TPPA Don't Sign protest outside Prime Minister Ardern's electorate office

The government intends to sign the re-branded Trans Pacific Partnership (cpTPP) in Chile today, March 8th2018.

After the signing, it will still need to be ratified by the NZ government to fully come into effect. This is a deal that 75% of New Zealanders didn’t support before the election, and now polls show the same number would like to see an independent analysis of the slightly amended deal.

Auckland TPPA Action Group have responded to the country’s concerns by mounting a protest outside Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s office.

The protesters have left hundreds of pillows, cushions, soft toy dogs and rats outside the Prime Minister’s electoral office to represent the seriousness of what signing the TPPA will mean for New Zealand.

“We want to make it clear that this is not a protest against Jacinda”, said local activist, Lisa Er. “It is specifically against the signing of the cpTPP.”

“The pillows symbolise how the government has gone to sleep on the wider implications of the TPPA, We believe that the government needs to wake up and be truthful about what the TPPA will mean for New Zealand. If they don’t, they will be lying on their pillows as they try to sleep at night, while New Zealand is being sold out, leaving a nightmare for our future generations to deal with.” says Auckland TPPA Action Group’s spokesperson, Chantelle Campbell.

Some pillows sport messages such as “TPPA - Don’t sign”, "CPTPP - Corporate Profits Take People’s Pay!”, "ISDS (Investor State Disputes Settlement) is a dog" and "Save the planet - not the corporate 1%".

Jacinda Ardern said on Radio NZ that “The system of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in the TPPA is ‘a dog’.” Hence the toy dogs placed outside her office today.

“The government’s attempt to achieve some protection from the TPPA’s investor-enforcement mechanisms leaves the ISDS provision intact, just when the EU Court of Justice has ruled ISDS illegal.” said Lisa Er.

The cpTPPA is still a rat infested deal, and very little has changed from the deal that the National Party negotiated and who also had no mandate to sign.

A rally is being held outside Parliament at mid-day today, with other smaller protest actions being held across the country asking the government not to cement NZ into the cpTPP. Once the deal is ratified we will be cemented into it and any future government will find it very difficult to remove New Zealand from the agreement. This will mean that our government’s ability to put in measures to curb climate change, label food, honour Ti Tiriti, legislate around what is in our countries best interest, or make any decisions that don’t harmonise with the trade laws, will be curtailed. This will impinge greatly on New Zealand’s democracy and sovereignty.

Auckland TPPA Action Group hopes that the pillows and toy dogs used in the protest, will end up being given to the homeless by the PM's electoral office.

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