“It’s time Jacinda Ardern stood with Justin Trudeau and pushed for a better deal for New Zealanders, following Canada’s stand for better provision for workers, the environment and cultural protections,” says ActionStation campaigner Rick Zwaan.
“The TPPA-11 would likely have been finalised yesterday but for the fact that Canada stood their ground. It is very disappointing that the Labour-led government was willing to sign New Zealand up to the TPPA-11 without giving the public a chance to have their say.” says Stephen Parry, spokesperson for It’s Our Future.
“Labour was highly critical of the National-led government for negotiating the TPPA without proper public consultation, but they have done exactly that by yesterday endorsing the TPPA-11. Fortunately for us, Canada’s position has put the TPPA-11 on hold for the foreseeable future, and Labour has another chance to do things properly.” says Stephen.
“We’re calling on the Labour-led government to conduct robust public consultation and independent economic analysis of the revised agreement before signing us up to it. If they don’t commit to listening to the public, then we should walk away from the contract which favours big business above people, and which Jacinda Ardern has described as ‘a dog’,” says Rick.
“Hundreds of thousands of people around the world have spent years calling for a trade agreement which puts people and our planet before big business. It’s time we got on with doing that” says Rick.
ActionStation and partner campaign group It’s Our Future have campaigned for a number of years against the TPPA in it’s current form, raising concerns about how it puts big business interests before everyday people and our precious planet.
“In the last week and a half, over 7,000 people have signed an open letter to Jacinda Ardern urging her to people and our precious planet first in TPPA-11 talks. We’re hoping she responds to our concerns” says Rick.
Earlier in the week giant billboards, playing on Labour’s Election hoardings, appeared around the country – crowdfunded by hundreds of everyday New Zealanders.
