The Government has released a TPPA ‘National Interest Analysis’ – you can find it (and the current text of the TPPA) here. It is predictable spin and has drawn a predicable response. This piece in Stuff gives an overview:
TPPA non-signing ‘risks marginalisation and decline’ for NZ economy
New Zealand risks “marginalisation and decline” if it does not sign up to the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, according to an analysis of the free trade deal.
However, a leading critic of the free trade deal has dismissed the document as “a totally predictable cheerleading exercise” which ignores the agreement’s negative ramifications.
The Nats have always and will always ignore the downsides, they don’t do long term planning in any form.
The release of a 277-page “national interest analysis”, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, comes as critics call for a delay to the deal’s signing until Kiwis have more information about how it will affect them.
And the Nats have always tried to keep the TPP details secret from we the “misinformed” “breathless children” i.e. the public.
The document says the deal would add about $2.7 billion to the country’s annual GDP by 2030, “once fully in effect”.
By MFAT estimate that is 0.9% of GDP, not worth it.
However, the analysis acknowledges the deal would cost New Zealand up to $79 million a year, primarily due to eliminated tariffs and extended copyright rules.
Critics’ fears about foreign investors and corporations intervening in New Zealand, through the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism which allows them to seek damages from countries who breach the TPPA, are also acknowledged. “While ISDS has been included in many of New Zealand’s existing trade and investment agreements, it has never been utilised. “However, the size of the TPP region and the potential number of new investors in New Zealand could increase the risk that New Zealand may face an ISDS claim (and the actual cost of responding to such a claim) in the future.”
ISDS risks are a major concern. And here’s a kicker:
The document says a number of laws will need to be changed for the TPPA to come into effect, including the Overseas Investment Act, the Copyright Act, and the Tariff Act.
It seems that “at least eight laws will have to be changed” – we the people should have had full details of this months ago, not a reluctant acknowledgment a week before signing.
So, by all means read the Nats’ spin on the TPPA, but along with it get the other side of the story:
• Jane Kelsey’s response: TPPA more a ‘National Government Interest Analysis’,
• independent coverage like Rod Oram’s: Dark clouds on the horizon (“The benefits for New Zealand from the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal will be meagre”),
• and most importantly the resources at TPP Legal:
Expert Paper #1: Treaty Making, Parliamentary Democracy, Regulatory Sovereignty & The Rule of Law
Expert Paper #2: Chapter 9 on Investment
Expert Paper #3: Māori Rights, Te Tiriti O Waitangi and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
Expert Paper #4: The Environment Under TPPA Governance
Expert Paper #5: The Economics of the TPPA
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