Brexit is a threat to New Zealand says Damien O'Connor

Damien O'Connor is concerned about the fallout from Brexit for New Zealand.

The Country's Jamie Mackay interviewed Labour's Primary Industry spokesperson Damien O'Connor today on Brexit and Mackay's new favourite term 'Shexit' (in relation to the rumoured Chinese exit from the Shanghai Maling deal).

Jamie asks the question: "Brexit: Threat or Opportunity?"

Damien O'Connor believes that Britain's break from the EU creates brand new territory which could cause a lot of downsides for New Zealand's agricultural industry.

Negative effects for tourism and the sheep meat industry come up again and how this will impact dairy is still not known.

Will this all drive competition or will we be shut out by Britain?

O'Connor believes unknowns and uncertainty in the markets is not great for a trading nation such as New Zealand and he predicts the banks will eventually be the winners out of all the turmoil.

Jamie plays devil's advocate by suggesting that Britain isn't even a market we should be worrying about and that China is the way to go.

Which leads neatly to the Shexit question. Are the Chinese getting cold feet?

O'Connor believes the owners of Silver Fern Farms need to have a discussion with their directors as it could affect the entire meat industry but he reckons all is not lost and that there are other sectors they could learn from.

One example is lamb which has recently been described as "New Zealand's champagne of the red meat industry".

Mackay missed an epic pun opportunity with "Lambpagne" there...

Hear Jamie Mackay's entire interview with Damien O'Connor in the Soundcloud embed below: