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Leaked TPP draft confirms US push on medicines: Australia should resist at August meeting

'A leaked draft TPP intellectual property chapter dated 11 May 2015, confirms that the US is still proposing extensions on medicine monopolies which would delay the availability of cheaper medicines. The draft was considered at the meeting of TPP Trade Ministers which failed to reach agreement on July 31,” Dr Patricia Ranald, Coordinator of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network said today.Dr Ranald said that another meeting is planned by the end of August. The US is continuing to press for:extension of data protection monopolies on expensive biologic drugs, which include treatments for cancer, from 5 to 8 years.

Shenhua mine example shows devil in the detail of the China Free Trade Agreement

August 5, 2015 Dr Patricia Ranald's oped in the Sydney Morning Herald

With public hearings for the Parliamentary Inquiry into the China Free Trade Agreement under way, the Shenhua Watermark coal mine on the Liverpool Plains, in north-west NSW, may provide a test case for some of the key clauses in the agreement on governments' rights to regulate mining projects for environmental reasons and on the employment of temporary overseas workers on such projects.

Read more here

Proposed August TPP meeting: Robb should reject shameful tradeoffs

Media Release August 3, 2015

The failure of TPP Ministers to reach agreement in what was supposed to be the final round of negotiations last week vindicates the deep concerns of community groups that the TPP is secretly trading away issues like access to affordable medicines and governments’ right to regulate without being sued by foreign corporations. These are issues which should be decided though open democratic parliamentary processes, not secretly traded away for token access to sugar or dairy markets,” said Dr Patricia Ranald, Coordinator of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network.

Ministers failed to reach agreement, but claimed “significant progress” and said “intensive work” will continue. Another Ministerial Meeting may be held at the end of August.

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