Barry Soper: Senior Political Correspondent on FTA deal with Gulf nations and Takuta Ferris in trouble again

A free-trade agreement has been struck with the six Gulf nations, after an almost two-decade effort by successive kiwi governments.

Senior political correspondent Barry Soper tells Heather du Plessis-Allan New Zealand should look forward to this deal with great enthusiasm.

Meanwhile, Te Paati Māori is in trouble again as MP Takuta Ferris makes inappropriate remarks before the Justice Select Committee.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Barris, senior political correspondent with Right Now at twelve minutes
away from five. Hey, Barry, good afternoon.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
I just say one of the classic quotes from Donald
Trump today, Oh Lord, no, no to me. It gives
you an indication of what may come if he loses.
He said, we want a landslide too big to rig.
Ask yourself what that means.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
That is what I was just talking to Dan Mitchinson
about this. It's the stop the steel movement, right, Anything
that's tight he is going to contest and claim that
it's been stolen off him.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
He's already doing that.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
He's setting the scene for Barry. How good is that
FTA with the GCC.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Well, it's excellent. Actually, I remember not that long ago
we were talking about the trade deal with the UAE
and that sounded okay, and I said, well, it's really
small beer compared to the Gulf States.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Yeah, that's what we've.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Been after now they say for eighteen years. I remember
being there originally with John Key. We went to Saudi
Arabia and places like this. Well that it encompasses Saudi Arabia,
the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain. So
it's massive. This is very big. A two way trade

(01:12):
at the moment is only three billion dollars, but this
is a very wealthy part of the world and it's
one of the biggest halal parts of the world when
it comes to sheep meet and you know, certainly we
should be looking forward to this with great enthusiasm because
it is big deal. And even though Tod Mclair's getting

(01:36):
all the accolades today, the renegotiation was started in twenty
twenty two, so and that's officials really that they started
started it up again because I remember at the way
back at the time when they originally talked about it,
they were essentially telling us that the ink only had

(01:57):
to dry on the contract and they were about to
say it never came off. And you remember that was
because of live sheep exports. Well, apparently during the negotiations
this time they won't even mention which is.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Only the third FTA that the GCC has signed yep.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
So incredible, Yeah, they're not, yes, exactly, it is incredible.
And for a country like New Zealand that is rich
in food and particularly sheep.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
Having said that, they don't really use a lot of tariffs,
so there's probably not that much of a desire to
get fta's with them, right.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
No, they don't. The tariffs are small, but look the
five year phase on most of the tariffs under this agreement,
the tariffs are going from five percent, as you say,
very small to zero. And if you look at like
sheep meat at the moment, the trade is not enormous,
but basically there's two hundred and forty five million dollars

(02:53):
that's the red meat exports to this part of the world.
The tariff costs on those are seven and a half
a million, even seven and a half million. That means
a lot to a farmer out there. And if they
can increase that trade, I think it's great news for him.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Okay, what's Takuza Ferris done?

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Oh? This man? You'd have to ask yourself, wouldn't you?
That Ferris had been questioning Muriel Newman, and some people
may remember her being a former ACTI MP. She was
the founder for the New Zealand Center of Political Research
and the Think Tanks associate director Frank Newman. They were

(03:31):
in front of the Justice Select Committee and it was
being cheered by what would have to be a political
newbie is James Mego and he's from Rangatata, but he
seemed to take what was a foul comment in his stride.
Here's mego just after he cut Ferris's questioning.

Speaker 3 (03:53):
We will be winding the sun now we are looking
over time. So thank you consumement for your submission, Toss.
We'll move on to our submission apples on more society,
alter it or thank you first comments mister Ferris.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
And what he called him was an iffing racist. And
this man does this sort of thing. He's to me,
he's when you look at him with the Moldy Party.
Is Labor going to embrace this because if they win
the election, then the Maldi Party will be part of
the mix. And you've got people like this. He's already
before the Privileges Committee for misleading the House and he

(04:33):
most certainly did. And actors wanting to put him back there. Sorry,
they've written to the Speaker.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
I suspect Labour's going to have to rule them out
in order to get across the line themselves. Barry, thank
you very much, Barry Soper, Senior Political Correspondences, and we'll
rap the political week that was a I'm just after
six o'clock back quarter past six For more from Hither
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