Peter Dunne: Winston Peters' savvy

Labour's decision to support the free trade agreement with India should have surprised nobody. It was always going to be the outcome, with the outstanding question being just when Labour would announce its support for the deal. As this column noted in early February, from the outset Labour has been effectively over a barrel on the issue.

David Farrar: Well done Labour

The Herald reports:

Labour is promising to support the Government’s free trade deal with India but is warning exporters could have their market access revoked if New Zealand can’t fulfil a $33 billion investment commitment.

Kerre Woodham: This is Winston doing as Winston does

Ah, Winston. Winston, Winston, Winston. He is the embodiment, as his namesake Winston Churchill famously said of Russia, of a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. The canny campaigner knew exactly what he was doing when agreeing to job share the Deputy Prime Minister role with ACT leader David Seymour during the Coalition Government's startup. He, Winston, would take the first 18 months, positioning himself as a senior statesman and Foreign Minister par excellence. And indeed, he has done a very good job as Foreign Minister.

Bob Edlin: The FTA with India......

The FTA with India: Chippy chides the Govt for not inviting Labour to come dancing much earlier

What’s all this about?

That was the question we mused on, here at PoO, on spotting the headline

David Farrar: The actual impact of India FTA on immigration will be tiny

The India – NZ FTA allows 1,667 three-year temporary employment entry (TEE) visas per annum (capped at a maximum of 5,000 at any point in time).

However 1,466 of those visas are for skilled occupations already on the green list. We already issue 28,000 or so of these a year, including 4,500 a year to Indian nationals. So those 1,466 a year will be zero increase on what we are already doing. It is a floor, but a floor at one third of the level we are already at.

David Farrar: Malpass on the India FTA

Luke Malpass writes:

When Christopher Luxon promised in a TVNZ debate in 2023 that he would get a trade deal within his first term of government, it seemed fantastical. Trade talks with India had more or less been shelved for a decade. …

Matua Kahurangi: Free trade, open borders - The India deal New Zealanders never voted for

Even though I am on annual holidays, I thought it was right to write something on this topic, because in my opinion we really are losing our Kiwi way of life in some ways. If there is one thing New Zealanders should be alert to right now, it is the quiet habit of governments giving too much away in the name of “progress”, while ordinary people are left to deal with the consequences.

That is why New Zealand First is right to be deeply sceptical about the so called free trade deal with India. Not because trade is bad in principle, but because this deal looks neither free nor fair, and it once again treats immigration concessions as a bargaining chip rather than a national interest issue.