I provide this commentary from a Kiwi-first perspective. That is not a racial argument. It is a national-interest argument. I work with Indian professionals and Indian businesses by choice because they are skilled, capable and commercially valuable. My concern is with the New Zealand Government entering an agreement that appears to expand access to New Zealand’s labour market, education system, services economy, capital flows and financial infrastructure while offering only modest, narrow and uneven benefits in return.
India negotiated for India. That is what competent governments do. New Zealand should have negotiated for
New Zealand.
The New Zealand state exists for New Zealand citizens. Citizens are not merely another stakeholder group to be balanced against exporters, education providers, foreign workers, foreign students, diplomatic ambitions and multinational interests. We are the people for whom the New Zealand state exists. If an agreement makes life easier for foreign workers, foreign students, foreign investors, foreign service providers and selected export sectors, while making competition harder for New Zealand workers, students, taxpayers, renters and small businesses, then the Government has a duty to prove that the agreement serves New Zealanders first. On the material currently available, that case has not been made.
New Zealand does not have a shortage of foreigners willing to work here. New Zealand has a shortage of political courage to make this country worth staying in for its own citizens.
