New papers show TPPA will threaten climate change laws AND rob Maori sovereignty rights
The Government said that the TPPA would be fully debated in Parliament.
Then it turns out they were planning to sign it a week before Parliament was even open.
The Government said the TPPA wouldn’t be signed in Auckland on the 4th of February.
Then admitted that was a lie and it is being signed in Auckland.
The Government said it wouldn’t be signed at the SkyCity Casino.
Then admitted that was a lie and it is being signed at SkyCity.
The Government have claimed the TPPA won’t stop Maori having their Sovereignty and Treaty rights respected.
Turns out that is a lie as well, new papers show…
KEY POINTS
• ‘With each instrument that it signs up to, the Crown has less freedom in how it can provide for and protect Māori, their tino rangatiratanga, and their interests in such diverse areas as culture, economic development and the environment.’ (Waitangi Tribunal, WAI-262, 2012)• The TPPA fetters the sovereignty of New Zealand governments and has the potential to chill their future decisions, including those relating to Māori under te Tiriti o Waitangi, He Wakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga (Declaration of Independence), the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and as a matter of public policy and social justice.
• The TPPA conflicts with Māori rights and Crown obligations under te Tiriti and the UNDRIP. The Crown’s prior commitment to indigenous peoples’ right to self-government and political autonomy and their right to the recognition, observance and enforcement of treaties should
have informed the negotiation of the TPPA.• Because the TPPA has the potential to impact on hapu and iwi and their resources, it requires informed consent, or at the least a robust bona fide engagement so Māori views are fully incorporated into decision making.
• Despite the Wai 262 report saying the Crown’s then policies and practices did not comply with the Treaty, and too often came after decisions were made, there was no credible attempt to engage with Māori as the Crown’s Treaty Partner before or during the TPPA negotiations.
• Several chapters guarantee foreign states and their commercial interests the right to participate in New Zealand’s domestic decisions, while Māori as tangata whenua have no similar guarantees.
• Rights of Māori relating to Intellectual Property (IP), biodiversity, and environmental law and policy, guaranteed through te Tiriti o Waitangi and the UNDRIP, could be significantly affected by the TPPA.
• The IP chapter strengthens the rights of holders of state-recognized intellectual property rights, a form of intellectual property that has generally not protected mātauranga Māori and the rights of kaitiaki and has, in many cases, undermined those rights.
• Despite the Treaty of Waitangi exception, the provisions in the IP chapter will make it more difficult for Māori to achieve changes to New Zealand IP law that are necessary to protect rights and obligations of kaitiaki in relation to mātauranga Māori.
• Commercialisation of the mātauranga associated with genetic and biological resources, and of the resources themselves, can compromise the kaitiaki relationship and put the Crown in breach of Treaty principles. Yet the importance of conservation and biological diversity in theTPPA is framed by an objective of facilitating use of biological and genetic resources.
• The Environment chapter provides general commitments to environmental protection, specific detail on a small number of environmental issues, and some procedural mechanisms for cooperation between parties. But there is nothing that reflects Waitangi Tribunal recommendations to strengthen Māori participation in environmental decision-making, planning and management, including under the Resource Management Act.
• The UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples singled out investment chapters of agreements like the TPPA and investor-state dispute settlement as a risk to indigenous rights and a constraint on their ability to gain remedies.
• The TPPA leaves the rights and interests of Māori vulnerable to foreign states and corporations who have no obligations under te Tiriti or the UNDRIP, and who will have a legal right to pursue their interests through private international mechanisms. This may further undermine the willingness of governments to implement Tribunal recommendations for fear of legal action.
• The Treaty exception is limited in scope and relies on the good will of the government to protect Māori rights, which repeated Waitangi Tribunal reports show it has failed to do.
• The government has made far-fetched claims regarding the economic gains to New Zealand, and to Māori because of their significant presence in natural resource sectors of the economy. Those figures are not supported by evidence and ignore the tangible and intangible costs of the TPPA to Māori.
• The TPPA’s economic model is based on trade liberalisation, monopoly rights to own exploit intellectual property, and privileged rights for foreign investors, and will not serve a future Māori economic development agenda that is built around core Māori values, commitment to environmental sustainability, and tino rangatiratanga.
