FTA stoush: Act MP pokes fun at NZ First minister's 'taxpayer-funded' India visit

Author: Adam Pearse,
Publish Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2026, 2:00pm

New Zealand First minister Mark Patterson is travelling to India this week. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Act Party is poking fun at one of its coalition partners for its opposition to the India free trade deal, after a minister confirmed he would visit the Subcontinent.

Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson today issued a press statement confirming he would be visiting India this week to promote New Zealand’s wool exports at Bharat Tex 2026, India’s largest global textile trade fair.

“India is currently New Zealand’s second-largest market for wool,” Patterson, also a New Zealand First MP, said.

“It is a key market for Kiwi wool growers and exporters and there is strong potential for further growth.”

Patterson said he would be speaking at a business roundtable, as well as meeting those involved in India’s wool supply chain, including India’s Textile Minister, manufacturers and researchers.

“The Government remains fully committed to backing the long-term success of our Kiwi wool growers and the wider wool sector, to tap into increasing global demand for innovative, premium wool products,” he said.

About two hours after Patterson’s statement was released, Act MP Parmjeet Parmar issued her own, with some tongue-in-cheek criticism of her coalition colleague.

“Sometimes it’s better to watch what people do instead of what they say,” Parmar said.

“New Zealand First say they oppose the India free trade agreement but their minister Mark Patterson just left for a taxpayer-funded trip to promote wool exports to India.”

Patterson’s statement did not reference the recently signed free trade agreement (FTA) but Parmar suggested there was “no doubt” Patterson would highlight how the deal would remove tariffs for wool imports into India.

“Go Mark, we wish you every success promoting new opportunities for Kiwi farmers under the India FTA!”

Act MP Parmjeet Parmar had a crack at her coalition colleague. Photo / Alex Burton

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited New Zealand over the weekend. Both Modi and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon lauded the deal’s benefits to their respective economies.

NZ First, largely through leader Winston Peters, has been heavily critical of the agreement.

Peters has been a long-standing critic of the investment clause in the agreement.

This is a clause in the agreement which talks about US$20 billion ($34b) worth of private investment by New Zealand firms in India over 15 years.

The Indian side argue this figure is a promise by New Zealand, the New Zealand side argues the Government is only obliged to “promote” investment in India to hopefully reach the goal.

Text of chapter 9 of the deal from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) website uses the “promote” wording, rather than wording that suggests the investment is a promise.

Nonetheless, Modi said three times over the weekend that the figure was a “firm commitment” from New Zealand, causing some embarrassment to the Government.

Peters told the Herald today it was “breathtaking stuff” that Modi could visit New Zealand and there would still be confusion.

“This is 2026, for God’s sake. This is not the Baghdad Note. This is direct negotiations. Here we are in 2026 and he’s come and gone and we still don’t know what the bloody story is,” Peters said, using the racing horse who won the Melbourne Cup in 1970 as a metaphor.

“This is a disgrace,” he said.

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.