This implies
that the government's statement on public services will be wider than subsidies
- it mentions regulation.
1 APRIL 2003
Prime Minister Helen Clark was adamant
that public health, welfare and education services would be protected against
global competition after the Government finalized its offer for World Trade Organization
talks yesterday. Miss Clark said the Government was making it "very
clear" in its initial offer to the WTO in the second round of the General
Agreement on Trade in Services (Gats) that it considered such services were protected
by provisions allowing countries to provide, regulate and fund public services
such as health, education and social welfare. Amid criticism from trade unions
and the Green Party that the Government had been secretive about its
intentions, Miss Clark promised that the offer would be made public, probably
today. The Greens have been calling for Miss Clark to follow Australian Trade
Minister Mark Vaile's lead after he promised last week he would reveal his
country's offers on commercial parts of the services sector once they were
tabled in Geneva.
The Gats negotiations are expected to
last till 2005 and groups including the Council of Trade Unions and some local
bodies say there has been inadequate consultation. They fear concessions
putting overseas-owned corporations on a footing to compete for the
administration of health, education and welfare services. Greens co-leader Rod
Donald has criticized New Zealand trade negotiators as having a poor record of
offering concessions in previous negotiations on tariffs and other trade liberalization
measures, at a cost of thousands of jobs. Miss Clark conceded there had been
some "anxiety" about the New Zealand offer on public services and was
critical of the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry initially bypassing Cabinet
with its consultation document. But she said the ministry had registered that
the Government took "a dim view" of its oversight and had done a fair
job of consultation since then.