The following is the covering letter and paper that the Renewables a Motueka based Climate Action grassroots group offered to all NZ local government authorities in March 2014 in respect to the TPP. The policy recommendation was initiated by the Auckland City Council in December 2012. The policy was eventually adopted by 12 Councils who in their territories represented 60% of the New Zealand population:
Greg's perspective of the TPP local government campaign from 2013 to 2016 was reported in CAFCA's (Campaign Against Foreign Control in Aotearoa) journal "Watchdog" in a series of articles. A summary of the whole campaign is available in Watchdog #144
Greg happened to play a role in the campaign as a result of a train of events, the full story involves a cast of thousands, who lobbied their councils, participated in meetings, marches and rallies, lobbied MPs, created and supported petitions including to the NZ Governor General, and participated in the parliamentary treaty examination process through 2016 following the 4 February 2016 Signing of TPP in Auckland.
People can be very engaged in the NZ democracy.
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Greetings
Mayors, Councillors and CEOs, All NZ Regional Councils and
Territorial Local Authorities
Subject:
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations.
We,
the Renewables, are ordinary Kiwis living in Motueka . We are active
in informing ourselves and others of the consequence of Climate
Change and are strongly of the view that action at every level must
be taken to mitigate its effect.
Our
government is in the process of reorganizing the trade and commerce
rules that will operate into the future for the Pacific region of the
globe. This negotiation is known as Transpacific Partnership (TPP).
We enclose here a proposal for local councils on that treaty
negotiation.
Please
consider this a submission toward your Annual
Planning process and as a letter
bringing the attached 'public interest' resolution to your Council's
attention.
The
TPP's 29 chapters are proving difficult to close over the three years
of discussions. Resistance to it is growing amongst the public in
most of the 12 countries involved. The secrecy surrounding it is
particularly controversial. We know enough to believe it is very wide
in its scope, entrenching rights of corporations that will affect
many aspects of NZ life, from internet use to affordable medications.
This
is the reason we write. We aim to garner your enthusiasm to
positively affect our future. We seek to influence for the better the
coming moments when intervention is a prospect that could achieve a
net good result. You along with all the New Zealand Councils and
Territorial Authorities and the peoples of this land could assist in
one such intervention. Will you?
We
would like you to adopt the public interest position on TPP'.
Auckland, Nelson and Tasman have now adopted versions of it.
Wellington, Horizons and Palmerston North have variously addressed
parts of the resolution but not adopted the full proposition. We
encourage all Councils to adopt this and thus declare to Central
Government and the other TPP nations and their peoples the ground New
Zealand's people stand on.
With
the greatest respect
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Notice
- Open Letter To all Regional Councils and Territorial
Local Authorities .
Dear Mayor, Councillor and CEOs,
Dear Mayor, Councillor and CEOs,
Subject:
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Negotiations.
I
write on behalf of the Renewables, a Motueka based Climate Action
group, who take an active interest in New Zealand's ability to
mitigate Climate Change. We have recently focussed on the TPP, Free
Trade Agreement negotiations, as we see some of the proposed outcomes
affecting New Zealand's ability to manage and legislate appropriately
in the public interest. This led to our lobbying Tasman District
Council to address the issue;
Summary
of Our Presentation.
Please
consider this a proposal toward your Annual
Planning process; as a letter
bringing the attached resolution to your Council's attention; and as
tool for the public to gain a level of knowledge about the mysterious
TPP and its attendant process.
Auckland,
Nelson and Tasman District Councils have carried a resolution that
proposes the 'public interest' in the TPP negotiations. This is
attached. Other Councils, Wellington, Horizons and Palmerston North,
have expressed interest in this resolution.
We
have taken the liberty to modify it to include a further concern,
biosecurity.
What
is TPP?
The
TPP is a set of negotiations involving presently 12 nations;
Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, Japan, Canada, USA,
Mexico, Peru and Chile along with NZ. Taiwan and South Korea are
possible entrants. The following Wikipedia article gives a history
of the TPP;
TPP
negotiations have been undertaken in a series of meetings stretching
over the preceding 3 years. They are supposed to conclude in the
near future. At the most recent Singapore round of Ministers meeting
the following statement was issued at its conclusion, Tuesday 10th
December 2013;
We, the Ministers and Heads of Delegation for Australia, Brunei
Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand,
Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam, have just completed
a four-day Ministerial meeting in Singapore where we have made
substantial progress toward completing the Trans-Pacific Partnership
agreement.
Over the course of this meeting, we identified potential “landing
zones” for the majority of key outstanding issues in the text. We
will continue to work with flexibility to finalize these text issues
as well as market access issues.
