TPPA submission

This is a summary of the TPPA submission I have sent tonight. It may not make any difference to the outcome in NZ but there will be a time when, having rehearsed all the arguments about the value of the public sector and of legislation in the public interest, they come to mean something again. Let’s hope it’s soon and not in 30 or 500 years.

Read the full TPPA submission
TPPA submission

Abstract
The New Zealand government’s National Interest Analysis is a poor document for allowing public understanding of the TPPA. It is badly written, poorly structured and lacks important information. The TPPA shifts the balance towards corporate interests and away from the public interest. The arguments that the ISDS regime is modern and sophisticated do not survive close inspection.

By minimizing the role of government and the benefits of a well provisioned public sector in delivering both wealth and human well-being the TPPA would fundamentally damage New Zealand. The opportunities for small and medium enterprises are severely constrained and they would be big losers from the lack of options for local tendering. Well-founded criticism about the TPPA modelling and its likely impacts have not been addressed.

The TPPA’s measures to “protect” the public domain are unconvincing and likely to be ineffective. They are weak and subject to a sinking lid. By its actions and policy positions the government is already undermining these meagre protections. The TPPA overturns centuries of judicial practice when there is no evidence of partner countries judicial systems being unfair to business interests.