TWENTY YEARS New Zealand has been pursuing this dream. Twenty years of plotting and scheming to secure a genuine free trade agreement with the USA. Twenty years of being rebuffed, fobbed-off, and quietly advised to wait in line until the time was right. And all for what? To be kicked in the teeth by Tokyo (with Washington’s tacit approval) and told to bugger-off home if we don’t like playing with the Big Boys?
Apparently.
The question is: Will we go on playing with the Big Boys? Will we humiliate ourselves by remaining on Maui; gathering whatever crumbs and scraps of concessions the Big Boys condescend to toss into our begging-bowl; and call whatever we’ve managed to collect by the time the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations are wound up – a victory for New Zealand diplomacy?
The Opposition parties better hope so.
If John Key and Tim Groser are obliged to lay on the table of the House of Representatives a TPPA that commits the New Zealand people to decades of inflated pharmaceutical costs; a draconian intellectual property regime specifically designed to enrich the largest US corporations; and an Investor-State Dispute Settlement process which makes a mockery of this country’s sovereignty – but which includes almost nothing in the way of immediate and tangible economic benefits for New Zealand’s exporters – then this government will be dog-tucker.
Andrew Little, Winston Peters, Metiria Turei and James Shaw will be able to collectively hang a “bad” TPP agreement around the Government’s neck like the Ancient Mariner’s albatross. Doctors and pharmacists will blame the National Government for the health system’s inability to supply those in need of life-saving drugs. Struggling farmers and manufacturers will condemn it for failing to achieve the promised access to US, Japanese and Canadian markets. Constitutional Lawyers will lament the truncation of democratic authority. Youngsters will resent the lengthening reach and growing ruthlessness of copyright enforcers. By 2017, that TPPA albatross will have swollen into a stinking invitation to vote National out of office.
So why on earth would John Key and Tim Groser sign it?
Well, it’s possible that John Key is just so enamoured of the United States and its President – his good golfing buddy, Barack Obama – that the idea of saying “No” to the TPPA is simply unthinkable. He may believe that his stock of political capital with the New Zealand public is still so huge that signing up to a crappy TPPA, while costly, will not put him in deficit. It may even be the case that the New Zealand ruling class lacks the moral resources to stare down the emissaries of global capital. If so, then National is lost.
But just imagine what the political effect would be if John Key and Tim Groser came home from Maui with grim faces and patriotic words. Picture them on the stage of the Beehive theatrette answering questions from a clamouring crowd of journalists. Consider the impact of Groser intoning, in that irritating professorial manner he has perfected:
“Look, in the end, it just wasn’t good enough. Perhaps we were a little naïve. I was certainly stunned by the blank refusal of the Japanese to negotiate seriously on the question of dairy access. They as good as told us to go home if we didn’t like what was on the table. And here we are.”
Then it’s John Key’s turn:
“It has always been my position, and the position of my government, that a TPPA which failed to deliver real gains for New Zealanders was not worth signing. We’ve waited 30 years for the world to open up its borders in the way New Zealand opened hers in the 1980s, and if necessary we will wait another 30 years. This country will not be bullied into signing an agreement contrary to the interests of its own people. We were not willing to sacrifice Pharmac. Nor were we prepared to compromise this country’s sovereignty. Obviously, we’re disappointed. But there a some lines that a government does not cross.”
With a few, well-chosen, words, Key could place the 2017 General Election beyond the Opposition’s grasp. The Left has been clamouring for New Zealand’s negotiators to reject the TPPA in its current form. But what would happen if they did?
Be careful what you wish for.
[…] – We the patriots – In this scenario, as painted out bleakly by Chris Trotter, Key and Groser can’t get the Dairy restrictions lifted and come home as champions who have […]
Unfortunately all govts are bought anyway. That ought to be obvious to anyone. Talk of left or right is pretty pointless.
I just read John Roughans article on the TPP in the Hearld (I know -what do I expect right?) the heading draws you in, the rest is utter crap, it sickens me.
Hey everyone, it ‘could’ put the prices of meds up a bit etc, etc but whose counting eh?
John Key would sign the TPPA because his handlers would pressure him to do it.they cant have little old NZ way out on its own for china or Russia to pick up ,how can thy get One world order if the theydont make everyone they can join the Terrible Piss Poor Accord.
