Fabians lecture tonight

Written By: - Date published: 12:32 pm, December 3rd, 2012 - 5 comments
Categories: notices, trade - Tags: , ,

TPP Out of the Shadows – What they won’t tell us and why we should be worried about the Trans-Pacific Partnership

Tonight two of the world’s foremost critical voices on international free trade and investment agreements — Lori Wallach and Jane Kelsey — will deliver presentations and take questions on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), a treaty being negotiated between the United States, New Zealand, and 9 other countries on the Asia-Pacific rim.

The TPPA is one the biggest political issues facing New Zealand, but one of the least publicised and least understood.

It involves eleven Asian and Pacific-rim countries — including the United States — and it being negotiated in secret with no possibility of public oversight. If it goes ahead, we risk major damage to our economy, our environment, our health, and the ability to shape our own future.

More information can be found on the It’s Our Future site, together with fact sheets on the TPPA’s impact on medicines, environment, finance, GM, investment and tobacco & alcohol.

At the Old Government House Lecture Theatre, University of Auckland, on tonight at 6.30pm.

You can register here.

5 comments on “Fabians lecture tonight ”

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  1. The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 1
    3 December 2012 at 5:27 pm

    I wonder whether she will keep telling people that, once a party to the TPP, we can never withdraw from the agreement, despite the current TPP providing at 20.8:

    Any Party may withdraw from this Agreement. Such withdrawal shall take
    effect upon the expiration of six months from the date on which written notice of
    withdrawal is received by the Depositary. If a Party withdraws, the Agreement shall
    remain in force for the remaining Parties.

    http://www.mfat.govt.nz/downloads/trade-agreement/transpacific/main-agreement.pdf

    • higherstandard 1.1
      3 December 2012 at 5:43 pm

      Yes, Jane’s not one to let the truth get in the way of a good bit of bombast and scaremongering.

  2. Bunji 2
    3 December 2012 at 5:45 pm

    That’s not the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (still not finally drafted, unsigned), that’s from 2005 (and only the original 4 partners).

    The number one disagreement people have with the TPP is that we can’t see the text to know about withdrawal or Pharmac or Dairy or … anything. They’re asking us to blindly trust that John Key & Tim Groser will have thought of everything and do right by us. That they’ll manage to be the first to get a deal with the US (who by “free trade” mean they’re free to trade with us, not vice versa) that isn’t actually negative for our country.

    • higherstandard 2.1
      3 December 2012 at 5:48 pm

      “Presentation to the House: The parliamentary treaty examination process, introduced in 1997 and made permanent in 2000, requires all multilateral treaties and major bilateral treaties of particular significance to be presented to the House before binding treaty action is taken. In accordance with the process, once Cabinet has approved the proposed treaty action, the Legal Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is responsible for presenting the treaty and the National Interest Analysis to the House of Representatives.”

      http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Treaties-and-International-Law/03-Treaty-making-process/index.php

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