April 14, 2026 • 6 mins
The PM ponders the Indian FTA, whether the $3.2 billion Fonterra capital return injection into the economy will “touch the sides”, and whether he needs help when it comes to his own communication with the media.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wednesdays on the country, the Prime Minister gives us sum
of his valuable time. We've got a smallgas sport of
stuff to talk about today. I might start with the
Indian Free Trade Agreements. There is a back the Indian
Deal campaign out there. It's up to fifty five signatories.
But Winston and Shane are not for turning. As Maggie
Thatcher used to say, Prime Minister Christopher Luxen.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, well they're just playing wrong. I mean they were
wrong opposing the China FTA, which has created a huge
value for our agriculture sector. They're wrong opposing this and
there's no better way to say it. I just disagree completely.
I think completely completely wrong about it. In times of
crisis like we're experiencing, this is an enormous opportunity for
New Zealanders and for all kiwis trade supports one and
(00:42):
four of our jobs. It opened up one and a
half billion consumers. It's the third biggest economy in the world,
so this is a high quality ilk deliver thousands of
jobs and billions of dollars in new exports. And I
tell you, when we talk about this in five, ten, fifteen,
twenty years time, we have no regrets about it.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Absolutely agree on that one. Hey, what have you been
I'm doing a deal like Trump behind the scenes with
Chippy because he's kind of silence of the Lambs at
the moment. No Indian free trade Lamb pun intended there,
but he's stuck between a rock and hard place. He
literally has to support this.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah. Well, we've been continuing to engage with Labor. We've
exchanged several letters, We've made ministers and officials available to
deal with any concerns or issues they have about it.
My points are pretty simple. One. You know, trade shouldn't
be political. Trade has always been bipartisan. It's a New
Zealand thing, not a political thing. You know. You remember,
you know we've actually supported i think all free trade
agreements Labor and National that have ever been done. The
(01:36):
Greens and supports CPTPP when Labor was in government, but
National did not position and that's how it got passed.
So you know, from my point of view, trade is bipartisan.
It never has been a political thing and it shouldn't be.
So the bottom line is, you know, yesterday, Jamie I
was up in North Canterbury, right and it was a
good day for Fonterra farmers. But you know, I was
just thinking about the you know, we had ninety percent
(01:57):
of the land market in India. We have eight percent
today because the Australian has got a free trade deal
and we didn't. And that's a huge loss of opportunity
for New Zealand exports when you need more options than
you've ever needed before, given the problems we've got out
there in the world. You know ki we Fore, Apple's wine, Manuka, honey, seafood,
all of that stuff is really positive for New Zealand.
And I would have thought if you're supporting regional New Zealand,
(02:19):
New Zealand First, or labor and you want jobs in
the regions and you want to be able to support
industries that you're passionate about, you'd get them behind it.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yep, it's a no brainer. Five point four billion Fonterra
is injecting into the New Zealand economy this week. Three
point two billion of that is the capital return one
percent of GDP or all lift GDP by one percent.
But will that touch the sides during these troubled times.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Look, it's going to be really important in the sense
of how it will impact regional economies. So it's not
just the money going to the farm as it's what
that money will do in that local economy in terms
of the spending and the flow on effects to create
jobs and grow as economies. And so we know that
our provincial and our rural e comonomies have been doing
really well. Think about South and think about you know, Canterbury,
(03:06):
think about parts of Hawks Bay off the back of
the export boom that we've had, and you know, this
will just continue to power those regional economies. So it's
really important and it's a really good thing.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Do you know Richard Allen, Yes, I do.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
I met him. Actually he's I think he's going to
be a great CEO. Actually he's got the right background.
He's a Kiwi, he's been overseas, he understands the global
markets well. He spent time in the US where Fonterra
has had a big ingredients business and other things. So
I think that's a really good appointment. I think Peter
McBride and Miles Harrell have done a great job, and
I think that's done a great job actually organizing and
(03:40):
planning for the succession. I think, you know, I look
at these things how companies, change CEOs and leaders and
about this and I really thought forward in a really
intelligent way.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
You know, Taine Randall, I don't really know Dad. You
weren't on the phone to him encouraging the stand for
you in Tokey Turkey. Mindey, you've got a good local
MP there, Catherine Whill.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I'm telling you Catherine Weird is outstanding, as is Katie Nyman,
and those two are a powerhouse in that region. They
are phenomenal. I mean, Catherine's come out of that growing industry.
