MEDIA RELEASE: TPP Action Group
16 December 2010, For Immediate Use

The TPP Action Group[i] are holding a visual protest today outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Lambton Quay in Wellington at 12:20pm in opposition to the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement currently under negotiation. The group will march from Midland Park at 12:10pm.

“We’re seeing the death of democracy,” says Richard Slade, spokesperson for the TPP Action Group. “These negotiations happen in secret, no-one gets to see the text until it is signed.

“Cabinet makes these deals, not the elected New Zealand Parliament. The TPP would lock the hands of future parliaments from making policy.

“The TPP gives foreign companies more power than NZ citizens and it must not go ahead! We are a group of union members terrified by what TPP could mean for the future, and determined to oppose it.

“The TPP would be enforceable in secret in international courts and tribunals. Foreign corporations would be able to sue the New Zealand government over legislation or court decisions they didn’t like, such as an order to clean up a toxic site. It also has implications for protection of intellectual property in digital media.

“We are also here today in solidarity with people in the other eight countries[ii] who also stand to lose out economically, socially and environmentally. The TPP is not what we want for the future.”

Participants will have their mouths taped to symbolise the way this process silences the vast majority of people.

ENDS

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