As Canada hosts a round of secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade talks, Stephen Cornish from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has published an article in the Ottawa Citizen titled 'The TPP could be a blow to public health'.
Dr Patricia Ranald, Convener of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network, (AFTINET) Research Associate at the University of Sydney
As an advocate for fair trade based on human rights, labour rights and environmental sustainability, I read Senator Penny Wong’s policy speech on Australia in the global economy with great interest.
Brunei's recent introduction of a new criminal law regime which includes limb amputations and stoning as punishment has led to calls for trade talks with the dictatorship to be abandoned.
This article in The Economist article shows how stronger patent rights on medicines, like those being proposed in the TPP, delay cheaper generic medicines, resulting in higher prices for consumers.
Le Monde Diplomatique reports that the Veolia group, a French multinational, is suing the Egyptian government because of a rise in the monthly minimum wage. The company is using the ISDS provisions in an investment treaty between France and Egypt.
The case is still in progress, but is yet another example of the dangers of including investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
To view the full article you will need a subscription to Le Monde Diplomatique.
25/06/2014
By Dr Patricia Ranald
Prime Minister Abbott’s Washington talks on the stalled TPP between the US, Australia and ten other Pacific Rim countries on June 12 did nothing to solve the three major intractable problems which have dragged the negotiations into their fifth year.
You are invited to attend a conversation with AFTINET tomorrow night in Adelaide. We will discuss our campaign around the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and for fair trade more generally.
Time: 11th June, 7pm - 8.30pm
Venue: Community & Public Sector Union, 101 Henley Beach Rd, Mile End (There is an exit drive way to the car park from Henley Beach Rd which can be used as an entrance)
This will be a great opportunity to learn about AFTINET's work for trade justice based on human rights, labour rights and environmental sustainability.
A petition signed by 1.8 million people worldwide was delivered to the Australian Parliament today to protest against the radical secrecy surrounding the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Read the full report by Dr Matthew Rimmer here.
29/05/2014
Trade Ministers from 12 countries around the Pacific Rim met once again in Singapore on May 19-20. Their aim was a breakthrough in negotiations towards the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a free trade agreement involving Australia, Japan, the US and nine other countries around the Pacific Rim. They failed, yet again, to reach an agreement.
As TPP Trade Ministers from 12 Pacific Rim countries meet in Singapore, fair trade, public health, environment, church, unions and other community groups have endorsed a letter to Trade Minister Andrew Robb. The letter calls on the Minister to reject harmful proposals in the TPP, which should not be agreed in secret negotiations.