Polity: TPP, eh?
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chris, in reply to
He was basically saying that democracy is a bit of a giggle
To be fair I did enjoy his 24th September piece on the flip- flopping of the other major New Zealand political party.
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The text of the TPPA has finally been released, albeit as a large series of PDFs. Scroll to the bottom of that page to grab them all in one handy zip file.
Of course most of the text is meaningless without the background docs. Could someone remind me why they need to be kept secret for six years? The Washington Post has created a TPPA search tool which at least allows some drilling down through the masses of information.
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And this....
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The TPP agreement is due to be signed in little ol’ New Zealand on 4th February. Jane Kelsey condemns government secrecy over when and where this will happen and points to a number of investor-state claims taking place under the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Brian Gould writes the TPP signing a denial of democracy and even Liam Messam gets to say "this TPPA is some BS".
In contrast, the Herald seems to have adopted the role of National Party cheerleader in an editorial proclaiming "TPP signing an honour" which neglects to mention the numerous downsides to the agreement.
This is the most comprehensive and far-sighted economic agreement the world has seen in our lifetime, possibly of all time.
FFS! As soon as it become obvious that all of the reader responses were highly critical of the Herald’s stance, they simply closed off the comments. Democracy? Such an outdated concept.
While this piece reads like something dreamed up by a National Party spin doctor, there’s no indication that the Herald is being paid to run this line, as they did recently with the flag debate.
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Body cartoon -- the Herald.
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Save City Care
Keep Our Assets Picket
at Christchurch City Council Building,
Worcester Boulevard Entrance,
This Wednesday, January 20th, 12 noon -1.30 p.m.
Today! -
In the news today, from the Sustainability Council via RadioNZ:
He said while there were provisions that protected governments from being sued for acting to reduce smoking, there were no similar protections for acting to protect the environment or tackle climate change.
That risk of being sued, according to Mr Terry, would have a chilling effect on a government's willingness to undertake environmental reform in the first place.
"They'll be much less willing to do that if they are concerned about being sued and that favours retaining low standards, when those standards need to rise markedly."
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This is getting weird. Apparently Police have been visiting anti-TPP activists at their homes, asking about future protest plans. I wonder how many protesters are likely to fess up about that semtex packed drone hidden in the garden shed.
Hey... I remember a time when NZ was still a democracy.
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
I wonder how many protesters are likely to fess up about that semtex packed drone hidden in the garden shed.
Don’t be saying that, not even in jest – some idiot out there will be prepared to believe you…
I recall prior to rugger world cup the police called on CAFCA to see if they were planning to do any demonstrating, CAFCA representative said no they didn’t have any plans to do anything, and that was that…
at least the police or SIS haven’t infiltrated any groups to promote dissent or violent action they can stamp out, thus far – but I wouldn’t put it past them…
It works so well for the FBI… -
Labour leader Andrew Little would not outline possible sanctions or comment on whether Mr Shearer could be stripped of his foreign affairs portfolio.
Tarring & feathering would be a good start. -
Here’s some refreshing news about the TTIP – the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership currently being negotiated between the US and the EU. It’s another of those free trade deals designed primarily to benefit large corporates at the expense of nation states.
The TTIP is pretty similar to the TTPA and contains similar provisions to the deeply-flawed Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) – the European version is called the Investment Court System (ICS).
However things have hit a snag in Germany, with German judges taking a strong line against the obvious threat to democracy. The German Magistrates Association sees "neither a legal basis nor a need for such a court”.
The judges said the ICS represents a threat to the sovereignty of legal systems already in place in Europe, and they put little faith in the EU’s ability to manage it…
The DW story suggests this may be sufficient to scupper the entire deal, proving the value of a truly independent judiciary able to apply some good old-fashioned common sense.
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Over at Scoop Annette King emphasises again the lack of transparency with TPPA
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Wandering around Scoop, I noticed this pic
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ExportNZ provides a great example of the one-sidedness our business cheerleaders have exhibited:
All this is very good news for the New Zealand economy because Maori do not tend to sell their assets – they re-invest for future generations. This will mean in the future they are our globally competitive New Zealand based multi-nationals (investing here and overseas) that in a small economy a long way from our markets we struggle to build otherwise. When they get to the size where there are investing overseas (and some already are) they too will benefit from Investor State Dispute protection in the TPP, which means a foreign government must treat them fairly and not discriminate against them or appropriate their assets.
Larger entities are able to execute better in overseas markets (they will have deeper pockets) they can attract and retain better qualified staff, they can pay higher salaries and they can generate more economic activity for local suppliers. But in order for this to happen, all our exporters including Maori owned exporters, need to have a level playing field to compete.
Unfortunately, exactly the same argument applies to every large foreign company bidding for NZ contracts - including all government and council ones. Good luck growing a company here now.
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Lori Wallach helped explain a few details that benefit the U.S. Worth a listen imo. Prof Kelsey follows if anyone is interested. Auckland town hall 26th Jan ’16 -
The Herald is running the government spin line on the TTPA.
It starts with an editorial suggesting Maori are misinformed in their opposition to the agreement. Then Heather du Plessis-Allan uses her NZME platform to reinforce the line put forward by Key that the thousands of people who marched through Auckland this week didn't know why they were there.
Too many of them didn't even know why they were protesting.
