TPP report presented to Parliament

New Zealand Parliament buildings. Photo / File

A report on the Trans Pacific Partnership has been presented to Parliament after public hearings around the country.

The report by the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee was based on a two-month public consultation process on the 12-country trade agreement, which was signed by ministers in March.

In all, the committee received 6351 written submissions and heard oral submissions from 255 of them.

http://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-nz/51DBSCH-SCR68965-1/017c7d1eedfaa46cda74da3faa83982cee1ab4d3

In the report, the Government said the public consultation process was "one of the most extensive a New Zealand Government had done for any trade negotiation".

The Government section of the report reiterated the estimated benefits of the TPP to New Zealand's economy.

The agreement would open access for New Zealand's exporters to 800 million consumers in Pacific Rim countries, and would be worth $2.7 billion a year to the New Zealand economy by 2030, it said.

The $2.7 billion figure was a conservative estimate, the report said, and the value of reduced tariffs and improved market access could be worth as much $4.1 billion a year by 2030.

Responding to concerns raised by submitters, the report said that safeguards had been built into the TPP to ensure that investor-state dispute settlement provisions did "work against New Zealand's interests".

It also reinforced that the TPP would not prevent the New Zealand Government from meeting its Treaty of Waitangi obligations.

In its minority report, the Labour Party expressed strong opposition to the TPP, saying that the Government had failed to effectively represent the long-term interests of New Zealanders.

"As it stands, we cannot support the ratification of the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement," the Labour Party said.

New Zealand had "weakened" its sovereignty for relatively small gains, Labour said.

The $2.7 billion boost to the economy amounted to a 0.9 per cent lift to GDP in 15 years' time. The New Zealand economy was projected to rise by 47 per cent over this period, Labour said.

The Green Party and New Zealand First also expressed their opposition to the agreement in their minority reports.