• The Waitangi Tribunal will hold an urgent hearing in March 2016 on a claim that the TPPA is inconsistent with te Tiriti, focusing on the Crown’s processes and whether the Treaty of Waitangi exception fully protects Māori using 3 studies: fracking, affordable medicines, and water. The Crown has refused to defer further action on the TPPA until the claim is resolved.
The Government have claimed the TPPA won’t stop climate change legislation.
Turns out that is a lie as well…
KEY POINTS
• The environment is a significant casualty under the TPPA.• Adopting the lens of the foreign investor when making broad governance changes through the TPPA has sidelined the opportunity to properly integrate management of the economy with management of other domains – such as the environment. The overall result for environmental governance is window dressing on the upside, and serious threats on the downside.
• In marked contrast to TPPA chapters that involve core commercial areas such as intellectual property, the environment chapter sets almost no new standards, with each partner country essentially left to set its own.
• A failed US proposal to have seven UN multilateral environmental agreements made enforceable by the TPPA would have created new problems, especially by opening the way to ‘forum shopping’.
• Parties are required to implement provisions in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, but this UN treaty does not provide a legally enforceable prohibition on trade in illegally sourced timber, wildlife, and marine resources and the TPPA does not fix this.
• Two forms of fishing subsidy that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing are eliminated under the TPPA, but no similar progress has been made on the overarching issue of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
• The TPPA’s enforcement provisions are very similar to those first developed for the US/Peru FTA, and it is continued violations of Peru’s obligations under that agreement have become the case study in how enforcement of such environmental protections has failed.
• When challenged on the need for ISDS provisions, ministers promoting the TPPA repeatedly stated that there would be no restraint on a government’s ability to regulate in the public interest. What the TPPA has delivered are provisions that completely fail to protect governments from being sued when taking such action.
• The risk that a government could be successfully sued means the ISDS provisions would have a ‘chilling effect’ on a government’s willingness to undertake progressive environmental reform. This favours retaining low standards when these need to rise markedly.
• There is a gross asymmetry in the rights and means accorded organisations that would seek to protect the commons for the public good, and rights and means accorded foreign investors to protect private wealth.
• The section on climate change contains two impotent paragraphs that do not mention the words “climate change” nor the relevant global treaty, the UNFCCC. The aspirations contained in the newly minted Paris agreement (made under the UNFCCC) are entirely disconnected from what the parties are willing to sign for in a treaty that carries trade sanctions as a penalty for non-performance.
• The TPPA provides assistance to GMO exporting countries by making it harder for other countries to independently regulate GM foods. A combination of information requirements, the TPPA’s dispute procedures, and new working groups, together amount to a significant new level of pressure on TPPA governments to accept GM foods under ‘mutual recognition’ standards – those of the exporter.
Throughout this entire fiasco the Government have lied through their teeth. This is not a free trade deal it is a forced trade deal, a geopolitical leash to control us and put us forever in America’s sphere of influence to stop China gaining power in the Pacific. It creates an upper house to our Parliament ruled by American Corporates.
As climate change threatens our very existence this Government is signing a deal to stop us from being able to pass laws to stop that.
As Maori face more and more inequality, the Government is signing a deal 2 days before Waitangi Day to rob them of their sovereignty.
As NZers struggle to make ends meet, the Government signs a deal that will push our medicine costs up.
As NZers try to use the internet to conquer the tyranny of distance and open new markets, the Government sign a deal that gives corporate Hollywood even more power to dictate copyright terms.
Dear NZ – you have been conned and lied to about the TPPA from the beginning. The fight back starts now, this is a war as every bit real as any threat NZ has ever faced, except this time most of our own Political system is helping the enemy.
You can fight back Tuesday next week at the Town Hall and on the 4th of February.
Is there any possibility of backing out of this deal later down the track? Sadly I suspect that is not an option at all, this government has trapped us into something for the foreseeable future..
Also the idea of Maori sovereignty is bullshit. One nation, one people please.
One nation, one people please……….?????? In a ‘perfect world’ maybe..!!