If Grosser and Key refused to sign or were kicked out, then NZ would meet them at the airport with overwhelming cheers but not for the job they did but with joy at their attempt to even put us in the position of contemplating it and failing,big pats on the head for the dogs they are (appologies to good dogs)
The only reason Key wouldn’t sign is because the corps know they have him by the short and curlies and it would make Key look like the absolute fool he is.
An accord with Russia would be vastly better than the TPPA,better to be in BRICS than in the “proverbial’ with American and UK corps.
Oh, for crying out loud, given the choice between the impermanence of certain political party being in government over the permanent arse reaming that it looks like the TPPA will deliver, I know what I would take.
Jane Kelsy is taking a case to court next week regarding the secretcy of the TPPA,the ombudsman has taken four and a half months to reply,just before the TPPA is supposed to be signed.
This is the3rd attempt to send this comment , but capcha says my math is wrong it isn’t,no good asking why this happens because no one answers.
4-3=1 correct.
2 + 2 = 5
National party Newmaths.
So … what you appear to be saying is that, in the interests of electing a Labour Government, the best outcome would be an agreement which harms New Zealand.
Words fail me.
Yeah, that’s how I read it too.
So to answer the question in the headline: “What if the Government rejects the TPPA?”
Frankly, they’d get rapturous applause from me (well, in between gagging on seeing/hearing The John Key, but that can’t be helped). Democratically elected governments are by definition going to be transitory. These fucking shit trade deals are near permanent millstones on socio-economic progress.
The question is relevant only to those who put party politics before the well being of our country and citizens.
Perhaps that is what you perceive your readers to be.
“Twenty years of plotting and scheming to secure a genuine free trade agreement with the USA”
No such beast Chris, as USA does what’s best for them and no one else my friend, as I said before I was in Canada working when the other USA free trade they designed as “Genuine” called NAFTA and as a result;
CANADIANS HAVE BEEN SMARTING FROM THEIR LOSSES EVER SINCE, SO DONT THINK USA IS A WHITE KNIGHT & WILL OFFER “genuine” free trade to us as that doesn’t enter their minds mate.
Look what NAFTA did to Mexico – now a total basket case. I recently watched a doco on Aljazeera on the damage done to their economy and democracy by NAFTA & the oil companies – very very sad.
If the Nats reject the TPPA it will be a victory for those who hauled it out of obscurity and made us all sit up and take notice – to the point where Key, aided and abetted by his pollsters, had to confront reality. Bring it on!
The National government will sign whatever is put in front of them, because they are too spineless not to and they are too arrogant to admit that they were wrong. So the rest of us will pay for their arrogance.
It only takes six months to exit the TPPA. Let National sign a dog and Little can get us out of it as well as making electoral hay. If he has the stones.
The way I understand it is we cant get out of tppa ever, do you have a reason Stuart for thinking we could get out , I wish and hope you are right but I think the deal is set in concrete in favour of corporations.
No deal ever was made which couldn’t be broken.
It’s just what the consequence of breaking it may be.
Deals are made. Deals are broken. The TPPA could be too.
But I think the negotiating parties will just keep arguing forever and never manage to actually sign anything.
Your understanding is wrong. Article 20.8 of current P4 deal provides for a six month notice period for withdrawal. TPP will have similar or identical provision, as all such deals do.
Hmmm, and penalties for withdrawing? What’s the catch, Matthew?
There is always a catch.
Anyway, you can’t be certain that the TPPA will have such a clause. No one can. Remember – it’s being negotiated in secret.
Only the negotiators know what is in the documents. It is us peasants have been keep in the dark.
That’s what I’m afraid of
Hello, it the political leaders in NZ so pathetic that they are relying on John Key and Grosser to actually commit the country to lose our sovereignty under TPP and much more, so that the ineffectual opposition (Labour who conditionally supports the agreement or at least can’t say NO effectively) so they can change the government?
Fuck that.
If the Nats sign the TPP the opposite will happen, and the Nats will say that Labour supported it too, split the Labour vote, and sail in again as the most hated government in NZ but getting through due to Labour NOT being an effective opposition that can actually say YES or NO to policy. -Only a confusing and worrying MAYBE that screams instability to voters.
And the Greens, I have said before, get a grip and capitalise on your NO policy to TPP – NOW is the time to effectively voice it. Not rabbit on about damp housing and celebrating deaf innovation. (ALL good but focus focus on BIG picture here).
