In the lead upto Waitangi celebrations and the signing of the Trans Pacific Partnership inNew Zealand this week, much is being made of Maori opposition to the TPP due toa lack of consultation and a perceived loss of sovereignty, for New Zealand ingeneral and Maori in particular.  Exporters would also have liked moretransparency and consultation, but we understood that there needed to be someconfidentiality amongst negotiators in order that they got the best deal theycould for New Zealand.

While no countrythat is party to a multilateral trade deal ever gets 100% of what they want,New Zealand tends to do well out of trade deals because our biggest exports(dairy, meat, fishing, forestry, horticulture) also tend to face the largesttariffs.  The reason Maori will do so well out of the TPP is because theyare large owners of these assets.  The Maori ownership of agriculture,forestry and fishing in 2013 was over $10 billion, a close to 30% share. They have 40% of fishing quota, 10% of Kiwifruit, 30% of lamb production, 36%of forestry, 10% of dairy production and the list goes on.

All this isvery good news for the New Zealand economy because Maori do not tend to selltheir assets – they re-invest for future generations.  This will mean inthe future they are our globally competitive New Zealand based multi-nationals(investing here and overseas) that in a small economy a long way from ourmarkets we struggle to build otherwise.  When they get to the size wherethere are investing overseas (and some already are) they too will benefit fromInvestor State Dispute protection in the TPP, which means a foreign governmentmust treat them fairly and not discriminate against them or appropriate theirassets. 

Largerentities are able to execute better in overseas markets (they will have deeperpockets) they can attract and retain better qualified staff, they can payhigher salaries and they can generate more economic activity for localsuppliers.  But in order for this to happen, all our exporters includingMaori owned exporters, need to have a level playing field to compete. 

If New Zealandstood outside the TPP (a market of 800 million well paid consumers) and facedtariffs our competitors were not facing our exporters would struggle tocompete.

People shouldremember that trade is not just about the exchange of goods.  It is aboutthe exchange of ideas, of services, people skills and of people themselves viaincreased tourism and education.  These are all good things and allcontribute to the New Zealand economy, and Maori are important players in allthese areas. 

I like tothink that if we are all trading with each other across a range of cultures andlanguages, then we all start to understand each other better, become moreinvested in each other’s success (e.g. China’s economic growth has becomeimportant to so many countries) then we are less likely to be engaged inconflict and fighting each other.   Many of our exporters are proudof their increasingly multicultural workforces and they feel it is a richer workenvironment as a result.

Opinion by Catherine Beard

Executive Director

ExportNZ

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