February 28, 2015:Gabrielle Chan reports in The Guardian that the TPP could allow a foreign company to sue the government for damages if sales dropped after country of origin labelling was introduced, says the Public Health Association. See full article here
February 14, 2015 Leading Australian and NZ medical experts have joined others from TPP countries in the International Medical Journal The Lancet to warn that the TPP threatens health and to call for public release and wide discussion of the text of the secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA).
Februrary 9, 2015 Key health bodies have called for greater transparency in negotiation of the TPP to ensure Australians' access to medicines and public health initiatives are not adversely affected by the finer details of such a deal.
Australian Medical Association vice president Dr Stephen Parnis said assurances made by the federal government last year that it would not enter into an agreement that would have negative effects on Australia's health system were not enough."There must be a greater degree of transparency; we can't simply accept assurances from the government that health won't be compromised. The specifics really matter here",
Media Release February 9, 2015
New evidence has emerged that the US blackmailed Australia into agreeing to additional changes to Australian copyright law after the Australia-US free trade agreement implementation legislation was passed in 2004. The US refused to finally ratify the agreement without additional changes which gave even more rights to copyright holders at the expense of consumers. The same process is likely to occur if the TPP is signed this year,” Dr Patricia Ranald, AFTINET Coordinator, said today.
February 5, 2015: A leaked discussion paper from secret negotiations for a Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) proposes wide ranging changes to national public health systems to allow the promotion of private health tourism services.
January 30, 2015:Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz warns in the New York Times that US proposals at ongoing TPP talks would strengthen monopoly rights for pharmaceutical companies to delay cheaper generic medicines, and would undermine government regulation of drug prices.
GetUp social media group has released a short video on the TPP called ‘The dirtiest deal you never heard of’. It slams the secrecy of the negotiations and corporate powers to sue governments.The website has a link to AFTINET for further information.
MEDIA RELEASE January 27, 2015
As secret Trans-Pacific (TPP) trade talks resume in New York, an unusually diverse mix of 47 Australian community groups including public health, environment, union, church, development aid and other groups have written an open letter to Trade Minister Robb citing mounting evidence that the TPP is not in the national interest, and demanding that the text be released for public scrutiny before it is signed.
January 27, 2015
A letter from 47 Australian community groups tells Trade Minister that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is not not in the national interest