She knows the growers, she knows horticulture incredibly well. She's
been really important on our in education, she's been the
one that's also been pushing and parents love it, you know,
the social media band for under sixteen. So she's been
(04:24):
an outstanding contributor for our team and she's awesome. So
you know he'll be up against it because you know,
she is an outstanding, outstanding talent and she's done the work,
and she's done the work, and she's from the community.
She advocates that community and she understands it well, and
she's super smart and super hard working.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
You obviously know Katie Milne. She's going to be a
good candidate for you on the West Coast or West
Coast Tasman to get it right.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Absolutely, She's someone I knew before I came to politics,
and I was really impressed with her communication skills when
she was at the FEDS. I thought she had an
exceptionally job in a very difficult time if you remember,
and awesome. I mean, we're able to attract amazing talent
like her who'll bring something to this place, into Parliament
and to government. And so you know, with that experience,
with that background, she understands agriculture deeply, strategically as well
(05:13):
as all the other myriad of issues that happen each day.
She gets it. So she's going to be outstanding.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Talking about communication skills. Final question for you, how are
yours going under Rachel Smally?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Well, Rachel's joined our press secretary team. So we have
press secreties here in Wellington and we wanted one in
Auckland and she she's Auckland based. She's done Wellington as
well from time to time. But it's really designed the
fact that we've got a number of senior ministers up there,
we've got a lot of Auckland MP's as well, and
she's excellent. I mean again, she's comes from a very
rounded background and she'll be excellent and part of our Constein.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
See I reckon, I could have done the job for nothing.
Just give me Christopher Luxe and at field days the
bloke I see wandering around at field days compared to
Christopher Luxen, a bloke I see like apossum and headlights
on the six PM news. Just give me the former version.
I won't charge you hardly anything for that advice.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Look, but look, I get lots of advice every day, Jamie,
and you can add that list as you wish, So
that's perfectly fine. But isn't it good for agriculture? Despite
all troubled times, we're doing well in the world, so
it's good stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Well, good luck getting that in indian FTA across the line,
Christopher Luxeon, do appreciate your time here weekly on the country.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
No worries, Take care, Jamie. Have you been
Wednesdays on the country, the Prime Minister gives us sum
of his valuable time. We've got a smallgas sport of
stuff to talk about today. I might start with the
Indian Free Trade Agreements. There is a back the Indian
Deal campaign out there. It's up to fifty five signatories.
But Winston and Shane are not for turning. As Maggie
Thatcher used to say, Prime Minister Christopher Luxen.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, well they're just playing wrong. I mean they were
wrong opposing the China FTA, which has created a huge
value for our agriculture sector. They're wrong opposing this and
there's no better way to say it. I just disagree completely.
I think completely completely wrong about it. In times of
crisis like we're experiencing, this is an enormous opportunity for
New Zealanders and for all kiwis trade supports one and
(00:42):
four of our jobs. It opened up one and a
half billion consumers. It's the third biggest economy in the world,
so this is a high quality ilk deliver thousands of
jobs and billions of dollars in new exports. And I
tell you, when we talk about this in five, ten, fifteen,
twenty years time, we have no regrets about it.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Absolutely agree on that one. Hey, what have you been
I'm doing a deal like Trump behind the scenes with
Chippy because he's kind of silence of the Lambs at
the moment. No Indian free trade Lamb pun intended there,
but he's stuck between a rock and hard place. He
literally has to support this.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah. Well, we've been continuing to engage with Labor. We've
exchanged several letters, We've made ministers and officials available to
deal with any concerns or issues they have about it.
My points are pretty simple. One. You know, trade shouldn't
be political. Trade has always been bipartisan. It's a New
Zealand thing, not a political thing. You know. You remember,
you know we've actually supported i think all free trade
agreements Labor and National that have ever been done. The
(01:36):
Greens and supports CPTPP when Labor was in government, but
National did not position and that's how it got passed.
So you know, from my point of view, trade is bipartisan.
It never has been a political thing and it shouldn't be.
