June 14, 2017 Media Release: Over 30 groups and 449 individuals from the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand have called for a halt to the signing of the regional trade deal, known as PACER-Plus, until there has been proper time to assess its impacts and time to properly consult Pacific peoples. The petition is attached.
June 13, 2017, Media Release: “Vanuatu’s decision to join Fiji and Papua New Guinea to boycott the signing tomorrow of the PACER-Plus trade deal between Australia, New Zealand and now only 11 Pacific island countries shows there are serious weaknesses in the agreement because the three largest Pacific island economies are saying there are no benefits for them,” Dr Patricia Ranald, Convener of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network, said today.
MEDIA RELEASE, 22 May 2017: The revival of the TPP without the US proposed by trade ministers meeting in Hanoi would not be in Australia’s national interest, AFTINET Convener Patricia Ranald said today. Read the media release.
Media release May 19, 2017: Prominent public health organisations, including the World Public Health Association and the Australian Public Health Association have called on trade ministers from eleven remaining Trans-Pacific Partnership countries not to attempt to resurrect the deal at their meeting in Hanoi tomorrow. Read full release here.
MEDIA RELEASE, 4 May 2017: A TPP without the US would lock in all the deal’s most damaging and politically controversial clauses on stronger medicine and copyright monopolies and investor rights to sue governments while delivering almost no additional market access, AFTINET Convener Patricia Ranald said today. Read more.
MEDIA RELEASE, April 20, 2017: AFTINET Convener Dr Patricia Ranald said today that Australia should not proceed with the PACER-Plus trade deal between Australia, New Zealand and only 12 of the original 14 Pacific Island countries. Without the two largest economies, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, PACER-Plus has failed as a regional agreement.
MEDIA RELEASE, 24 March 2017: The Australian and Chinese governments’ announcement of a review of the Investment Facilitation Memorandum of Understanding attached to the China-Australia free trade agreement should result in the MOU’s cancellation, AFTINET convener Doctor Patricia Ranald said today. Read the full media release here.
MEDIA RELEASE, 16 March 2017: Representatives from all TPP countries except the US missed an opportunity to strive for fairer trade deals when they praised the dead TPP in a statement following a meeting today in Viña del Mar, Chile.
February 27, 2017: Negotiations between Australia, New Zealand China, India, Japan, South Korea and 10 ASEAN countries continue this week for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in Kobe, Japan. The negotiations are held in secret, and the Japanese government has been reluctant to allow community groups to meet with negotiators, only arranging a short meeting with little notice. Negotiations will continue through 2017.
Leaked documents have revealed that TPP-like proposals on stronger medicine monopolies and investor rights to sue governments are on the table. Community groups from most RCEP countries have urged governments to reject these proposals and release negotiating texts. See AFTINET media release here.
Tell the Australian trade Minister to say no to the TPP in the RCEP here.
Media Release February 7, 2017: “AFTINET welcomes the conclusion of the ALP members of the Senate inquiry into the TPP that the implementing legislation should not proceed but be deferred,” AFTINET Convener Dr Patricia Ranald said today.“However we believe that the TPP is not in Australia’s interest and the Australian Parliament should not approve the implementing legislation either now or in the future,” read the full release here.