But the last 200 odd years of history in this country that is clearly not working out…….(don’t get me started)
As for mr keys secret deal with his ex work chums and his new golfing bud… How is the time to take to the streets and bang the drum to cause all manner of ruckus at every step till mr key and co have there pastports canceled or do some jail time…..!!!!
Are you related to Pauline Hannson?
That must be a yes
Or Sir Apirana Ngata?
Sam…… I guess they didn’t get it………!!!!
Guess not many people brush up on 90’s Australian politics for 200 points
No, there is NO possibility of backing out of this deal, the corporations have forseen that and have written it into the agreement that no incoming govt can change the TPPA. We have been sold out, when will the people understand that? This is sickening, I worry for my grandchildren. Effectively, we will be ruled by American corporations.
Straight to the point, Totally Agreed. This Must be Stopped.
That’s quite wrong. Any future government can pull out of the deal under the following article:
Article 30.6: Withdrawal
1. Any Party may withdraw from this Agreement by providing written notice of withdrawal to the Depositary. A withdrawing Party shall simultaneously notify the other Parties of its withdrawal through the contact points.
2. A withdrawal shall take effect six months after a Party provides written notice to the Depositary under paragraph 1, unless the Parties agree on a different period. If a Party withdraws, this Agreement shall remain in force for the remaining Parties.
The source for this is https://www.mfat.govt.nz/assets/_securedfiles/trans-pacific-partnership/text/30.-final-provisions-chapter.pdf
To my knowledge, neither Labour, the Greens nor NZ First have said if they will invoke this provision if they become government next year.
Mr Hooton you know this is nonsense. If the deal is signed and ratified, NZ pulling out would trigger a trade war with those remaining inside the deal. You are purposely muddying the waters without acknowledging the consequences of pulling out once signed.
The consequences of pulling out would be extremely negative because the benefits of being in are so great. But it is wrong to say a new government elected in September 2017 couldn’t have us out of the TPP by April 2018.
“But it is wrong to say a new government elected in September 2017 couldn’t have us out of the TPP by April 2018.”
Actually, it’s not wrong at all, Mr Hooton. If the cost of pulling out of the TPPA is destructive to our economy, then by de fault we are compelled to stay in.
It’s like contract law, in reverse. A contract isn’t valid if signed under duress. Under the TPPA, leaving the Agreement is prevented, under duress of negative economic consequences.
Seems fairly clear to me.
It’s more wrong to claim a Government can simply walk away from the deal once its signed and ratified.
The ONLY thing a trade agreement should be about is trade, ie, you buy my stuff and I’ll buy yours, anything else, like foreigners owning land, foreigners being able to become landlords to us, foreign companies operating here and anything else similar like mining etc IS. NOT. TRADE.
Correct Rae. It is colonisation, NOT trade.
Damn, I upvoted XPS’s silly comment by mistake.
“One nation, one people”, my ass. Wasn’t that Hitler’s populist rhetoric?
Newsflash XPS. We have a Treaty, and its the reason you live here, and it is the reason you can call yourself a New Zealander (unless you are Maori… somehow I suspect you aint).
Yes XPS, a future government can withdraw anytime it likes. The relevant article is:
Article 30.6: Withdrawal
1. Any Party may withdraw from this Agreement by providing written notice of withdrawal to the Depositary. A withdrawing Party shall simultaneously notify the other Parties of its withdrawal through the contact points.
2. A withdrawal shall take effect six months after a Party provides written notice to the Depositary under paragraph 1, unless the Parties agree on a different period. If a Party withdraws, this Agreement shall remain in force for the remaining Parties.
The source for this is: https://www.mfat.govt.nz/assets/_securedfiles/trans-pacific-partnership/text/30.-final-provisions-chapter.pdf
So far, to my knowledge, neither Labour nor the Greens nor NZ First have said whether or not they would make use of Article 30.6 if they formed a government at the end of next year.
Mr Hooton you know this is nonsense. If the deal is signed and ratified, NZ pulling out would trigger a trade war with those remaining inside the deal. You are purposely muddying the waters without acknowledging the consequences of pulling out once signed.
