did we hear any moaning about our trade deal with the UK that the British commentators reckon is unfair to them? We need lots more deals like the Indian one. So I suspect Anon 7.37's real problem is with India and Indians, not our politicians. And there's a name for attitudes like that.
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