That means whether it passes or not is now in the hands of the Opposition.<\/p>\n
He said he briefed Labour leader Chris Hipkins and trade spokesman Damien O\u2019Connor about the deal before it was announced.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a high-quality agreement, it is very similar to ones that they put through. I\u2019d be surprised if they didn\u2019t support it, but it will be for them to decide where they want to put their vote.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trade Minister Todd McClay meets with his Indian counterpart Piyush Goyal in India. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
O\u2019Connor had previously told RNZ the agreement was a \u201cgood step forward\u201d, but won\u2019t yet say if the party supports it. He said Labour would make a decision on it in the new year.<\/p>\n
McClay said he was aiming to have the agreement come into force before next year\u2019s election, but that it can take a year or 18 months for a trade agreement to go through the full parliamentary process.<\/p>\n
He said recent deals, including the NZ-EU FTA and the NZ-UAE FTA, had passed with super majorities in Parliament.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is very very clear is that trade has become bipartisan. All New Zealanders recognise trade is important to us … 400 million people get about 10% of their diet around the world from New Zealand. If we are not out there trading our economy goes backwards, and successive governments of different types have recognised that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have confidence this agreement will go into force for New Zealand, because it is in the best interests of New Zealand, and we are, after all, a trading nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
NZ First\u2019s claims over visa numbers \u2018not correct\u2019 \u2013 McClay<\/p>\n
NZ First leader Winston Peters slammed the agreement as a \u201cbad deal\u201d, criticising a lack of wins for dairy \u2013 where only limited gains were secured \u2013 and saying it was reached for \u201cpolitical purposes\u201d.<\/p>\n
Peters also raised concerns about numbers coming into the country under the Temporary Entry Employment (TEE) visa, saying 20,000 people might be here at any one time if spouses and children are allowed in too.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we\u2019re in a very troubled labour market at the moment, we\u2019re trying to turn our economy around, and this will not help,\u201d he told RNZ.<\/p>\n
NZ First leader Winston Peters criticised the agreement as a “bad deal”. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n
McClay said those numbers were \u201cnot correct at all\u201d, and there was nothing in the agreement about partners, spouses and children being allowed for someone on a TEE visa.<\/p>\n
He said the commitment was for 1667 high-skilled temporary visas per year, for three years.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of that period, they have to leave, they can\u2019t stay on, there\u2019s no migration, there\u2019s no rights to citizenship. It is merely a number of visas each year, that New Zealand requires.\u201d<\/p>\n
McClay said the Government retained the right to make changes to which skill areas are needed under the visa, and the visa conditions.<\/p>\n
When asked whether the detail over spouses and children had been communicated to India, McClay said: \u201cI don\u2019t need to communicate that to them, because it is not captured in the agreement, and there\u2019s no expectation on the Indian side.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also batted back concerns Peters raised about numbers of students coming in under the deal, saying there was no commitment for students apart from post-study rights of three years, or four years for PhD students.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a particular focus on the quality of education we can offer, it\u2019s very important for our institutions, and to help others from around the world develop skills.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peters also criticised New Zealand\u2019s investment commitments to India under the deal, saying the country is required to invest $20 billion into the Indian market over the next 15 years, and India will \u201cclaw back\u201d concessions if this is not met.<\/p>\n
McClay said that was an \u201caspirational\u201d target for investment, and the emphasis was on the New Zealand Government to make it easier for companies to invest in India. If the Government doesn\u2019t do that, there are \u201csome things that India could do\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
When asked whether he was disappointed NZ First had criticised this as a \u201cbad deal\u201d, McClay said he doesn\u2019t think anyone would be surprised that NZ First has a \u201cvery strong view\u201d over trade.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis agreement will be worth billions of dollars of new exports for New Zealand, and thousands of jobs, and it is in the best interests of New Zealand.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"That means whether it passes or not is now in the hands of the Opposition. He said he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[19064,4611,22191,4975,2344,6721,88232,6722,111,43,139,69,39995,1886,22505,584,1533],"class_list":["post-199221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-agreement","tag-confident","tag-ellen","tag-free","tag-india","tag-labour","tag-mcclay","tag-minister","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-odwyer","tag-support","tag-todd","tag-trade","tag-will"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}