Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Labour had no other direction to go on the India FTA

What a surprise, Labour has agreed to support the India free trade agreement - although it wasn’t really a surprise when it was announced today.

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?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Heather du for Seel.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
What a surprise Labor has agreed to support the India
Free Trade Agreement. It was not a surprise when it
was announced today. I told you last week it would
happen this week and that they would give it the
green light because there was really no other way for
labor to go. If Labour said no and stop that
free trade agreement, they would be accused of blocking New
Zealand businesses like the apple growers from making money that
is basically there for the taking. I think Labor just

(00:23):
dragged this out for politics. I mean, saying yes straight
out would have been acknowledging that they like what Todd
maclay and National have done. Dragging it out looking like
they're agonizing over the decision, pretending that they've improved it
by getting National to hire fourteen more inspectors to focus
on migrant worker exploitation is just done to give the
impression that the deal really isn't as good as we

(00:45):
all might think it is, while still actually saying yes
so that businesses still get the benefits of this free
trade deal, which, let me remind you, is actually an
incredible accomplishment when you think about it. Remember where Chris
Luxon said at the twenty twenty three election that he
wanted this thing signed in his first term. He was
po poed for dreaming, ambitious, yes, likely no, And yet

(01:05):
Todd McLay, the Trade Minister who just keeps on knocking
it out of the park with the Gulf State's FTA
and the United Arab Emirates FDA, knocked it out of
the park again, even more so than before, because this
is India, this is a massive market and we just
got in. And by the way, who do you think
was more painful for McLay to negotiate with the Indians

(01:26):
or labor.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive. Listen live to
news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio