10 November 2015

Did the Trade Minister wilfully forget he’s also Minister for Climate Change Issues?

The Green Party is challenging Trade Minister Tim Groser to explain to the public whether he supported cutting climate change out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA). All the specific references to climate change and fossil fuel subsidies from in the November 2013 draft text have been removed from the final text.

Tim Groser is both the Trade Minister and the Minister for Climate Change Issues.

“Mr Groser needs to explain whose side he was on when the decision was made to cut all specific references to climate change and ending fossil fuel subsidies out of the TPPA between November 2013 and October 2015,” Green Party trade spokesperson Kennedy Graham said.

“Which hat was he wearing at the TPPA negotiations? His trade hat and his climate change hat are supposed to complement each other, but it looks like he left his climate change hat at home.

“The TPPA covers 40 percent of the global economy so it’s vital that it takes climate change seriously as both an economic and environmental problem in one.

“Did the Minister support cutting out the draft text that would have encouraged TPPA countries to work together to decrease climate pollution through emissions pricing, and if so, why?

“Did he support removing all the references to commitments to end fossil fuel subsidies in the 2013 draft text?

“The 2013 draft TPPA recognised the importance of climate change and its relationship with trade, but the final TPPA text doesn’t. Did Tim Groser support this change?” Dr Graham asked.

ends

© Scoop Media