Media Release, September 2 2016: More than sixty civil society organisations covering all sixteen Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) countries have called for meaningful stakeholder engagement after they were locked out the latest negotiating round in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Read more.
MEDIA RELEASE, 31 August 2016: Sixty diverse community organisations representing more than two million Australians have endorsed a letter to parliamentarians asking for a Senate Inquiry before Parliament votes on the TPP implementing legislation. Read more.
Media Release, August 4, 2016: An unprecedented alliance of civil society groups from Australia, New Zealand, ASEAN countries, India, Japan and South Korea, today issued a call to Trade Ministers meeting in Laos to discuss the mega trade agreement involving 16 countries, known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
Media Release, July 18 2016: “US Vice-President Joe Biden may talk up the TPP in his speech at Sydney University today. But US Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who controls the numbers in the U.S. Senate, declared last week in the Washington Post that the TPP legislation is unlikely to pass Congress this year.
Media Release, June 20, 2016: The Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network of 60 community organisations has analysed policy documents, public statements and past records to compare the trade policies of the major parties on key issues, summarised below.
June 7, Media Release: “The ALP trade policy released yesterday shows welcome responses to community concerns about secrecy, investor rights to sue governments and temporary workers, but will it vote against the TPP implementing legislation ?" Dr Patricia Ranald, Convener of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network said today. Read the full release here.
Media Release, June 2, 2016: “Buried deep in the Australia Institute’s report released today, called Manufacturing Still Matters, is a blistering critique of trade deals that weaken governments’ ability to use their own purchasing power to support local industry,” Dr Patricia Ranald, C
Media Release, May 26, 2016: Wikileaks has released the most updated draft texts on the proposed Trade in Services Agreement (TISA)[i]on three new annexes: State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs); Professional Services, and New Provisions Applicable to All Services.
The TISA is currently being negotiated among 50 mostly industrialised and service-exporting countries including Australia, the US, 23 EU countries, Japan and Korea.
May 25, 2016: “Reports of Australian Ambassador Joe Hockey’s desperate attempts to lobby the U.S. Congress to support the TPP beg the question of why the Australian government should be supporting it,” Dr Patricia Ranald, Convener of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network said today.“US bipartisan opposition to the TPP is now so strong that the US is now getting other governments to lobby its own Congress. There is something wrong with this picture.”
May 19, 2016: "The official U.S. International Trade Commission report released today on the impact of the TPP on the US economy has predicted a tiny GDP increase of only 0.15 percent after 15 years. This will increase the strong US bipartisan Congressional opposition to the TPP and make it even less likely that the implementing legislation will be considered by Congress before the US election in November," Dr Patricia Ranald, AFTINET Convener said today.