Anatoly Golytsyn a RUSSIAN DEFECTOR – said in his book “NEW LIES FOR OLD” – that the WEST would have COMMUNISM forced on it under the guise of FREE TRADE.
FREE TRADE is COMMUNISM. Obama was Communist trained.
Socialism from the Left under CLARK for ten years and then FASCISM from KEY – forces the SHEEP to pick COMMUNISM as their saviour…..the Synthetic choice forced on you.
Yes you are directly right – all your rights under the Bill of Rights and the Constitution are under direct threat – under COMMUNISM you have NO RIGHTS.
Now you know why Cullen and his gang of thugs were secretly changing our constitution – manipulating it and ensuring that anything protecting your rights to FREEDOM – Bill of Rights, Magna Carta and or the TREATY were eradicated.
The FLAG change – when the Union jack is gone – so are your RIGHTS as Promised when we signed up to the CROWN PROTECTIONS written into the TREATY – that were for ALL NEW ZEALANDERS not just MAORI.
This answers the direct question for me as to why our government has REFUSED to investigate my legitimate complaints relating directly to breaches of Rights to Due process, invasion of privacy, illegal and unlawful search and seizure and direct attacks on rights to own property. Which are now clearly already GONE…….
if you look at the attacks on the USA Constitution we see the same – the exact same attacks are occurring – under the TPPA – to get away with UNITED NATIONS COMMUNISM you have to remove the people right to Self Defence.
Under COMMUNISM you have NO RIGHT to SELF DEFENCE – if you understand this – that is why there is a push to take away your firearms – under COMMUNISM you are NOT permitted to own guns – for they give you FREEDOM from OPPRESSION.
More recently there were attacks on my credibility again = with false accusations that I was a racist, an isis supporter and a mental case not fit to own my guns – the filthy spy who tried to set me up was exposed and I won that round of intimidation and bullying by those corrupted in power – they want total control over you – by a FEW – its as simple as that – and COMMUNISM in the FORM of FREE TRADE is exactly that – COMMUNISM.
The only thing currently stopping this is the law of the land – Common Law which is defined by CULTURE – by Human beings – for the push currently is to rule the WORLD under the law of the sea – admiralty law – Piracy – the law of the Currents and Sea – CURRENCY…..A bankers trick…….FREE TRADE COMMUNISM
I’m afraid to say I concur with those who suggested you might be unfit to possess firearms…
@ HORNET – WTF is that rant all about. I’ve read it several times to try and get the gist of it and still no luck. I’ve been left behind somewhere here I think, missing the point completely!
By the way, (if you aren’t a farmer), why on earth do you want to own guns (plural)? Guns are designed to do two things, maim and kill! From your post, I wouldn’t think you are a suitable person to be in possession of any kind of weapon, let alone firearms!
Whatever it all means, of one thing I’m absolutely certain – Hornet has less than no idea of what either communism or socialism are.
Totally agree Elle,felt he was as right wing as Don Brash he just did a better job of disgusing it.;He don’t fool me or you
I am sick of reading generalisations such as “Several chapters guarantee foreign states and their commercial interests the right to participate in New Zealand’s domestic decisions…”
The text of the agreement is online. Can you please quote chapter and clause numbers so we can see exactly what you mean by statements such as this.
Well hang on SGTHREE, what say you quote chapter and clause numbers so we can see exactly what evidence you have to prove your point!
The Government have claimed the TPPA won’t affect our health and won’t make medicines more expensive.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/294244/public-health-assoc-critical-of-govt-support-for-tpp
New Zealanders have abandoned their commonsense and slipped into a gormless stupor, no longer able to recognise a snake-tongued politician until it bites them. There was a time when the abilitity to spot a fraud came naturally to us, you couldn’t pull the wool over our eyes.
What happened?
Come on man. They forget real easy. More than half of all New Zealanders spend 100% of there income. There just to busy being poor.
If you look at our greatest champion against the TPP, Jane Kelsy. She’s like a genius, reads every bit of paper on this and more subjects, writes submissions, organises the hell out of people for interviews, research. She probably does the job of 5-6 full time lawyers researching and presenting her findings about TPP.