At least Hone in the news with his open letter to Obama and Peters again has the balls to actively say no in public and be active on the issue and with bills in parliament.
Maybe Greens doing this too, but I don’t know because the last email I got from the Greens was about Damp homes and Kids eating chips for lunch.
Under TPP the kids won’t even have a damp home to go to, and it is KFC as an incentive under Charter schools not chips….
It is not to late for both Labour and the Greens to be ACTIVE PUBLICLY with a clear NO message.
There are anti TPP demonstrations, would be nice to see some Labour and Green MP’s there marching under party flags.
Yes I totally agree. Time for Labour to make it completely clear where they stand. And the Greens. And NZ First.
Only one thing for it then. Revolution. Maybe we can call upon TDB to lead on on to a better, brighter future. And maybe one of the first acts of the revolution would be to hold accountable those who got us into this mess. And seize their assets.
Nothing personal of course John, you traitorous b*****d, just business.
For New Zealand; for der glory of der fatherlund . . . . oops, sorry! Got a little carried away there for a mo . . .
Writs of attainder all round – works for me.
Stuart what hell are you talking about and to Who ?????????????
Dude, this is NZ where Kiwi’s struggle to change from TVNZ to another channel because “that’s what I’ve always watched” and buy white Toyota Corolla’s because everyone else does. We are beyond revolution.
Leave Corolla owners out of this … RED Toyota Corolla for us …. 1994 model – it’s done 360,000 km , we’ve spent $400 on it in the past 7 years ( excepting new tyres) it starts every time and it gets us on a regular 500 km trip on half a tank of gas.
REVOLUTIONARY !
My 1986 Corona wagon has done 560 800 Kms and still going strong.
I bought it off the Trade me site for $150 and it had rego warrant and a half a tank of gas and goes like a scarred cat and now we call it the Tokaroa express from where we bought it.
Just drives and drives but we fear TPPA will make driving these old cars illegal too.
If John Key did develope a ‘hard inner core’ wrt TTPA what would he do next? What would be his vision for NZ? That would be the question for the 2017 election and I don’t believe John has an answer.
But I don’t believe it will come to that. At a fundamental personal level John Key is weak. He has not been able to stand up to his own constituents who have been making money hand over fist through the housing crisis. Despite the wider costs to NZ’s economy and society.
Likewise, he will not be able to stand up to his globally connected constituents who will demand the signing of the TTPA. Despite the wider costs to NZ’s economy and society.
At the risk of being seen as picky – TPPA, cheers
Anyone buying in to the spin about Labour being inconsistent on the TPPA should check out (and sign) this open letter. http://go.labour.org.nz/tppa-bottom-lines It is exactly the position that Labour would have had when the process began.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1507/S00317/secrecy-of-tppa-documents-heads-to-court.htm
Good on them. Challenging the lack of transparency and Democracy in this country.
but why oh why does the public have to do the opposition’s job for them – especially when half the opposition are barristers and are being paid to protect the country’s interests.
According to the New York Times, talks have ended for now, with the main sticking point being dairy. NZ, Australia, Chile are demanding more. We are in a very good negotiating position, especially as NZ is the depository and administrator of the TPP. If we don’t get what we want, Obama can’t get his deal with Japan. This puts us in an extraordinarily powerful position over the next few weeks while the final matters are resolved.
See http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/01/business/tpp-trade-talks-us-pacific-nations.html
Do you really believe that Matthew or are you simply echoing your master’s voice?
This isn’t simply about trade . That is a nonsense. As you well know it is about the USA’s hegemony in the South Pacific. It is also about a bulwark against the BRIC country’s and in particular Chinese influence in this region.
We may have a strong bargaining point as you suggest. But the reality is even though ‘dairy may be the sticking point ‘….that neither Key nor Groser are truly driving a particularly hard bargain. One issue after another is being compromised on.
And that is a deliberate move . What better way to get the public onside and show we have some kind ‘ leverage’ or inherent ‘clout ‘than to make much noise of a few issues released to the media while the big issues : Those of loss of economic and legal sovereignty in being able to act in our best interests , poor returns , and a dwindling standard of living comparable to some of the other south east Asian country’s outweigh any ‘advantages’and are kept silent on.
