Minister fears India FTA division will impact NZ-India relations as PM Modi tipped to visit

Immigration Minister Erica Stanford says the coalition’s infighting over the India Free Trade Agreement is “not helpful” for New Zealand’s relationship with the Indian government.

It comes amid widespread speculation that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit New Zealand next month. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon would neither confirm nor deny whether Modi would be visiting.

The long-running tension within the coalition regarding the Government’s FTA evolved last week when New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, who was highly critical of the deal, accused other members of the Government of making covert changes to Indian immigration settings.

Peters, who had previously claimed the FTA enabled excessive levels of Indian migrants into New Zealand, said in Parliament that his coalition partners were planning “special, discriminatory, targeted restrictions just for Indians”.

“We told the New Zealand people that [the deal] would mean open-slather immigration from India to New Zealand. But the National Party has just changed its course – no doubt due to poor polling – and they have done so covertly.

“Their officials have even discussed the importance of not announcing these changes for the fear of the Indian reaction. This is bad faith.”

Later asked by RNZ to produce evidence, Peters refused and said that would constitute “acting outside Cabinet rules”.

Stanford, speaking to reporters at Parliament this morning, claimed she was unsure what Peters was referring to but pointed to “process papers” which ministers debated ahead of final decisions.

“We have a process where we send it across. I followed the process; it’s been sent to his office.

“It’s not the usual route we do to talk about this publicly, you know, we make decisions, we send it to other ministers’ offices, we have conversations and then we set policies.”

Asked if Peters had breached Cabinet confidentiality, Stanford said she wouldn’t comment.

She indicated a level of confusion over Peters’ wishes with respect to the level of immigration afforded under the deal.

“I’m just trying to do my best as the Immigration Minister to try and work out what it is that Mr Peters wants.

“I’ve made decisions around tightening up to make sure that I’ve tried to keep everyone happy and now he’s not happy with that.”

She feared it could have a detrimental impact on New Zealand’s relations with the Indian government.

“I certainly don’t think it’s helpful for the relationship that we have with the Indian government for this to be playing out; it’s not helpful at all.”

Responding later in the day, Peters claimed Stanford “must be terribly confused” and urged journalists to request the relevant documents.

“The Indians have been told one thing ... and now apparently there’s something else happening, so would you please ask them for the documents.”

Labour’s foreign affairs spokeswoman Vanushi Walters was reluctant to give a straight answer whether the division within the coalition would impact the relationship, stressing it was for Peters to address his comments.

However, she eventually acknowledged it had the “potential to be problematic“.

Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald’s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.