There is no doubt the new government has been working hard to achieve some protection for NZ from ISDS in the TPPA. But is asking the other parties for side-letters, similar to the one signed by Australia and NZ, saying they won’t let their investors use the TPPA’s investor-enforcement mechanism against us a solution?
This is the time for action. It is time to hold the new government to account through every avenue you have available.
The TPPA is a brilliant stealth attack by the tech industry, often symbolised by the acronym GAFA (Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple). In recent years, they have massively increased their lobbying presence in the US. This year Google is the top corporate spender on lobbying in the US, dishing out US$6 million in just three months.
‘Yesterday’s announcement that the new government has heeded widespread concerns and taken investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) off the table in…
Labour risks being bulldozed on TPPA-11, ignoring own view that the deal lacks merit ‘There is an imminent risk that…
Next Monday officials from the eleven remaining TPPA parties will reconvene in Japan. They will continue working through a list of 50 items that different countries want to put on ice unless and until the US re-joins. Relatively few of those items have been settled.
‘Before the new government can decide its position on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), including whether it would genuinely boost…
‘The new government of Labour, New Zealand First and the Greens will have to move fast if they are going…
The most important first step is get the government to adopt a moratorium on future negotiations until it conducts a full open review of the implications of these agreements, including the risks of investor-state disputes. But that will only happen if ‘we the people’ force them to do so.
It is now certain that any decisions on the future of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) minus the US will take place after the election. Last week’s meeting of the negotiators from the remaining 11 TPPA countries rebuffed the National government’s wish to proceed with the agreement basically unchanged aside from new provisions for its entry into force.