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PM Chris Hipkins speaks at press conference in China
Speaking at a media briefing, Hipkins – on reports that Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta got a “dressing down” from her Chinese counterparts during her visit to the country a couple of months ago – said as with many diplomatic relationships there were areas of agreement, and areas of disagreement.
“One of the things that’s really important about the New Zealand-China relationship is that we continue to identify those areas where we have mutual interests, where we can work together, where we can co-operate – because there are a lot of them.
“And that we have a relationship that’s strong enough that where we do disagree we can share that openly with each other.”
He said Mahuta characterised her meeting as “a constructive meeting”.
“Constructive meetings don’t always involve unanimous agreement.”
Looking ahead to his own meetings, he said he was expecting they would be able to talk about areas of agreement and disagreement.
Hipkins speaking in Beijing. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
The New Zealand-China relationship is very important to Aotearoa, and that was evidenced by the fact there is a “strong business delegation here who are doing business in China while I’m here as well”, Hipkins said.
“We’ll also be aiming to continue to strengthen that government-to-government relationship so that where there are areas where we disagree that we have open dialogue about those and we’re able to convey those on either side.”
Those areas of disagreement were the same as they had been for some time.
“They’re long-standing. Our position on a range of issues around human rights has not changed, our position on geopolitical issues has not changed. Of course I’m happy, once we’ve had those meetings, I’m sure we can go into more detail about what was discussed but they won’t come as a surprise to New Zealanders.”
New Zealand as opposed to the war in Ukraine and any countries in a position to influence that positively should do so, Hipkins said.
“Long-standing message from New Zealand to China and to other international partners since the war began has been if they can use their influence to bring that to a conclusion to de-escalate the situation and to end the war, we’d strongly encourage them to do that.
“We’d encourage other countries including China to use any influence that they might have.”
Trade is a major focus for the trip, as well as developing the relationship with New Zealand’s largest trading partner.
Something like a pōwhiri to start a big international trip was important to “get the trip off on the right foot, but it’s also I think a good showcase of who we are as a country”, Hipkins said.
Tikanga Māori is a big part of who we were as a country, and “actually it’s a topic of a lot of international interest, in all my time as prime minister and before that as a minister there has been a real interest in New Zealand’s relationship with its indigenous people”, he said.
Hipkins said the most important thing for his trip was sending the message that New Zealand was open for business.
“We want our business people to continue to transact, business up here in China it’s a huge export market for us, we want to see travel from China to New Zealand really ramping up again.”
The chief executive of the Parliamentary Service is confident there will be enough room to accommodate the increased number of MPs and their staff coming into Parliament.
On current numbers, up to 131 MPs could be sitting in the Chamber following the election, brought on by a record overhang result.
Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson told the Spinoff that currently the debating chamber had enough chairs to seat 124 MPs – including the Speaker of the House – and work was being done to accommodate more by altering the seating arrangement.
In a statement, Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said planning for a larger Parliament had been going for “some time”.
“Now that the election results have confirmed an increase to the number of members we are looking at several options.
“We are confident we will be able to accommodate all members within the Chamber.”
VNP / Phil Smith
Gonzalez-Montero said office accommodation for members and their staff would be “stretched” for a short time, but the new Members’ Building was only a few months away from “practical completion”.
That building – located behind Parliament – was due to be ready to occupy in April next year and had capacity to accommodate around 30 backbench MPs.
“All members should be in fit-for-purpose accommodation from that point,” Gonzalez-Montero said.
Following the 2023 election, 123 MPs sat in the Chamber – a record number at the time. That decreased to 122 following the resignation of National MP Judith Collins.
Collins held the seat of Papakura and stepped down in May and Parliament voted against holding a by-election because it was too close to the election.
The election result also meant high-ranking National Party MPs like Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith, Nicola Willis and Gerry Brownlee – Speaker of the House and an MP for 30 years – would likely not make it back into Parliament.
Only resigning or retiring MPs were permitted to give a valedictory speech meaning none of them would get the chance to give a valedictory statement.
Asked if their would be special allowances for valedictories, Wilson said in a statement that normally only MPs were allowed to speak in the House but the House could suspend its own rules or temporarily alter them.
“It could do so to allow former members to address the House.”
Wilson said no such arrangements could be made until the next Parliament opened and members sworn in.
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