8 November 2016

Working people call on Dunne to vote down TPPA Bill

As the Government drives the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Amendment Bill through its committee stages in Parliament this afternoon, a union representing 27,000 working people is calling on United Future leader Peter Dunne to side with the 52 per cent of New Zealanders who oppose the “investors’ charter.”

“Peter Dunne isn’t voting for a trade agreement, he’s voting from an investors’ charter,” said FIRST Union General Secretary Robert Reid.

“Under the TPPA overseas investors can sue our government in secretive tribunals for doing nothing more than acting in the public interest.”

“That’s a threat to our sovereignty.”

“The deal also locks in protections for big overseas pharmaceutical companies with biologics patents, meaning we’ll have to wait longer for affordable medicines to arrive on the market. The TPPA isn’t just a threat to the economy, it’s a threat to health,” said Reid.

“Our 27,000 members are calling on Peter Dunne to withdraw his support for the Bill.”

For further comment contact FIRST Union General Secretary Robert Reid: 021 535 933

TPPA fact sheet

• Economic modelling commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Government department most invested in the deal’s success, predicts an economic benefit $2.7 billion by 2030, meaning the upfront benefit is less than 1 per cent of GDP and spread across fifteen years;

• Analysis by leading economists found after extrapolating from current growth rates GDP is expected to increase 47 percent by 2030 without the TPPA and just 47.9 percent with the TPPA. The projected benefits from the TPPA essentially amount to a rounding error. Unexpected changes in commodity prices could wipe out the projected gains;

• In the final hours before the Bill’s enters the Committee of the Whole House stage in Parliament this afternoon hundreds of FIRST Union members have signed this Action Station letter to Peter Dunne.

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