PACER Plus

Dr Patricia Ranald, Convener of the Australian Fair Trade in Investment Network (AFTINET), said today that this is because the three largest Pacific island economies are saying there are no benefits for them.

Dr Ranald said that the text was released only two weeks ago. Pacific island, Australian and NZ community groups are calling for an independent analysis and time for proper public and parliamentary consultation about the deal.

The full text of the proposed deal has been made available online only a few weeks out from the planned signing ceremony to be held in Tonga on the 14th of this month.

A trade justice campaigner for the Pacific Network on Globalisation, Adam Wolfenden, said there was simply not enough time for an independent assessment of the proposed agreement.

Mr Wolfenden said the extremely complex legal document would have a massive impact on a cross section of society in the Pacific.

Representatives from all 14 participating members, including New Zealand, Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Kiribati, Niue, Palau, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu, will be in Nuku’alofa, Tonga to sign the agreement.

It has been challenging getting the agreement over the line, and the successful conclusion of PACER Plus negotiations in Brisbane is a landmark day for trade and the sustainable economic development of the Pacific, NZ Trade Minister Todd McClay says.

RNZ reports he helped the island countries negotiate the deal and said it should bring significant benefits.

But Dr Kessie said a key is that New Zealand and Australia meet their commitments to allocate up to 20 per cent of their Pacific aid budgets to helping the island nations develop such things as the capacity to meet international bio-security requirements.

He said this would amount to $US300 million dollars annually being allocated.

The trade arrangement among Pacific nations is due to be signed in June after negotiations were completed last week.

Edwini Kessie said the New Zealand Green Party MP Barry Coates was wrong to claim there is a lack of access.

He said the issue was the difficulty Pacific Island countries often have in establishing rigorous bio-security systems, but under the deal New Zealand and Australia were committed to help the smaller nations achieve this.

"So the statement that they don't have access to Australia for tropical fruits is not accurate," Dr Kessie said.

The veteran of the aid and development sector is critical of the PACER PLUS agreement involving New Zealand and Australia and 12 island countries that is set to be signed in June.

But missing from it are the two biggest economies among the island nations, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.

While PACER is being touted by Australia and New Zealand as a great deal for the island countries, Mr Coates said they get few benefits.

The MP said the deal also goes against the emphasis placed on regionalism by Australia and New Zealand.

Barry Coates said most of the gains would go to New Zealand and Australia.

He said market access was still denied for many fruits and vegetables, particularly into Australia, there was no long-term commitment on visas for seasonal labourers, and only a fraction of the aid needed for the island countries to build their exporting capacity.

Mr Coates, who had previously worked in the aid and development sector as head of OXFAM in New Zealand, said the PACER deal, from when it was first mooted 16 years ago, was always meant to be for the people of the island countries.

The deal was finalised in Brisbane last Thursday, and may be formally signed on June in Tonga.

Dr Ranald said the two largest economies, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, have both refused to endorse the final text, saying it did not recognise their need to develop their infant industries. Without them, PACER-Plus has failed as a regional agreement.

“PNG and Fiji’s rejection shows that the agreement is heavily skewed towards the interests of Australia and New Zealand - despite early rhetoric that the agreement was about development needs,” said Dr Ranald.

“New Zealand and Australia are being accused of pushing a trade deal to advance their own commercial interests at the expense of Pacific Islands’ national interests,” Green Party trade spokesperson Barry Coates said.
 
“The fact that the Pacific’s two biggest economies, Fiji and Papua New Guinea, have opted out is a warning sign that Australia and New Zealand have demanded too many concessions. Their absence from PACER Plus will undermine the existing Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA) and Pacific regionalism.
 

Dr Edwin Kessie led the consultations in Nauru which invited various stakeholders from the private, non-governmental organisations and government.

“For Nauru to benefit from the agreement... [Nauru] needs to address supply side constraints which prevented them from taking advantage of market access opportunities to strengthen their productive capacity. So in the case of Nauru the seminar revealed that the top priority for the government is to develop their port,” Dr Kessie said.