It’s pretty clear that we’re not going to get anything like what the Nats promised us from the TPP.
Gordon Campbell yesterday got an international perspective on the state of negotiations and his conclusion is frank: “New Zealand and Canada are being hung out to dry on dairy access”.
New Zealand Dairy Companies Association (DCANZ) chairman Malcolm Bailey is quoted in a piece by RNZ, “Current TPP deal ‘unthinkable’ for dairy”.
Dairy division chair of Federated Farmers Andrew Hoggard is quoted by Duncan Garner in “Why the TPP has fallen over for New Zealand dairy farmers”. Garner himself writes:
Alarm bells for TPP
The warning bells are ringing loud and clear over the Trans Pacific Partnership. And here’s the central question; what’s in this multi-country free trade deal for us? No one can say.
…
The costs of medicines will rise. The PM has confirmed that. So what of the benefits?Supposedly our farmers are about to get mass access to the notoriously protected American, Japanese and Canadian markets. That was the big prize. A multi-billion dollar gain. But if the dairy sector is anything to go by we’ve been told to take a hike by our international mates. They’ve got cold feet.
Federated Farmers head of dairy, Andrew Hoggard, says his sources on the negotiating committee tell him dairy farmers will gain nothing from the TPP. The huge barriers and expensive tariffs will remain in place. He says we have lost this battle.
This is hugely concerning. The TPP was meant to be the back door way into a free trade agreement with the U.S and Japan. But if it’s not a high quality agreement then what’s the point of signing up?
…
We should not sign a poor deal. We must stay strong to our beliefs. The public deserves the truth. The game is up.
Yes, the public deserves the truth, but we aren’t going to get it:
‘They just want to derail the agreement’
Associate Trade Minister Todd McClay says the people who want to see the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiating text just want it so they can derail the deal.
That is beyond pathetic. The opposition to the TPP arises BECAUSE IT IS SECRET and we the people don’t know what is being done on our behalf. Making it public (which will not “disrupt negotiations” because all the negotiators already know the details) will allow us to assess the deal. If it’s a good deal it cant be derailed. So what are the Nats afraid of? Rhetorical question of course, the Nats are afraid that we’ll learn that its a bad deal.
But as Vernon Small noted yesterday, the Nats are too personally invested to back out. They are going to sign, good deal or bad. We the people are being told to shut up and take your medicine – oh and by the way the price just went up.
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress