Free trade deals a threat to New Zealand’s future

The Mar­itime Union has hit out at free trade deals after rev­e­la­tions that Chi­na was impos­ing sanc­tions at will on New Zealand dairy prod­ucts.

Mar­itime Union Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Joe Fleet­wood says that “free trade” has been pro­mot­ed by Gov­ern­ment and big busi­ness as the grand solu­tion to all New Zealand’s prob­lems.

But he says that if the details of free trade deals and their nego­ti­a­tions were known to the peo­ple of New Zealand and else­where, then they would be thrown out overnight.

Mr Fleet­wood says there is a dark side to free trade deals which need­ed to be put under the spot­light.

“In so many issues today, we see free trade agree­ments harm­ing or threat­en­ing the inter­ests of work­ing peo­ple. It is about more than com­merce, it is about con­trol­ling our des­tiny. Under free trade deals, New Zealand peo­ple are no longer in charge of our own coun­try.”

He says the loss of jobs at Hill­side rail work­shop, attacks on New Zealand’s abil­i­ty to pro­vide med­i­cine through Phar­mac, and the debate over file shar­ing laws, were all dif­fer­ent aspects of how free trade deals were threat­en­ing New Zealand’s future.

“What we are see­ing here is pow­er­ful nations and mas­sive cor­po­rates set­ting the rules, and we are play­ing their game to their ben­e­fit.”

He says free trade agree­ments were a part of the dereg­u­la­tion and free mar­ket poli­cies that were behind the glob­al reces­sion and eco­nom­ic insta­bil­i­ty.

“New Zealand needs to keep its abil­i­ty to make deci­sions for our own ben­e­fit, and man­age our trade to ensure a bal­anced econ­o­my that is not just depen­dent on one or two com­modi­ties.”