Rt Hon Winston Peters
New Zealand First Leader
20 August 2013

Come Clean on TPPA Prime Minister Says NZ First

Rt Hon Winston Peters has challenged the Prime Minister to publicly explain the concessions New Zealand is secretly making at the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) negotiations.

The last round of talks is being held in Brunei and the details of the TPPA are being kept secret.

In Parliament today Mr Peters asked John Key if his Trade Minister had told him if the secret pages of the TPPA contained clauses that allowed foreign companies to sue New Zealand if they felt disadvantaged by our laws.

“It is unfortunate the Prime Minister could not give any assurances today that giant US multinationals will not target us if they don’t like our laws dealing with consumer goods, foreign investment or other important issues.

“All Mr Key would say is that there might be ‘technical provisions’ in the agreement, which should make New Zealand taxpayers very afraid.

“If this deal is for the betterment of the New Zealand people, why is he keeping this deal secret from them?

“Members of the United States Congress are briefed on this agreement but for some reason New Zealanders are deliberately being kept in the dark,” says Mr Peters.

ENDS

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