So the bottom line is, you know, yesterday, Jamie I
was up in North Canterbury, right and it was a
good day for Fonterra farmers. But you know, I was
just thinking about the you know, we had ninety percent
(01:57):
of the land market in India. We have eight percent
today because the Australian has got a free trade deal
and we didn't. And that's a huge loss of opportunity
for New Zealand exports when you need more options than
you've ever needed before, given the problems we've got out
there in the world. You know ki we Fore, Apple's wine, Manuka, honey, seafood,
all of that stuff is really positive for New Zealand.
And I would have thought if you're supporting regional New Zealand,
(02:19):
New Zealand First, or labor and you want jobs in
the regions and you want to be able to support
industries that you're passionate about, you'd get them behind it.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yep, it's a no brainer. Five point four billion Fonterra
is injecting into the New Zealand economy this week. Three
point two billion of that is the capital return one
percent of GDP or all lift GDP by one percent.
But will that touch the sides during these troubled times.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Look, it's going to be really important in the sense
of how it will impact regional economies. So it's not
just the money going to the farm as it's what
that money will do in that local economy in terms
of the spending and the flow on effects to create
jobs and grow as economies. And so we know that
our provincial and our rural e comonomies have been doing
really well. Think about South and think about you know, Canterbury,
(03:06):
think about parts of Hawks Bay off the back of
the export boom that we've had, and you know, this
will just continue to power those regional economies. So it's
really important and it's a really good thing.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Do you know Richard Allen, Yes, I do.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
I met him. Actually he's I think he's going to
be a great CEO. Actually he's got the right background.
He's a Kiwi, he's been overseas, he understands the global
markets well. He spent time in the US where Fonterra
has had a big ingredients business and other things. So
I think that's a really good appointment. I think Peter
McBride and Miles Harrell have done a great job, and
I think that's done a great job actually organizing and
(03:40):
planning for the succession. I think, you know, I look
at these things how companies, change CEOs and leaders and
about this and I really thought forward in a really
intelligent way.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
You know, Taine Randall, I don't really know Dad. You
weren't on the phone to him encouraging the stand for
you in Tokey Turkey. Mindey, you've got a good local
MP there, Catherine Whill.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I'm telling you Catherine Weird is outstanding, as is Katie Nyman,
and those two are a powerhouse in that region. They
are phenomenal. I mean, Catherine's come out of that growing industry.
She knows the growers, she knows horticulture incredibly well. She's
been really important on our in education, she's been the
one that's also been pushing and parents love it, you know,
the social media band for under sixteen. So she's been
(04:24):
an outstanding contributor for our team and she's awesome. So
you know he'll be up against it because you know,
she is an outstanding, outstanding talent and she's done the work,
and she's done the work, and she's from the community.
She advocates that community and she understands it well, and
she's super smart and super hard working.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
You obviously know Katie Milne. She's going to be a
good candidate for you on the West Coast or West
Coast Tasman to get it right.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Absolutely, She's someone I knew before I came to politics,
and I was really impressed with her communication skills when
she was at the FEDS. I thought she had an
exceptionally job in a very difficult time if you remember,
and awesome. I mean, we're able to attract amazing talent
like her who'll bring something to this place, into Parliament
and to government. And so you know, with that experience,
with that background, she understands agriculture deeply, strategically as well
(05:13):
as all the other myriad of issues that happen each day.
She gets it. So she's going to be outstanding.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Talking about communication skills. Final question for you, how are
yours going under Rachel Smally?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Well, Rachel's joined our press secretary team. So we have
press secreties here in Wellington and we wanted one in
Auckland and she she's Auckland based. She's done Wellington as
well from time to time. But it's really designed the
fact that we've got a number of senior ministers up there,
we've got a lot of Auckland MP's as well, and
she's excellent. I mean again, she's comes from a very
rounded background and she'll be excellent and part of our Constein.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
See I reckon, I could have done the job for nothing.
Just give me Christopher Luxe and at field days the
bloke I see wandering around at field days compared to
Christopher Luxen, a bloke I see like apossum and headlights
on the six PM news. Just give me the former version.
I won't charge you hardly anything for that advice.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Look, but look, I get lots of advice every day, Jamie,
and you can add that list as you wish, So
that's perfectly fine. But isn't it good for agriculture? Despite
all troubled times, we're doing well in the world, so
it's good stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Well, good luck getting that in indian FTA across the line,
Christopher Luxeon, do appreciate your time here weekly on the country.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
No worries, Take care, Jamie. Have you been
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