Jacinda is wrapping up her European tour, which her minions in the media are describing as an unmitigated success. Pictured in a white, floaty dress with Boris Johnson, she looked more like a bride than a prime minister. She ought to confer with Mrs Johnson, who is commended for her wardrobe that conveys a message of ‘soft power’. Meetings with heads of state usually require business attire, not floaty dresses that suggest a lack of substance. Someone should have explained that to Jacinda.
However, it was arguably better than the outfit she wore to meet Prince William. Here, it seems she must have got the time wrong, and he turned up early for the meeting while she was still in her dressing gown.
Really, this is nothing more than a PR tour, but there is very little that she has got right. I shook my head in disbelief when I heard that she had negotiated a deal with Boris where New Zealanders can now stay in Britain longer to do their OE… at a time when worker shortages in this country have never been at a more chronic level. Boris must be rubbing his hands with glee because after Brexit Britain lost a large army of willing workers who could travel in and out of Britain at will. He probably could not believe his luck when she actually asked for New Zealanders to be allowed to stay longer in Britain, thus helping him out with his own worker shortage. This woman’s lack of business and economic knowledge and wisdom is simply excruciating.
But never mind. She is a fairy princess after all.
The TV1 News was frothing with excitement on Friday when it was revealed that New Zealand had signed a free trade agreement with the EU. Nobody was really expecting this, but it seems that Jacinda, in an attempt to save her failing political career, simply refused to come home from Europe without an FTA. But the truth of the agreement that has been signed is that nothing will happen for at least seven years, even if it is eventually signed and ratified by all 27 member states – a situation that Canada has not yet managed, in spite of their FTA agreement with Europe being signed in 2016. Let’s not get too excited then.
Truth is, apart from the Government’s breathless cheerleaders in the media, no one is getting excited. When Putin invaded Ukraine, and New Zealand decided to forego its trade with Russia, it was claimed that, at $293 million per annum, what we were losing was but a drop in a bucket. However, the FTA with Europe, even if it is eventually ratified, will actually yield less than that. Fruit growers, wine makers and manuka honey producers are all excited at the prospect of (eventual) trade with Europe, with immediate (in seven years) tariff elimination for all kiwifruit, wine, onions, apples, manuka honey and manufactured goods, as well as almost all fish and seafood, and other horticultural products. But our largest exporters, the meat and dairy industries, are more or less out in the cold, with new quota opportunities worth only $600 million in annual export revenue for the dairy and red meat sectors (once fully implemented). Yes, this is an eight-fold increase in beef access to the EU market, but as we have practically no access to the EU meat and dairy markets, well… eight times nothing is still nothing.
Like I said, it is nothing to get excited about.
Government cheerleaders are saying that any deal with the EU may yield better returns later, but that is nothing more than (vegetarian) pie in the sky. Everyone knows how protectionist the EU can be, looking after their own inefficient farmers ahead of everyone else. There is nothing particularly good in this deal for New Zealand, as the EU has done what it always does and cherrypicked the goods they want more of, and told us to go whistle for the rest. We can’t produce enough fish and seafood as it is, everyone wants our wine and our manuka honey is a prized commodity everywhere. What exactly have our exporters gained here?
Still, she will come home to a slobbering media pack that will sing her praises everywhere, when the truth is that she has taken a lot of selfies and done a lot of PR, but very little else. It is also worth noting that she hasn’t worn a mask anywhere, which is fine… but we are all still subjected to rules that remind everyone that they need to be scared.
She didn’t look like a serious politician. She looked like a little girl in a party dress. But hey. What’s a poor fairy princess to do?