Even more so as not only the public from NZ are not happy with the secretiveness of this TTPA…to draw it out is a way of allaying those public fears and giving the appearance that due negotiations are being truly considered.
When in actual fact these ‘sticking points ‘ are only a minor collection of side issues.
The main thrust of this TTPA is less about trade and more about USA hegemony. And Key is only concerned with that and that only.
Not about this country and the effects the TTPA will have on it long after he is no longer PM.
The man is not to be trusted and neither is Groser.
Hammer hits nail on the head (unlike Key’s attempt).
There is always a desire to be ‘in the club and to be accepted’ but what are we trying to get into? It’s the new world order.
Like our place on the security council – new world order is an exercise in US ass licking.
But then the rapid escalation of our national debt under national has put national between a rock and a hard place – obedience to the world bank and IMF which has it’s own payoff for the politicians who seem content to continue sacrificing our sovereignty and human rights.
However we have been screwed for so long and it has become so normal few recognize this and at the end of the day the ttpa is just another nail in our coffin.
As there has been 130 million spent on lobbying for TPP, who say$ Chris Trotter is immune?
The size and reach of US ‘global’ dominance after the raft of ‘free trade’ agreements were put in place would make politicians and parties irrelevant shades of grey in big brother’s projects
They’ll sign it, then lie through their teeth about its negative consequences and for most of NZ the subject will be too much like hard work to contemplate. And on we will stumble.
We pay huge amounts for electricity more so with privatisation but were promised otherwise by Key.
Key told us his advice from IRD on the governments non contribution to Kiwisaver would not make a blind bit of difference to new savers joining the scheme. Turned out he lied, they said the opposite and turns out it made a huge dent in savers enrolling. And on and on its gone with this government.
I don’t know what Key and co’s real motivation is in this deal but I imagine they personally will do well from it but NZ will not!
personally – if given the choice – i wd rather a no-tpp/4th term nat gummint than/over a yes-tpp/labour govt in ’17..
(mildly interesting fact):..on henrys’ breakfast show last week..two different tpp-polls on two different days showed over 90% opposition to any tpp-deal..
..that had henry tpp-fretting/handwringing all over the place..as he strove/struggled to educate the masses/his clearly disbelieving audience..
..key/national really have a tiger by the tail..(hard to see how they won’t end up getting bitten..whatever the outcome..)
A little bit of history please, the USA was not in the agreement that NZ began, so how was it a scheme for getting a trade agreement with them?
labour/goff invited them in…
My column in yesterday’s NBR explains the background to NZ’s strategy. It is behind the paywall but you can get it free in a smartphone.
http://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/tpp-would-be-triumph-new-zealand-diplomacy
Why not offer it to us for free, as any decent, socially responsible and fair “journalist” would do, Mr Hooton?
I know, the NBR pays you, same as some others, but I have NO faith in mercenary journos and opinion shapers.
So give us your take without this paywall BS, thanks.
I think jonkey was spotted and groomed as soon as he stepped out of the arena of commerce and into the combat zone called the banking “game”. Was he caught in a honey trap or a money trap? I think the latter. This TPPA has been on the cabal’s drawing board for many years and trying to sign a free trade agreement for many years was, I believe, a play within a play – an intended distraction and a softening of the people to an idea. Looking at the build up to this TPPA signing, the banksters have now put/or are finishing putting into place the infrastructure they need (is spying infrastructure?). Are the drill holes in the fault line off the East Coast as innocent as we have been led to believe? Perhaps yes perhaps no. Flag referendum? Has it already been chosen? I put my bet on yes. I’ve been keeping an eye on the the 21 Goals of the Bilderberg.
The cabal needs money – they are actually broke 🙂 and they extort money wherever they can, from governments and from the people of countries they control.
These people don’t play nicely!!!!!!!in themselves or with their products.
I could put in other things, but I would be moderated off and you all know it anyway, don’t you WANNAFLI.
I say Kiwis can fly. I say, times up. I say, no thank you, John. Goodbye. I may not truly understand their true histories and their cultures (don’t really understand my own) but I stand with the BRICS.
Key is champing at the bit to sign, even if its for just 29 pieces of silver. The breakdown in negotiations will hide this fact.
“So why on earth would John Key and Tim Groser sign it?”
