Fletcher Tabuteau MP

Spokesperson for Trade
8 APRIL 2016

Government Continues to Treat NZ Public with Contempt Over TPP

The Government wants to railroad the TPP trade deal process and is treating the New Zealand public with contempt, says New Zealand First.

“Cutting down the time frame for MPs to consider hundreds of TPP public submissions in order to ensure a predetermined timeframe for ratification from four weeks to just five days is a slap in the face of democracy and shows they are not interested in what the public thinks,” says New Zealand First Spokesperson for Trade Fletcher Tabuteau.

“The government is just going through the motions and what makes things worse is that the draft report will be written before the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Selection Committee finishes hearing all the submissions.

“The outcome is clearly predetermined.

“When members of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Selection Committee were told on Thursday that the government wanted to cut the time frame, New Zealand First immediately put forward a motion that the trade deal itself must be debated in Parliament.

“This was supported by Labour and the Greens but rejected by the government.

“That showed the government has an agenda and is hell-bent on getting the TPP deal sorted by the end of the calendar year – regardless of what the public think,” Mr Tabuteau says.

ENDS

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