Bryan Bruce, the award winning documentary maker, noted today on his Face Book page that Andrew Little had given permission to Phil Goff to cross the floor and vote with the Key government last week in support of the TPP.
Bruce asks a simple question: now that Little has accepted that voting on the TPP is a matter of conscience, will he advocate for that point in Parliament to give all MPs, including both National and Labour ones, that freedom.
what Little’s decision over Goff indicates that he has agreed that voting for or against the TPPA is a matter of principle – a matter of conscience.
Well, here’s two matters of principle I think that ALL MP’s should be given the freedom to decide upon.
The first is whether to vote for a treaty agreement which will allow overseas investors to sue our government in overseas tribunals which are not courts and have no process of appeal.
The second is whether to vote for an agreement that will deny many New Zealanders early access to new medicines and thereby cause extended suffering and unnecessary deaths.
(Depending on who you believe, patent protections will be extended 5, 6 or 8 years before cheaper generics and biosimilars can be sold and purchased.)
In my view if it is fine for Phil Goff to cross the floor on the TPPA it should be fine for all MP’s to do so from all parties.
In short, there is a strong argument to make voting for or against the TPPA a conscience vote.
But which of our MPs would be willing to promote such an argument in the House?
… oh…wait…How about it Andrew?
Is the TPPA a conscience issue or not?
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