COMMENT: Last Monday the Prime Minister rolled out the Government's long-promised Trade for All agenda. She observed we are a trade-dependent nation. Her Government inherited a range of concerns around trade. Many have lost confidence in the current trade agenda, encapsulated in opposition to the Trans-Pacific partnership Agreement (TPPA).
Trade for All aims to rebuild that confidence, while achieving improvements in productivity, employment and incomes and ensuring benefits of trade are spread evenly.
I welcome steps to rethink the current model of trade and investment agreements that many here and internationally believe has benefited the few, mainly transnational corporations. It is time to move beyond critiquing the old, and to generate positive, progressive alternatives that put jobs, economic justice, the Treaty of Waitangi, human rights, the environment and climate change at the core.
We need to replace the preoccupation with market access for primary products with trade agreements that promote economic development based on quality jobs, high value exports, strong small businesses and productive investment.
We also need to reverse the over-reach of trade agreements into non-trade areas that intrude on the Government's regulatory sovereignty, and bring transparency and accountability to the negotiating process.