For all TPP countries, an ambitious, comprehensive and
high-standard agreement that achieves the goals established in
Honolulu in 2011 is critical for creating jobs and promoting growth,
providing opportunity for our citizens and contributing to regional
integration and the strengthening of the multilateral trading system.
Therefore, we have decided to continue our intensive work in the
coming weeks toward such an agreement. We will also further our
consultations with stakeholders and engage in our respective
political processes.
Following additional work by negotiators, we intend to meet again
next month.
TPP
Agenda
Here
is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) overview of the
TPP negotiations;
The
TPP negotiators are dealing with many issues broken into 29 chapters.
The following link from November 2011 is effectively a press release
from Ministers English and Groser identifying the framework agreed
between the then 9 participating countries.
And
from this, an 8 page background paper gives detail on the
'framework' of TPP and content of the main chapters or subject areas
which include; Competition, Cross Border Services and Customs,
E-Commerce, Environment, Financial Services, Government Procurement,
Intellectual Property, Investment, Labour, Market Access for Goods,
Rules of Origin, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards, Technical
Barriers to Trade, Telecommunications, Textiles and Apparel, Trade
Remedies and Tariffs.
The specific
content being negotiated is not to be found in any of the releases
from Government. This is shrouded in secrecy to the consternation of
the interested public and legislators here and in the other
negotiating countries.
Many
organisations both here and overseas are calling for the release of
the detail of the TPP text. The extreme secrecy is one of the
controversial issues connected with the TPP.
Treaty
negotiations
Treaty
negotiations are firmly maintained in the realm of government's
executive which in New Zealand is the Cabinet. Clause 7.112 of the
Cabinet Manual deals with the ratification of treaties. Parliament is
merely informed and gets to enact enabling legislation, however it
does this whether or not it endorsed the treaty in question. The
closest Parliament gets to the treaty ratification process is through
the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee.
The
following is a link to the relevant clauses of the Cabinet Manual;
http://cabinetmanual.cabinetoffice.govt.nz/7.112
There
was an attempt to democratise treaty-making in NZ in the early 2000s
but the legislation failed to gain its second reading. Government
prefers to keep the Treaty making powers entrenched in the executive
at this point in history.
TPP Secrecy
The
parties to the TPP must initially agree to a memorandum of
understanding and any late arrivals must gain agreement from the
other parties allowing their entry. The TPP memorandum itself is a
secret. The following link is to 'freedom info' who provide insight
into the secret memorandum of understanding signed by each
participating nation.
The
parties have apparently agreed that all documents except the final
text will be kept secret for four years after the agreement comes
into force or the negotiations collapse. This reverses the trend in
many recent negotiations to release draft texts and related
documents. The existence of this agreement was only discovered
through a cover note to the leaked text of the Intellectual Property
chapter.
New Zealand is the
repository for all these documents and the conduit for all requests
for the release of information, including this Memorandum of
Understanding.
An open letter to
Prime Minister John Key and Trade Minister Tim Groser from unions,
civil liberties, church, public health, development, environmental
and trade justice groups has demanded the release of the secrecy
document. The Green Party and Mana Movement have both endorsed the
call.
The release of the
secrecy memorandum was requested by many parties during the Chicago
round of negotiations in early October 2011. New Zealand lead
negotiator Mark Sinclair has asked for responses from the other
countries. As of March 2014 there is no agreement to do so.
Here
is the open letter from various USA based organizations to the then
USA Trade negotiator Ron Kirk. This is similar to calls from others
in TPP nations;
TPP
Chapters
Now
in March 2014 we have the benefit of a few leaked documents;
Environment, Intellectual Property and Investor State Disputes - all
of which can be accessed at the It's Our Future website
http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/
or direct from Wikileaks
Intellectual
property issues are the desire to extend patent holder rights,
restrict internet usage and open access. We are aghast at the
suggestion of criminalization of activity associated with usage of
material with artistic or intellectual content. Implications for NZ
are wide ranging and would affect Council run libraries, Pharmac, and
anyone who uses material with artistic or intellectual content.
Investor-state
dispute mechanisms provide favourable jurisdictions for Investors
where they perceive their profitability is limited by government
legislation or action.
Other
chapters such as the one dealing with Government Procurement may
directly affect Council decision making and resource allocation.
TPP,
because of its wide scope, might limit our ability to
legislate for a range of community-good outcomes. This
was identified by the Renewable's Joanna Santa Barbara a retired
doctor in her presentation to TDC (Tasman District Council) on the
6th
March, in respect to Plain Packaging of Tobacco Products legislation
passed by New Zealand's Parliament and now on hold, out of fear of an
‘investor-state dispute’ suit as allowed in the TPP.
TPP
and Climate Change.