The answer, I suspect, is that they were put into government by forces far more powerful than the little old NZ National Party, precisely to do things like make sure the TPP gets signed. It would explain why Labour continues to support the idea of negotiating yet another Low Wage Treaty (even if they are now blowing with the political winds and nit-picking the contents), and why they distanced themselves from (or actively knifed in the back) all their potential supporters in the last couple of elections, all of whom are vocally anti-TPP. If there were corporate-aligned forces which can swing elections in a milk powder republic like NZ, any party which is serious about being part of the government would have to get with the neo-liberal austerity program (which makes me worry about the Greens, but that’s another story…)
the wires are reporting the talks have fallen over….
..canadas’ intransigence on dairy cited as major reason..
..did we just miss a bullet..?
Great news Philip Ure, Canada and now NZ say the deal was not good enough, but I don’t think NZ would have jibbed it if Canada hadn’t.All good news and Jane Kelsy has a court case this week about the secret negotiations, lets hope it stops NZs efforts to sign.
Go for it Jane .
capcha 2×3 =6
Things don’t look too good for selling milk in the USA anyway. Bloomberg reports that milk dumped into the ground in the USA has increased from 4.8 million pounds in May 2014 to 7.9 million pounds(3950 tons) in May 2015.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-01/milk-spilled-into-manure-pits-as-supplies-overwhelm-u-s-dairies
If cow milk is going to be eaten by humans at all, it should be eaten raw, or in a cultured form (cheese, yoghurt, keffir etc), from a farm within a day’s driving distance of the person eating it. The reality of global trade in dairy is the same as the global trade in wheat, soy, and corn; shipping an inedible white powder from one country to another, to be used as filler in unhealthy junk “food”, which corrodes public health wherever it’s consumed (increasing the incidence of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer etc etc).
Now I’m not against convenience “foods” or confectioneries as an occasional treat, but why waste fossil fuels and spew carbon from container ships to carry their raw materials half way across the world, when an equivalent edible filler material can always be produced in the country where they’re consumed? The only ones benefiting from this are the investors who own the shipping companies, and the industrial food companies who facilitate this pointless swapping of white powder from A to B and B to A.
I’m not against international trade either, as long as its in things that can’t be produced everywhere (eg coffee), and its fair to all parties, not neo-colonial strip-mining of countries’ productive capacity to benefit corporations. This kind of trade doesn’t need Low Wage Treaties to force countries into “free trade”, which is nothing of the sort.
If there was some reason whereby the deal goes so noticeably against NZ – and that would only be in a very overt way that becomes widely known to the general public….
Then the other angle being that instead of being welcomed back and spouting off ‘patriotic speeches ‘ – it just might be more a case of ” why did you idiots subject NZ to this colossal risk in the first place if you had reason to believe it wouldn’t work? ”
”And how much cost to the NZ public are we talking here for this failed mission ?” .
Frankly I do not believe it will fail. This TTPA is more than just a ‘ trade deal ‘. The trade part is simply a front to the real motive , – that of USA hegemony in the South Pacific.
This is far more than a collective of corporate’s haggling for business at an international level.
The very fact corporate’s are involved in drawing up terms and ratified by Congress tells you that this is simply an extension of USA foreign policy. This is the ‘ sanitizing process’. Which for public consumption is deliberately designed to give the impression it is nothing more than a trading document.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
This again…is about USA hegemony in the South Pacific. And this whole thing is a bulwark against Chinese growing influence in the South Pacific. Its that simple.
Only a fool would design an aggressive foreign policy that had an obvious military component to it in an effort to dissuade China’s desire for influence in the South Pacific. Hence – a trade deal that ties in nations by corporate threat if independent nations buck the terms.
The USA knows it has the upper hand and nothing to fear …whereas small country’s like NZ do.
But Key has a number of motives to ensure we are part of the TTPA . One is the 5 eyes spy network. The other is what Chris Trotter mentioned – if China’s economy starts to falter – our produce isn’t threatened. However …as we now see…both Japan and the USA are hedging on our dairy produce.
This is the Achilles heel.
The deviousness that is unspoken though to the public is how this TTPA will affect us…and those effects are going to disadvantage us monumentally. Such as autonomy as a sovereign state to make decisions in our best interests …any perceived ‘advantage ‘ of being part of this secretive TTPA will soon become apparent when our legal rights are stripped and our country has no protections against corporate’s dictating what we buy and for how much , or what we sell – and that also includes our very land.
