Wednesday, 28 October 2015

Citizen group to hold TPPA Referendum

Citizen group Real Choice announced today they will hold a nationwide referendum on the TPPA. Real Choice, under the name Show us Ya Text, previously attempted a citizen’s search and seizure of TPPA documents at MFAT offices in Wellington and an occupation of John Key’s electorate office in Helensville.

Spokeswoman Lizzie Sullivan said, “democracy isn’t a game that only a few get to play. The government is refusing to do democracy properly, so we’re doing it for them.”

“From Monday 23rd till Monday the 30th of November, we’ll be holding our own referendum on whether the NZ government should hold a binding referendum on ratifying the TPPA”, said Sullivan.

“We live in a democracy and that means more than just voting every 3 years. The government thinks they're giving us real choice on changing the flag, but we need real choice on the bigger issues at stake.”

“We expect more from our elected representatives, we expect them to be open and transparent with their plans, and this agreement has been anything but. So we’ve said flag that, we want real choice. We’re hitching a ride on the flag referendum and running our own.”

“We will set up a secure online voting platform and will have volunteers to set up polling stations around the country to collect votes during polling week.This is too important to be left up to a small group of MPs to decide, and they should put it to a binding referendum vote.”

“If the government really believes in democracy, it would put this agreement to the test and allow its constituents to have a say on this incredibly important issue. We’re giving Kiwis the chance to show the government we want a say on the TPPA. We want real choice, because that would be real choice”, said Sullivan.

ENDS.

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