For years, we Australians have been subject to the dreary fawning of the chattering classes, wishing that their countrymen would follow New Zealand’s lead. People who have their feet on the ground and skin in the game are advising that New Zealand is the last place we want to emulate. Especially when it comes to being suckered by the EU.
Australian farmers are urging Trade Minister Don Farrell to walk away from negotiations with the EU if the bloc offers a deal akin to the one signed with New Zealand in Brussels overnight.
New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins inked the agreement in a ceremony alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday (local time).
New Zealand says the deal will eventually allow its producers tariff-free access for 97 per cent of goods.
As always, though, there’s a massive gap between a Labour PM’s Pollyanna dreams and harsh reality.
But the EU retained the use of quotas for some Kiwi dairy products, beef and sheep meat, ethanol and sweetcorn.
Quotas which are practically insulting in their niggardliness.
It said that New Zealand would not be allowed to export more than 10,000 tonnes or 0.15 per cent of the amount of beef the EU consumes tariff-free.
The EU said that – for butter, cheeses and milk powder – New Zealand could only export 0.71 per cent, 0.27 per cent and 1.3 per cent of the EU’s total consumption respectively before tariffs kicked in, to make them more expensive against EU-produced goods.
That’s barely 0.01% of the beef New Zealand actually produces. Bargain!
So, should Australian producers rush to follow Chippy’s example?
Asked what Australia should do if presented with similar limited access to the single market, which has about 446 million consumers, Tony Mahar, chief executive of the National Farmers Federation, was blunt.
“We’d say walk away, thanks but no thanks,” he said in an interview. “If it doesn’t mean commercial dollars then we’re not interested.”
Especially when the pittance the EU is holding out comes with some very big strings attached.
At the signing ceremony, von der Leyen hailed the deal as “trailblazing” because it included commitments to the Paris climate agreement.
The Age
Who wants to bet that, next, the EU will be demanding that New Zealand farmers fall in line with the sort of lunatic “net zero” policies that could potentially see Dutch farmers limited to just two cows per paddock?
Oh, wait… the EU won’t even have to bother asking. The New Zealand government is an even more demented zealot of the Climate Cult than the EU.