Time: 6.30pm, Monday. March 10
Venue: Newtown Neighbourhood Centre, 1 Belford St, Newtown
Dr Patricia Ranald from AFTINET will join representatives from environment and public health groups to address a community forum on the Trans-Pacific Partnership in Newtown. More details to come
The Trans-Pacific Partnership - Neither Partnership nor Trade - A corporate threat to the public interest
Time: 6.30pm, Thursday, Feb 20
Venue: Harold Park Hotel, Cnr Wigram Rd and Ross St, Glebe
Dr Patricia Ranald from AFTINET and Jon Edwards from MSF (Doctors without borders) will speak.
For more information visit the Politics in the Pub website.
The Sustainability Council of New Zealand issued a media release asserting that "the TPP’s economic benefits are less than a quarter of those the government has claimed – and the proposed trade deal would impose serious costs".
News.com.au reports that New Zealand's Prime Minister, John Key defended the Trans-Pacific Partnership while in Australia recently. The article also states that the TPP has "faced significant opposition" and quotes the Australia Institute's executive director, Dr Richard Denniss.
"The Australia Institute claims the TPP risks an explosion in the cost of medicines, less Australian television content and relaxed labelling of genetically modified foods.
In the US, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he opposes the ‘Trade Promotion Authority’ bill, which would fast-track the TPP and other trade deals. The bill would allow agreements to pass through Congress with limited debate and no amendments.
Politico reports that without Trade Promotion Authority, other countries participating in TPP negotiations (including Australia) will not have confidence that concessions made by the US in the TPP can be upheld, and will be unlikely to make their own concessions.
The TPP restricts our ability to place health warning labels on food and alcohol products, or to shift towards a more locally sustainable food production system.
The draft text of the environment chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and a Chair's report were released by Wikileaks last week. Michael Safi writes for the Global Mail about the leaks, reporting that the environmental protections it does contain are "virtually meaningless", that many disagreements still remain, and that Australia and the United States are the only countries of the 12 negotiating the agreement to object to an article dealing with climate change.
The Philip Morris tobacco company is trying to use investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) clauses in an obscure 1993 Australia-Kong Kong investment agreement to sue the government for damages in an international tribunal over the tobacco plain packaging legislation.
James Panichi reports that this case has disrupted trade talks between the United States and Europe as it calls into question the inclusion of ISDS clauses. Read the article on Inside Story.
Tom Warne-Smith from the Environment Defenders Office writes for The Drum about the dangers of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in the TPP.
"Under the secretive Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement, Australia could be forced to pay foreign corporations not to dig up or destroy its coastline or native forests," he writes.