It seems like Andrew Little and a Labour Government will keep the TPPA as negotiated by National. As quoted from RNZ:
The Labour Leader Andrew Little says his party is not in a position to oppose the Trans Pacific Partnership deal, but a Labour government would flout some of its terms.
Only problem of course is that “flouting its terms” opens NZ up to the extremely expensive Investor/State dispute settlement process. So that in itself makes Labour’s new position immediately untenable.
In my view the damage that Andrew Little has done to himself and the Labour Party is beyond easy calculation. My bet is that they don’t even realise it yet. To recap: Labour’s “non-negotiable stance” with respect to the TPPA (hat tip Puckish Rogue for the link).
But today Labour has shown the entire world that their negotiating “bottom lines” are as weak as tissue paper. And that less than 3 months worth of mild pressure is enough to make Andrew Little fold like a leaf on the party’s publicly stated “bottom lines.”
To be clear: the real damage is not that Labour has shown the Left and its own membership that its word cannot be depended upon (that has been obvious for some time). The real damage is that Labour has now shown the entire trading world, including both the local and the international business community, that although Labour can talk a tough talk now and then, when it boils down to it, Labour is a push over when it comes to its own “bottom lines.”
Any respect in those circles for Labour as a credible negotiator and reliable independent partner has gone straight down the tubes.
What a costly and damaging day it has been for Labour’s reputation.
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