"I dunno, to be honest," was roughly what one man said.
Those poor, ignorant misguided souls. Maybe they should get jobs?
It's easy to get the impression that this is another of those NZME paid campaigns, such as their recent multi-platform flag promotion paid for by taxpayers. It's getting harder to tell these days.
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Hilary Stace, in reply to
In 1981 there were the same lines. There was fury when a Wellington march blocked the motorway - just one of many such 'inconveniences'. The media (which seemed 100% opposed to the protests) often said that the protesters did not understand the issues and after all it was about another country.
I would have thought that Heather Du Plessis-Allan, as a South African, would have been a bit more savvy about the meanings of protest.
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Joe Wylie, in reply to
It's easy to get the impression that this is another of those NZME paid campaigns, such as their recent multi-platform flag promotion paid for by taxpayers.
Portraying people who've exercised the courage of their convictions as a bunch of gormless dupes may be a tired old song, but they'll roll it out every time. I'd kind of hoped for a little originality, such as making the claim that the entire turnout consisted of webtrolls counting heads. I guess the problem with that would be that the people who take to the streets mostly don't look like terminal acne cases.
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Rosemary McDonald, in reply to
the people who take to the streets mostly don’t look like terminal acne cases
No, but some of us did have near terminal cases of sunburn.
What we observed on Thursday in Auckland was a very large group of New Zealanders...about 50/50 split Maori and European...gathered together to fight for a New Zealand that used to be...a New Zealand that is fast disappearing. People we spoke with all recognised that TPPA will accelerate the demise of New Zealand how we were...if that makes any sense.
Also...the gormless dupes...yes, there were a few that had gone along for the ride, if the media examples were not manufactured, but we didn't speak with any.
We spoke to some people who knew TPPA was something to be concerned about and had turned up to support the more knowledgeable.
We marched in Kaitaia last August...and handed out information sheets we had printed off.
We marched in Hamilton last November and did likewise.
We shot into a print shop on our way up to Auckland the other day and had 100 copies of this leaflet printed.
We handed them out to non participants walking past Aotea Square, and offered some to folk waiting to march.
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I would have thought that Heather Du Plessis-Allan, as a South African, would have been a bit more savvy about the meanings of protest.
Or not, I mean why did she leave? Fear of those nasty black people?
She seems to want to blame the protesters for inconveniencing those poor motorists trying to get to their jobs in finance, insurance, selling crap to tourists or whatever it is those people do in central Auckland.
Oh the Humanity.eta.
Nice pamphlet Rosemary. Good on ya.
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Rosemary McDonald, in reply to
Love to take the credit, but it was extracted (with some effort) from the itsourfuture website.
It was maybe the only aspect that the team at 'itsourfuture' could have done better.
Disseminating the information they had extracted from the available text more widely.
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izogi, in reply to
Then Heather du Plessis-Allan uses her NZME platform to reinforce the line put forward by Key that the thousands of people who marched through Auckland this week didn’t know why they were there.
Also Steve:
She seems to want to blame the protesters for inconveniencing those poor motorists trying to get to their jobs in finance, insurance, selling crap to tourists or whatever it is those people do in central Auckland.
Oh the Humanity.That was bad n’ all, but for me it was trumped by Toni Street’s episodic fully-analysed conclusion on Seven Sharp that TPPA protesters could be killing babies.
Really it hasn’t been so much the prevailing MSM opinions on this which grate with me most, but that many high profile media commentators have shown a complete disrespect in reporting a protest movement that’s one of the largest for a long time. It’s much much bigger and more diverse than the niche rent-a-mob that apologists want to suggest. There are people out there who are extremely concerned or frightened about a deal about which the government’s told them NOTHING official beyond “trust us”, for years, until a massive load of info was dumped shortly before the committal. It’s no wonder people get information from where it’s available, and yet MSM just mocks dissenters as idiots instead of focusing on why this might actually be happening. -
Kumara Republic, in reply to
Really it hasn’t been so much the prevailing MSM opinions on this which grate with me most, but that many high profile media commentators have shown a complete disrespect in reporting a protest movement that’s one of the largest for a long time. It’s much much bigger and more diverse than the niche rent-a-mob that apologists want to suggest. There are people out there who are extremely concerned or frightened about a deal about which the government’s told them NOTHING official beyond “trust us”, for years, until a massive load of info was dumped shortly before the committal. It’s no wonder people get information from where it’s available, and yet MSM just mocks dissenters as idiots instead of focusing on why this might actually be happening.
I'd like to know how much ad revenue these talking heads are personally getting from companies who'll supposedly benefit from the TPPA.
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
a confederacy of dunces...
and yet MSM just mocks dissenters as idiots instead of focusing on why this might actually be happening.
I caught the end of some bloke reporter on Story trying to pretend he was a protestor and basically lampooning everybody - very unedifying non-reporting, patronising prick ruminated on how people were just confused and angry.
Finished off with HDPA's personal stance which avoided the issues and focused on the inconvenience to drivers - way to miss the big picture.
grrrr.... -
Kali yuga continues...
Just wondering, on this first Mondayised Waitangi Day-off (thank you Labour), whether the day the TPP was signed will also become a National holiday - marking as a it does (yet again) the day those in charge sold future generations into penury and litigation without end.
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