Q+A: Sir Lockwood Smith interviewed by Emma Keeling
Q+A: Sir Lockwood Smith interviewed by Emma Keeling
Outgoing HC urges Kiwi farmers to work with British counterparts
Sir Lockwood
Smith said on Q+A this morning that Kiwi farmers should not
worry about a free trade deal with Britain.
The
68-year-old has been in London for three years and will
shortly leave his post as New Zealand High Commissioner to
the United Kingdom
“I spoke at the Welsh National
Farmers Unions Conference last year. I said, ‘If we keep
seeing each other – we sheep farmers – as the
competition, chicken will be the winner.’ You know,
we’ve got to understand we have to work together. If
we’re to expand the consumption of lamb, which is what we
want to do here in the UK and Europe, we need to work
together, and we can. Our seasons are diametrically opposed.
We can actually do a lot working together.”
He also
spoke about his admiration for the Royal Family.
On the
Queen and the Duke of Cambridge he said, “You know, at
their age, they’re engaged, and they spend so much time
with people.”
“I’m almost the same age as Prince
Charles. I’m one day older. And so on my birthday, I
normally write to him to wish him a happy birthday for the
next day, and he always writes back, and we share a few
things about getting old.”
END
Q+A, 9-10am Sundays on TVNZ 1 and one hour later on TVNZ
1 + 1.
Repeated Sunday evening at around 11:35pm.
Streamed live at www.tvnz.co.nz
Thanks to the
support from NZ On Air.
Q+A is also on Facebook: here and on Twitter
Q +
A
Episode
172
SIR LOCKWOOD
SMITH
Interviewed by EMMA
KEELING
LOCKWOOD I think it’s
meant that we’re just that bit closer, and I suppose my
background as a former trade minister and former agriculture
minister has been quite helpful because the UK has found it
quite useful talking to me about, you know, how trade
agreements work, how, what the WTO means, what’s involved
in registering a schedule at the WTO. These kinds of things,
of course, the EU has done for the last 40 years. And so the
UK is now, with Brexit, in a new situation, and I think it
is finding New Zealand’s support useful. We were very,
early on said we would help wherever we could, and we have.
I’ve had our top trade people here in London working with
the government, and I think it’s paying off. I think
we’ve established a trade dialogue with the UK and we’re
in a very good position, when the UK is ready to do it, to
commence negotiating a free-trade agreement with the UK. So
I think we are very well
positioned.
EMMA Farmers
in the UK are very worried about a free-trade agreement with
New Zealand. They’re worried what it will do to their
industry. Have you been able to allay their fears at
all?
LOCKWOOD I
think we’ve made a lot of progress in that area. When I
arrived here, I think there were significant tensions
between you know sheep farmers here – lamb producers, if
you like – and the New Zealand lamb access to the UK
market. But we’ve done a lot of work on that. I’ve put a
lot of time into sharing with the farming organisations here
our experience, sharing with them how we might be able to
work together more, because I’ve stressed to even the
Welsh farmers— I spoke at the Welsh National Farmers
Unions Conference last year. I said, ‘If we keep seeing
each other – we sheep farmers – as the competition,
chicken will be the winner.’ You know, we’ve got to
understand we have to work together. If we’re to expand
the consumption of lamb, which is what we want to do here in
the UK and Europe, we need to work together, and we can. Our
seasons are diametrically opposed. We can actually do a lot
working
together.
EMMA So
how do you see this free-trade agreement between Britain and
New Zealand taking shape? What could it be
worth?
LOCKWOOD Well,
for New Zealand, obviously it’s hugely important because
the UK is still a very important market for New Zealand.
It’s our fifth-biggest trading partner, the United
Kingdom. And so too is the EU. Our top priority at the
moment is our free-trade agreement with the EU that we seek
to commence negotiation this year, and everything looks on
course for that. And that’s really important to us, but we
also want to be ready when the UK is able to start
negotiating on free trade agreements; we want to make sure
we’re at the front end of the queue, not further back, and
we’ve put a lot of work into making sure we are up there
with the leaders that the UK is looking to work
with.
EMMA You are
the cheeriest of cheerleaders for New Zealand and New
Zealanders over here, but there is one topic that’s come
up a lot is the immigration and how the visa restrictions
are getting tighter and tighter. Has that disappointed you
as they have become so tight? Because I know you’ve been
working hard behind the
scenes.
LOCKWOOD We’ve
worked hard on it because it’s hugely important to New
Zealand. Access to the United Kingdom for skilled New
Zealanders is just so important. We’ve got a wonderful
access for our young people through the Youth Mobility
programme, which sees 2000 or 3000 up here. But it’s that
skilled New Zealand situation. I think we’ve got to be
realistic that while we’ve worked hard on it, the UK has
not said, ‘Look, we don’t care.’ They do care. But the
problem is they’ve had an issue that they’ve had to deal
with that they haven’t got control over their borders. And
that’s part of the Brexit issue – that they wanted to
get control over immigration policy, if you like. Once they
do get control over immigration policy, I think we should
have the chance to revisit this issue, because the
government’s not saying here that it doesn’t care; the
government is always looking for – ‘How can we find a
way to deal with this issue?’ And they can’t pick New
Zealand out, much as some of them might want to, and say,
‘We’ll do this deal for New Zealand.’ Their own laws
won’t let them do that. And so we have to be a little bit
patient, and but, believe me, we’ll keep very focused on
this because it’s important for New Zealand and New
Zealanders. And the UK knows that. The government knows
that. And I think at the right time, we’ll be working on
it
again.
EMMA You’ve
had a lot to do with royals in your time here. Have you seen
their popularity grow? I mean, are they still
relevant?
LOCKWOOD It’s
been a fascinating experience, as you say, and I suppose,
just in a word, my admiration for them—I’ve always been
one who admired Her Majesty for a long time, but my
admiration for the entire family has gone up hugely as
I’ve become more aware of the work they do. I mean, Her
Majesty and Prince Philip recently were at the Commonwealth
Day service at Westminster Abbey – there an hour. You
know, at their age, they’re engaged, and they spend so
much time with people. And, you know, there’s lovely
little things I often I— I’m almost the same age as
Prince Charles. I’m one day older. And so on my birthday,
I normally write to him to wish him a happy birthday for the
next day, and he always writes back, and we share a few
things about getting
old.
EMMA What does
he reckon? Is he enjoying it as much as you
are?
LOCKWOOD I
can’t divulge the confidences of anyone in the royal
family.
EMMA What
will be your final song that you’ll sing on these
shores?
LOCKWOOD Probably
‘Po Atarau’, which, of course, is ‘Now is the
Hour’.
EMMA Yeah.
Are you happy to go back to the
farm?
LOCKWOOD Oh
yes,
absolutely.
EMMA Would
you like to get back into politics at
all?
LOCKWOOD No
way at all. No way at all. I think it’s a huge mistake for
people to ever think they should go back to politics. Never.
I’ve done what I could do, and I’m very happy to move
on.