And that’s what it takes to be able to take on miss information and lies, you have to fight it with the truth. You have to be born with this kind of academic ability. If we could develop these kinds of attributes then every one would have them and be able to take on the biggest corporations on the planet including the U.S (who aren’t shy to blow the living day lights out of some one)
What happened was things got real expensive
Well said Blake……… I guess maybe 1.4 mil new residents with a different viewpoint on what NZ is all about coupled with the manipulation of politics to where Neo Lib B/S is the norm……. Very said……… the only way out in my view is a mass rally every week in Auck, Well and ChCh cbd with some people camping out to hold the space from week to week until enough people wake up to the lies of key and co. Take our country back…!!!
@ Blake General – you state
“New Zealanders have abandoned their commonsense and slipped into a gormless stupor, no longer able to recognise a snake-tongued politician until it bites them.”
True. I think you can also add NZers have also abandoned their self respect, pride and dignity, in allowing and tolerating the abuse dished out by FJK over the past seven years without serious challenge!
FJK won’t listen to what Kiwis are saying, because he’s working for his foreign (US) corporate masters for personal favours. At the same time, he’s also manipulating msm to dance to his tune. So it’s time we gave him a message he’s unlikely to forget, through forceful protest and if it means becoming strongly assertive, then so be it. It’s the only way now. Being nice through the ballot box and politely requesting he hears the people out certainly isn’t working.
The streets people, the streets! The collective challenge of people power is the only weapon we have, capable of wiping the arrogant, self absorbed smirk of his smug face quickly!
Still 50% of NZers like him and MSM are still in love with him?
‘As climate change threatens our very existence this Government is signing a deal to stop us from being able to pass laws to stop that’
Yes, climate change -better referred to as planetary meltdown these days since it is accelerating at a phenomenal rate- does threaten continued existence of the human species (along with most others).
The Permian Extinction Event -a natural event caused by release of CO2 by volcanoes that took place over thousands of years- wiped out about 90% of life on Earth. And present economic arrangements are geared to destabilising geochemical systems via CO2 emissions much, much faster than occurred during the Permian Extinction Event.
The fact is, the present economic system cannot operate without destroying the long-term habitability of the Earth because the present economic system is totally dependent on burning fossil fuels and generating massive amounts of pollution. Anyone who says we can make steel or concrete or run complex transport and manufacturing systems without generating staggering amounts of CO2 is grossly ignorant. Or a liar.
The only strategy that has any possibility of stopping climate change (and it’s probably far too late already because of the extraordinarily high CO2 concentration already in the atmosphere and oceans) is to shut down the globalised industrial economic system immediately. The atmospheric CO2 concentration is now the highest ever and is rising at the fastest rate ever (3.1ppm per annum). Every day that passes the predicament gets worse. Or rather is made worse.
The most interesting aspect of the predicament we are in is that the industrialised global economic system is a self-annihilating system, and attempts to expand it simply compound all its inherent falws, thereby shortening the life of the industrialised global system as well shortening life-as-we-know-it on Earth.
No one (other than a tiny mionority of well informed people) is willing to even talk about such matters, let alone do anything about them.
TPPA will simply exacerbate every aspect of the predicament we are trapped in until the global economic system collapses -which it most certainly will fairly soon because the global economic system consumes or destroys every aspect required for it to persist.
The sabotaging of the futures of every child in NZ (and everywhere else) by the maniacs in power will continue because scientific illiteracy and financial illiteracy are the norm in western societies and are particularly prevalent amongst politicians and bureacrats.
For those with undying faith in the utterly fucked system, then the TPPA might be worth fighting.
But at this extremely late stage in the scheme of things it doesn’t matter.
You will need to understand exactly how utterly fucked we all are, which means doing some research, and opening you eyes/brains.
The TPPA would be like the leaders on Easter Island agreeing to do X Y or Z to save their people from starving and reverting to cannibalism. Or the passengers in steerage on the Titanic agreeing not to push.
Global trade is about over, humans can’t do a bloody thing to reduce the inevitable extinction of most of life on this rock – Near Term Extinction … is NEAR )
We can not trade deal our way out of 402 – 700? ppm CO2e
The situation is so bad now, that even if we had a global nuclear war, the end result would be the same as if we all left the planet tonight, taking all our nuclear toys with us.
