Wikileaks have released the TPP advanced draft chapter on intellectual property. It includes all the government positions on the main issues, including all those where the New Zealand negotiators are opposed to the US. The Herald received an advance copy and reported on it today. The crucial paragraphs from their article:
A target of Christmas for concluding the agreement was set by President Barack Obama last year and was reconfirmed at the TPP leaders’ meeting in Bali in October. However the wide differences evident between the US and New Zealand mean someone would have to back down on national interest provisions – or the US back down – for there to be any prospect of the agreement being concluded. More than 100 issues are unresolved.
A coalition of groups, ranging from Internet New Zealand to Trade Me and the Library Association, have opposed the agreement. The Fairdeal Coalition’s spokeswoman Susan Chalmers said the New Zealand negotiators have been sticking up for the country and called on the Government to support them. “If New Zealand caves on the intellectual property chapter,” she said, “it will face inevitable economic, cultural and social losses that in the long-term will likely outweigh any gains from improved agricultural access.”
As citizens we should all support our New Zealand negotiators and insist that the Key government does not cave in once again to US interests. The stakes are too high.
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