Roschana Webby
TPP will supposedly help ‘the good people of Oxford that make chutneys and olives and all sorts of things, to sell their products in Japan and the US’.
There are 12 countries involved in these negotiations. Surely this is about more than chutney.Many people assume that the TPP is merely about ‘Free Trade’ without researching it for themselves.
People are questioning whether or not we can trust a leaked draft document, and are therefore perhaps not taking the information that is within these leaked documents seriously. Some justifying their choice by saying the final outcome could be very different from a draft document.
To me, if an agreement is intended to be beneficial to the public, a ‘draft’ would not have any clauses that negatively affect a country’s rights to protect it’s sovereignty, health, natural resources and environment.
“The TPPA Investment Chapter leaked on 25 March 2015 clearly states that an International Bank sited in the TPPA zone (an “Investor of a Party”) may be given rights (of control or ownership) “with respect to natural resources that a national authority controls, such as for their exploration, extraction, refining, transportation, distribution, or sale… (or) to supply … power generation or distribution, water treatment or distribution, or telecommunications… (or) to undertake infrastructure projects, such as the construction of roads, bridges, canals, dams, or pipelines.” The “investments” in question can easily be national debts owed by New Zealand, and the “rights” can easily be over publicly controlled assets that are secured in relation to those debts. Alternatively, the Government can straight-out cede such rights via “Investment Agreements”. See https://wikileaks.org/tpp-investment/WikiLeaks-TPP-Investment-Chapter.pdf , especially the Definitions that start at the beginning of the chapter (pages 12-2, 12-3, 12-4, 12-5)”.
We would all do well to recognise the amazing people who are/and have leaked us information. Their families, jobs and lives are at great risk due to them taking on many multi-million/billion dollar banks and corporations – where profit is prioritised above people. With that in mind, it is our duty and responsibility to investigate the TPP further, become informed and to lobby our government with our views.
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