Assessing the likelihood of access to New Zealand labour markets under PACER-Plus

Perhaps the one key gain that Pacific countries want to realise under any PACER-Plus negotiations would be binding commitments to allow Pacific workers into Australian and NZ labour markets – however the prospects of gaining this market access is unlikely. Other free trade agreements negotiated by Australia and NZ do not offer hopeful precedents, as negotiations have focused on market access for executives, professionals and skilled self-employed contractors who service transnational corporations and meet skills shortages.
Auckland University Professor of Law, Jane Kelsey, has prepared a detailed analysis of New Zealand’s existing labour market access arrangements (negotiated in previous trade agreements), which finds that “there are very limited precedents for binding and enforceable rights of access from the Pacific Islands, and none for workers with low skills or education”. New Zealand’s Commitments on Trade in Services and Labour Mobility is available now.