{"id":523219,"date":"2026-07-13T03:48:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T03:48:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/523219\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T03:48:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T03:48:27","slug":"fta-stoush-act-mp-pokes-fun-at-nz-first-ministers-taxpayer-funded-india-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/523219\/","title":{"rendered":"FTA stoush: Act MP pokes fun at NZ First minister\u2019s \u2018taxpayer-funded\u2019 India visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Government remains fully committed to backing the long-term success of our Kiwi wool growers and the wider wool sector, to tap into increasing global demand for innovative, premium wool products,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

About two hours after Patterson\u2019s statement was released, Act MP Parmjeet Parmar issued her own, with some tongue-in-cheek criticism of her coalition colleague.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it\u2019s better to watch what people do instead of what they say,\u201d Parmar said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Zealand First say they oppose the India free trade agreement but their minister Mark Patterson just left for a taxpayer-funded trip to promote wool exports to India.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patterson\u2019s statement did not reference the recently signed free trade agreement (FTA) but Parmar suggested there was \u201cno doubt\u201d Patterson would highlight how the deal would remove tariffs for wool imports into India.<\/p>\n

\u201cGo Mark, we wish you every success promoting new opportunities for Kiwi farmers under the India FTA!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ActAct MP Parmjeet Parmar had a crack at her coalition colleague. Photo \/ Alex Burton <\/p>\n

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited New Zealand over the weekend. Both Modi and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon lauded the deal\u2019s benefits to their respective economies.<\/p>\n

NZ First, largely through leader Winston Peters, has been heavily critical of the agreement.<\/p>\n

Peters has been a long-standing critic of the investment clause in the agreement.<\/p>\n

This is a clause in the agreement which talks about US$20 billion ($34b) worth of private investment by New Zealand firms in India over 15 years.<\/p>\n

The Indian side argue this figure is a promise by New Zealand, the New Zealand side argues the Government is only obliged to \u201cpromote\u201d investment in India to hopefully reach the goal.<\/p>\n

Text of chapter 9 of the deal from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) website uses the \u201cpromote\u201d wording, rather than wording that suggests the investment is a promise<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, Modi said three times over the weekend that the figure was a \u201cfirm commitment\u201d from New Zealand, causing some embarrassment to the Government.<\/p>\n

Peters told the Herald today it was \u201cbreathtaking stuff\u201d that Modi could visit New Zealand and there would still be confusion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is 2026, for God\u2019s sake. This is not the Baghdad Note. This is direct negotiations. Here we are in 2026 and he\u2019s come and gone and we still don\u2019t know what the bloody story is,\u201d Peters said, using the racing horse who won the Melbourne Cup in 1970 as a metaphor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a disgrace,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald\u2019s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whang\u0101rei and the Herald in Auckland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Government remains fully committed to backing the long-term success of our Kiwi wool growers and the wider…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4619,74,1975,7230,2223,3468,1888,4975,122031,8619,42,2344,6722,42677,6368,43,69,32361,143,4762,51236,259110,110623,259111,93483,40,38,41,39,584,9863,6730],"class_list":["post-523219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-act","tag-after","tag-at","tag-coalition","tag-confirmed","tag-deal","tag-first","tag-free","tag-fta","tag-fun","tag-headlines","tag-india","tag-minister","tag-ministers","tag-mp","tag-news","tag-nz","tag-opposition","tag-partners","tag-party","tag-pokes","tag-poking","tag-stoush","tag-subcontinent","tag-taxpayerfunded","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-trade","tag-visit","tag-would"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523219","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=523219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}