The Human asteroid hit the planet upwards of 10,000 years ago (when we went agricultural), we are just waiting for the inevitable.
How apt that the signing will take place in a casino.
For those with undying faith in the utterly fucked system, then the TPPA might be worth fighting.
But at this extremely late stage in the scheme of things it doesn’t matter.
You will need to understand exactly how utterly fucked we all are, which means doing some research, and opening you eyes/brains.
The TPPA would be like the leaders on Easter Island agreeing to do X Y or Z to save their people from starving and reverting to cannibalism. Or the passengers in steerage on the Titanic agreeing not to push.
Global trade is about over, humans can’t do a bloody thing to reduce the inevitable extinction of most of life on this rock – Near Term Extinction … is NEAR )
We can not trade deal our way out of 402 – 700? ppm CO2e
The situation is so bad now, that even if we had a global nuclear war, the end result would be the same as if we all left the planet tonight, taking all our nuclear toys with us.
The Human asteroid hit the planet upwards of 10,000 years ago (when we went agricultural), we are just waiting for the inevitable.
+100 – it is not even about stopping China gaining control of the Pacific – they want them to join, one big unhappy family into a nightmare scenario run by corporate lawyers where the law is not about human rights but company profits!
TPP is for the 0.0001% of super wealthy individuals and corporations that do not want to be reformed and want to keep all the money and profits going unfettered into the 22nd century. That means with increasing inequality and less middle class consumers able to consume enough – going after governments to guarantee their profits and do their bidding in copywrite, big pharma, climate change, finance, food, real estate, employment….
We are already seeing corporate welfare in NZ dominating government decisions at the detriment of NZ citizens.
Even the most opportunistic scenarios paints the TPP as a pathetic deal for NZ farmers and a nightmare for everyone else.
As human activities have no bearing on climate change, using it as an argument to oppose something actually has the opposite effect in that it turns people away from your point of view. 2000 years ago the sea level was 60 meters lower than today. Over the last 2000 years natural climate change has melted some polar ice and sea levels have risen naturally. Over 96% of the earths surface is water. The earth travels at about 67000 miles per hour. Then there is the force of gravity, the moon. the sun, Evaporation , natural venting of the earth in the way of gasses, volcanoes and so on. Yes the earth is getting warmer. No man could not do this even if he wanted to. Reducing man made pollution is great. Blaming man for global warming is silly, especially tne support a position taken on a policy document as is the case here.
Latest opinion poll puts Labour very very last
This TPPA is a joke?
I question Key and Grosers motives?
TPP: Police undertake riot training
New Zealand Police have been undertaking mass riot training ahead of the signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership in Auckland next month.
The trade agreement, that has sparked widespread controversy due to its closed-door negotiations, will be signed by international diplomats on February 4.
Dozens of large-scale protests have been held across the country as the five years of negotiations for the deal came to a close in the US last year.
The Herald understands that increased riot training – officially known as public order training – has been taking place ahead of the signing, as police prepare for more possible civil unrest.
Police Association vice-president Senior Sergeant Luke Shadbolt said that the TPP signing was the focus of annual public order training.
The Herald understands that the training goes over and above previous annual training, and involved more staff on a “mass” scale.
Police National Manager of Response and Operations, Chris Scahill, said police were responsible for all security aspects of the event.
He would not be drawn on any operational details for the event – including staff numbers.
“We can however say that we plan for every eventuality which can be anticipated, and the measures we take will be appropriate and thorough.”‘
Thoughts?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11578174
Hope their behaviour is better than the Red Squad?
50% of New Zealanders are still madly in love with John Key and MSM are still falling over themselves about him?
I’ll keep it short. John Key is a criminal, a traitor, and a alcoholic.
I’ll keep it short. John Key is a criminal, a traitor, and an alcoholic.
Anticipate some militant action on 20th November 2016 to put a stop to the ” bullshit ” pouring into our waterways. Study the first stand at Rangiriri and you will start to switch on to what IS GOING to happen this year.
Enough is enough!!!!!!!