N.Z. ‘not exempt from labelling rules’

Press, 7 February 1985, Page 9

N.Z. ‘not exempt from labelling rules’

PA Auckland The Australian Government has told New Zealand that it cannot expect to be exempt from labelling regulations used to ban certain New Zealand exports from Queensland.

The regulations were invoked by the Queensland Premier, Sir Joh BjelkePetersen, initially in protest against New Zealand’s decision not to accept nucleararmed warships. Under the rules, all imports must be labelled with the names of companies importing them into each state.

In Auckland yesterday, the Australian Minister of Trade, Mr John Dawkins, said that the Labour Government opposed the way Sir Joh had acted.

He was not impressed, however, with New Zealand manufacturers’ arguments that it should be sufficient to put their own names on exports to Australia, because they were only a short telephone call away. Jlr Dawkins said; the regulations were abated at tracking down products,

such as seafoods, which might have become rotten. The Federal and state Governments had all agreed to apply uniform standards, although only Queensland had enacted, them so far.

New Zealand did have to be treated as a special case,

but not by exempting it, he said.

“What would be nice would be to have the same standards in New Zealand as in Australia,” he said. “That is the ultimate object of the Closer Economic Relations agreement.”