Media Releases

MEDIA RELEASE, July 23, 2015

TPP Protest at ALP Conference, Melbourne on July 24 as TPP negotiators meet in Hawaii for possible shameful trade-offs

“Community groups are rallying in the Melbourne winter at 8 am on Friday July 24 outside the ALP conference at the Melbourne Convention Centre to ask the ALP to reject bad trade deals like the China FTA and the TPP. On the same day TPP negotiators begin their secret meeting in the luxury beach resort of Maui in Hawaii, with TPP Trade Ministers scheduled to meet there from July 28-31 to try to finish the deal,” Dr Patricia Ranald, Coordinator of the Australian Fair Trade and investment Network said today.

Media Release June 24, 2015

US Senate paves the way for TPP Fast Track as UN Human Rights experts demand release of TPP text and human rights impact study

“A procedural vote in the U.S. Senate has paved the way for the TPP Fast Track Bill to be passed through the Congress this week. This means the U.S. Congress will not be able to amend the text of the TPP. A date is then likely be set for the long delayed meeting of TPP Trade Ministers to resume their secret negotiations to try to finalise the deal,” Dr Patricia Ranald Coordinator of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network (AFTINET) said today.

“But community opposition to the TPP in many countries has been reinforced by a call from 10 United Nations Human Rights Rapporteurs for a halt to further TPP negotiations and release of the full text so that proper human rights impact assessments can be done. They say the TPP could have detrimental effects on human rights to health, clean environment, improved labour standards and an independent judiciary".

Media Release June 19, 2015

“After various procedural manoeuvres, part of the Fast Track bill package was narrowly passed overnight in the US House of Representatives, and has now gone back to the Senate. But the part of the package which supports workers who lose their jobs through trade agreements has been dropped from the Bill, which makes it less likely to succeed in the Senate,” Dr Patricia Ranald Coordinator of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network (AFTINET) said today.

Media Release June 13, 2015

“Despite procedural manoeuvres, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Fast Track Bill was defeated in the US House of Representatives overnight. This was a victory for the US community campaign against the secrecy of the TPP process and provisions of the TPP which threaten jobs, medicine prices, food safety and Internet freedom and would expose health and environmental protections to challenges from foreign investors, and lack meaningful and enforceable labour rights and environmental protections,” Dr Patricia Ranald Coordinator of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network (AFTINET) said today.

Media Release                                                                                            

Sunday May 24, 2015

“Both Japan and Chile have said they will not finalise the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal until Fast Track legislation has passed both houses of the U.S. Congress,” Dr Patricia Ranald Coordinator of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network (AFTINET) said today.“This means the TPP Trade Ministers meeting due on May 26 will not be able to seal the deal, and has been cancelled, yet another missed deadline.”

“Meanwhile Australian parliamentarians will tomorrow launch across party group critical of the TPP at 12:30 PM in Committee Room 1R1 at Parliament House in Canberra. This is a response to growing community concern about the TPP in Australia,” said Dr Ranald.

Media Release 13 May, 2015

“The conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal is now in doubt following the defeat in the US Senate of a proposal to advance the FastTrack Bill.The Fast Track Bill would prevent the U.S. Congress from amending the TPP, and instead allow only a yes or no vote,” Dr Patricia Ranald Coordinator of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network (AFTINET) said today.