There is very real
concern that the TPP may prevent future Governments from legislating
to strengthen greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets and climate
change mitigation strategies. The investor-state dispute mechanisms
allow challenges to legislation where it is claimed to interfere with
a corporation’s profits. Philip Morris' case against Australia over
plain packaging of Tobacco Products is one such case. There are in
excess of 100 globally.
Local
Government is given Climate Change guidelines by Central Government
within which to set policy and future planning;
The
following link is the Ministry advice to Local Government.'Responding
to the Effects of Climate Change'.
Prof. Jane Kelsey
from Auckland University
http://www.law.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/os-jane-kelsey
has assessed the leaked Environment Chapter as follows:
https://wikileaks.org/tppa-environment-chapter.html
Please note that there are links to all the leaked papers at the
bottom of her analysis. From her assessment under the subtitle
'Overview';
The Environment Chapter addresses matters of conservation,
environment, biodiversity, indigenous knowledge and resources,
over-fishing and illegal logging, and climate change, among others.
It might be expected to provide balance to the commercial interests
being advanced in the other chapters, and genuine protections that
are consistent with international environmental law.
Instead of a 21st century standard of protection, the leaked text
shows that the obligations are weak and compliance with them is
unenforceable. Contrast that to other chapters that subordinate the
environment, natural resources and indigenous rights to commercial
objectives and business interests. The corporate agenda wins both
ways.
At
this point perhaps you might allow a few minutes to review this video
by Greg Craven where he lays out a very rational approach to reach
appropriate decisions in respect to Climate Change mitigation;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zORv8wwiadQ
and the following link provides material and discussion on the
subsequent book by Craven "What's the Worst That Could
Happen? A Rational Response to the Climate Change Debate"
from 2009;
To
this effect we need agreements and treaties that enable precautionary
and proactive action to mitigate Climate Change on a global scale.
TPP
and your Council
Tasman
Council adopted in March 2014 (with the amendment of point 12
removing the requirement for public consultation during the
negotiations) the 12 point public interest resolution originally
passed by Auckland Council in December 2012 and Nelson in July of
2013. Other Councils also have dealt with TPP and passed varying
positions; Wellington, Palmerston North and Horizons Councils have
variously called for transparency in negotiations and that New
Zealand's public interest and Sovereignty be maintained.
We
believe that NZ's Councils have a major role in representing the
public/community interest and TPP potentially could compromise this
interest.
The resolution we
are requesting New Zealand's Regional Councils and Territorial Local
Authorities to adopt is as set out in Attachment A.
This position is
comprehensive and represents common sense and a position that most
New Zealanders would agree with. As such we regard it as the 'public
interest' position.
We
thank you for your attention.
Attachment
A
TPPA resolution for Local Government consideration
That (name of Council) Council encourages the government to conclude
negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Free Trade
Agreements in a way that provides net positive benefits for the (name
of local region or city) Region and New Zealand, that is, provided
the Partnership and Agreements achieve the following objectives:
- Continues to allow the (name) Council and other Councils, if they so choose, to adopt procurement policies that provide for a degree of local preference; to choose whether particular services or facilities are provided in house, by council-controlled organisations (CCOs) or by contracting out; or to require higher health and safety, environmental protection, employment rights and conditions, community participation, animal protection or human rights standards than national or international minimum standards;
- Maintains good diplomatic and trade relations and partnerships for (local region) and New Zealand with other major trading partners not included in the agreement including with China
- Provides substantially increased access for our agriculture exports, particularly those from the (name of) region into the US Market;
- Does not undermine PHARMAC, raise the cost of medical treatments and medicines or threaten public health measures, such as tobacco control;
- Does not give overseas investors or suppliers any greater rights than domestic investors and suppliers such as through introducing Investor-State Dispute Settlement, or reduce our ability to control overseas investment or finance;
- Does not expand intellectual property rights and enforcement in excess of current law;
- Does not weaken our public services, require privatisation, hinder reversal of privatisations, or increase the commercialization of Government or of (insert name ) Council or other local government organisations
- Does not reduce our flexibility to support local economic and industry development and encourage good employment and environmental practices and initiatives like the (insert examples), and the Mayor's Taskforce for Jobs which enable marginalised young people to develop their skills and transition into meaningful employment;
- Contains enforceable labour clauses requiring adherence to core International Labour Organisation conventions and preventing reduction of labour rights for trade or investment advantage;
- Contains enforceable environmental clauses preventing reduction of environmental and biosecurity standards for trade or investment advantage;
- Has general exemptions to protect human rights, the environment, the Treaty of Waitangi, and New Zealand's economic and financial stability;
- Has been negotiated with real public consultation including regular public releases of drafts of the text of the agreement, and ratification being conditional on a full social, environmental, and economic impact assessment including public submissions.
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