Post Cabinet Press Conference: Brexit and the Shewan Report

After a couple of weeks of announcements, today’s post cabinet press conference was a nuts and bolts affair. The Prime Minister John Key spoke about the British referendum on EU membership and the findings of John Shewan’s independent inquiry into foreign trust disclosure rules.

John Key said that New Zealand and Australia will be working together to negotiate with the EU and the United Kingdom in a post Brexit climate. He clarified that he did not expect dual Fair Trade Agreements because the Australian and New Zealand economies are markedly different. Key said that he didn’t expect a global financial crisis style drop in the markets and he was confident markets were regaining confidence.

The Prime Minister acknowledged the findings of the Shewan report but appeared to have quite a different reading of it to some members of the press gallery. He told the conference that there had been no major push back to the report in today’s Cabinet meeting and that “the majority” of the recommendations would be implemented after further advice had been sought. There will be a Government response to the report next month.

Key fielded questions about National back bench MP Paul Foster-Bell, the BEPS Action Plan, the Auckland rail link and Ian Rennie’s response to the Ombudsman’s findings last week regard the MFAT leak inquiry.

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