We literally will be a country up for grabs to the lowest bidder because of the ideology of neo liberal politicians such as Key. Any dispute about the sale of land to foreign interests be they corporate or individual will have no legal mechanisms by which to defend our interests .
You will find when this TTPA is signed finally that John Key will then vacate the office of PM. This TTPA has been why he was selected as the ‘ soft image ‘ for National after Don Brash’s Orewa speech. It was also Don Brash who made the infamous quip about NZ’s anti nuke policy being ‘ gone by lunchtime ‘…
For years NZ’s anti – nuke policy stood in the way of a USA military presence as part of the 5 eye spy network and the old ANZUS …this TTPA , however circumvents this and if people see it for what it really is…it is a lot more than about trade. Far more.
Left vs. Right
Washington vs. Tokyo
Labour vs. National
Trade agreement vs. no trade agreement
Lets think beyond labels and us against them, and a few half truths. It has been made very clear why Groser and Key are supportive of this TPPA.
CORPORATE GREED — CORPORATE CONTROL — no respect for sovereignty and human and environmental rights.
Most politicians have been bought and are are just mouthpiece puppets
for the following link listing some of the worldwide corporations who pay huge bucks to lobbyists etc. to get tppa passed. This is a worldwide corporate thing – not just the US pushing it alone.
Chris, we will be just fine without this horrific trade agreement. We trade now and will continue to, but we need to grow it and do it ethically and justly and tppa is neither – for the most part. We need sound and good leadership in this country who are not going to be bought up by corporate interests and big pay offs and schmoozing wine soaked fancy dinners on Maui.
Seek out and read about and listen more to Bernie Sanders ; Elizabeth Warren ; Noam Chomsky; Ralph Nader ; Ken O’Keefe; Lee Camp; Rosa Koire; Max Keiser; CHRIS HEDGES ! ! ! ; Jesse Ventura ; Glenn Greenwald and Alan Watt ETC. . . and hear what they have to say about TPPA.
More research ? ! ? . . . . !
http://www.flushthetpp.org/tpp-corporate-insiders/
Does anyone seriously believe that if Key signs the TPP a Labour Party would unsign it?
I don’t think so.
I think most here understand Labour aren’t exactly opposed to it. And that Labour are just National Lite.
And I don’t think it can be “unsigned”. But it can be broken. With consequences.
The TPP will have the same withdrawal provisions of any similar treaty – usually six months notice, as in current P4 deal on which TPP is based.
It seems the real news have overtaken this posting. Indeed Groser and the government seem to be in between a rock and a hard place now. They would be damned if they sign a useless TPPA, offering NADA for the dairy farmers and even higher medication costs, they would be damned if they do not sign a deal.
But tonight it seems, Groser is realising, he better not sign, as that will lose him his last tiny bit of credibility. Rather go home empty handed, and make at least a claim, saying, we could not sign it, as it offered us far too little, rather than sign it and be declared public enemy number one.
He never won the New Lynn electorate, we know why, so he got his list job, as MP, and a senior post fitting a privileged prick from better educational and social background, as trade minister.
Groser was breathing through his nostrils, rather heavily and nearly choked it seems, at Maui on the Hawaiian Islands. There he was stuck, between the heavier weights, from Japan, the US, Canada and some other nations, even Mexico. They all want their advantages, so few had time for NZ dairy, which is for most nations a sideline business matter.
Fact is, New Zealand only produces about 2 percent of ALL global dairy output, but is one significant exporter. Most larger nations look after their own farmers and make sure they deliver the milk and so they need, from Europe to Canada, the US to Japan and elsewhere.
It is somewhat ignorant, for New Zealanders to consider themselves a “global player”, when we only produce two percent of all dairy products. That is hardly a size to put other players under pressure with. It is rather insignificant, which the dairy dominant business sector and the single minded government does not like to admit.
People here are led to believe NZ is powerful in dairy, but even the Chinese rather import NZ or other cows and cattle, and breed their own enhanced stock from it, so they become more independent.
So we are really just another producer, struggling for access to larger markets, but most cannot bother with allowing it. Even the China NZ FTA has been over-cooked, as it will not maintain the large benefits NZers had hoped for.
