TPPA Campaign: Email Craig Emerson - don’t trade away vital social policies

We are asking individual members and supporters, to send an email message to Trade Minister Dr Craig Emerson in support of some recent changes ot Australia's trade policy and to ensure that the following principles are applied to the TPPA negotiations. They are:

• No further changes to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme which would increase wholesale prices and reduce affordable access to medicines.
• No increased intellectual property rights at the expense of consumers.
• No investor-state dispute process which would give special rights to international corporations to sue governments for damages.
• No reductions in the ability to have local content requirements for government purchasing and industry policies that support local employment.
• No further weakening of Australian Government power to regulate audiovisual media for Australian content purposes.
• Full rights for governments to regulate the labelling of genetically engineered food and to regulate GE crops, including existing state moratoria.
• Retention of the Foreign Investment Review Board, and of its powers to review foreign investment in the public interest.
• No weakening of quarantine regulations.
• Strong labour clauses that require signatories to enforce the International Labor Organisation’s (ILO) core standards, with trade penalties for non-compliance.
• Strong environmental clauses that require signatories to meet all applicable international environmental standards including those contained within UN environmental agreements, with trade penalties for non-compliance.

Please note if you wish to recieve a reply from Dr Emerson you will need to complete your address information as he does not have to reply to an email address.
Note that you will also receive a copy of the email that is sent to Dr Emerson. It will not contain Dr Emerson’s address and is simply a copy for your records. You will also receive an acknowledgement confirming that your email has been received by Dr Emerson.

Dear Dr Emerson,

Re: The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement

We welcome the Australian Government policy for all trade agreements announced on April 12, 2011 to reject special rights for corporations to sue governments, and to reject increased intellectual property rights at the expense of consumers. However we are aware that other governments may insist on these provisions, and that last minute trade-offs often occur in trade negotiations. Other social, cultural, labour and environmental issues are also being raised in the negotiations.

We call on the government not to sign the TPPA if it does not conform to the following principles:

• No further changes to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme which would increase wholesale prices and reduce affordable access to medicines.
• No increased intellectual property rights at the expense of consumers.
• No investor-state dispute process which would give special rights to international corporations to sue governments for damages.
• No reductions in the ability to have local content requirements for government purchasing and industry policies that support local employment.
• No further weakening of Australian Government power to regulate audiovisual media for Australian content purposes.
• Full rights for governments to regulate the labelling of genetically engineered food and to regulate GE crops, including existing state moratoria.
• Retention of the Foreign Investment Review Board, and of its powers to review foreign investment in the public interest.
• No weakening of quarantine regulations.
• Strong labour clauses that require signatories to enforce the International Labor Organisation’s (ILO) core standards, with trade penalties for non-compliance.
• Strong environmental clauses that require signatories to meet all applicable international environmental standards including those contained within UN environmental agreements, with trade penalties for non-compliance.

Yours sincerely