Fletcher Tabuteau MP
Spokesperson for Trade and Commerce

28 September 2015

Dairy farmers sacrificed for TPPA

New Zealand First believes that New Zealand’s dairy export industry will be sacrificed so that Prime Minister John Key can sign the Trans Pacific Partnership

“Dairy farmers fear they will be thrown under the bus and they will be,” says New Zealand First Spokesperson for Trade and Commerce Fletcher Tabuteau.

“The Dairy Companies Association are on record opposing the TPPA if this government is unable to secure meaningful trade terms for our main exports.

“New Zealand First has opposed this trade deal from the start because of its secrecy and because, despite this National Governments rhetoric, it will compromise a true New Zealand government’s ability to make and enforce meaningful laws that look after the people of NZ.

“How can you trust Mr Key when he started out with a ‘no dairy, no deal,’ rhetoric which has now morphed into a placating “best we can do.”

“Couple this with Mr Groser’s statement that it will, “not be a gold-plated deal”. And not only should NZ fear the non-trade elements of this trade deal, but also the actual trade terms which look to be worsening rather than improving day by day.

“Pharmac, and therefore our elderly and our sick and weak along with dairying, will be thrown under Mr Key’s legacy bus that he’ll be off when we discover just how tightly locked in we are,” says Mr Tabuteau.

ENDS

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