So we face the revenge now, of poor economic planning and organisation, well there is tourism, and education, so we can sell more beer and services to tourists here, served by servants, we can sell more real estate to Chinese and other investors, and become tenants in our own land, we can teach more students how to do things and speak English, and give them a fast track invitation to also immigrate, to contribute to “growth”, I suppose.
That is apparently the only “growth” we will have for some time, by immigration increasing demand for consumer goods, homes and services, and little else. Maybe allow more immigration, there are millions keen to get out of Bangla Desh, India, China, Nigeria, Syria, and numerous other countries, I suppose the sky is the limit for “growth” in Aotearoa NZ.
Mr Trotter, you are plain negative, when it comes to the opposition, yes, they have work to do, but to simply allow the government to get away with what you suggest, that is plain stupid, irresponsible.
The size of the efforts and investment the government has made, in risking political capital, on this, is immense. The situation we have today is a total embarrassment for Groser and Key, it is a serious loss.
The big boys told Groser where to go and take a hike, none less, his smart arsed comments to the media were just more private school boy bully wannabe intellectualism, failing at the lowest criteria to pass.
Groser is a smart arsed little shit, my view that is, he has failed, he was having a huge challenge to master, but he failed, he is not fit to be minister for trade one more minute, and he deserves to resign, or be sacked.
So do not give this hypothetical scenario any air or time, as it surely will NOT decide the election in 2017.
Go and get some fresh air, please, go and hit the outdoors for a change, get out of that sicklish, polluted Auckland air, and get a life, please.
Canada is very protectionist of their dairy industry too, how do we know it’s not them that are being refusniks?
50ggt of methane could burst out of the Arctic at anytime. The Arctic is heading for a blue water event possibly by September 2015, making the 50ggt burp more than locked in and soon. That means Near Term Human Extinction by runaway global warming. The USA is on its way to drill baby drill up there. Before we fry/starve/and eat each other due to global warming I would like to see the arseholes from the rich lists around the world pulling all the strings behind the scenes, (including muppet FJK) with their heads mounted on a wall, RIP Cecil. So just for once in my life I could witness the fuckers who pushed trashing this planet for profit being over turned and seen for what they really are parasites and earth plunderers, they are farming us idiots also, through power prices, food, shit wages, even prisoners…why are we letting them do this to the planet it’s biodiversity and us? Look at the big picture, life on earth is dying, our time is up, and we are still trying to send milk powder to the other side of the planet, idiots the fucken lot of them. This is irresponsible use of land and water and oil transporting tankers. I find all this posturing by stupid white men hammering out dumb deals just ridiculous. I bet USA will mega tanker our fresh water off to the other side of the planet soon as global fresh water is being depleted. Why are we polluting it with cows shit? I really think NZ is possibly retarded, maybe to many knocks to the head playing rugby. Please read the Robertscribbler.com site and see what is happening out there.
P.s the USA is a disgusting morally bankrupt cesspool why aren’t we looking after our own precious resources for us. if we sign this deal they will wipe their fat white arses on NZ like they do with any country who has something they want/need, that is a country that kills people around the world for what it’s greedy mouth wants. And the USA propoganda news readers here will read the lines and not mention the slaughter of NZ by the USA when it happens ( our heroes who brainwash the world). So we probably wont even know it’s happening and no one will hear us squeaking at the end of the world and no one will care just like we don’t when the USA drops bombs from drones and calls them terrorists on the spews news. See how crazy the system is?! Or is it just me?! The stakes are very high right now at the end times, and sleepy NZ doesn’t seem to see what is around the corner ready to smash us over. Also a monster El Nino coming next summer that will be interesting. I don’t have high hopes that the powers that be have our blessed little interests at heart. Someone had to say it…at least I as an artist am not making news by talking about the flag they want the glory of designing eg Dick and Ottis Frizzel or like Grahame Sydney wants to change the national anthem what a nerd or some other artist on RNZ who wants the Kiwi icon changed to the Fantail bird. Wow what a cute little bubble those artists must be living in. Rant over! Have a nice day. Only love remains. Business as usual, foot to the floor straight off the cliff. Over and out. That’s all folks.
THE PENNY HAS FINALLY DROPPED.
The TPPA isn’t about trade. The TPPA is only one skin of the onion. It’s about CONTROL by air, sea, land and surveillance.
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