Join us throughout the country on 7 March to
Tell the Government: TPPA? No Deal!

Auckland – http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/th_event/7-march-auckland/
Hamilton – http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/th_event/tppa-no-deal-hamilton/
Whitianga – http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/th_event/tppa-no-deal-whitianga/
Tauranga – http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/th_event/7-march-tauranga/
Rotorua – http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/th_event/7-march-rotorua/
Napier – http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/th_event/7-march-napier/
Gisborne – http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/th_event/7-march-gisborne/
Palmerston North – http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/th_event/7-march-palmerston-north/
Whanganui – http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/th_event/7-march-whanganui/
Levin – http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/th_event/7-march-levin/
Wellington – http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/th_event/7-march-wellington/
Nelson – http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/th_event/7-march-nelson/
Hokitika – http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/th_event/tppa-no-deal-hokitika-2/
Christchurch – http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/th_event/7-march-christchurch/
Timaru – http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/th_event/7-march-timaru/
Dunedin – http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/th_event/7-march-dunedin/
Invercargill – http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/th_event/tppa-no-deal-invercargill/

No rally near you? Take part thru #TPPANoDeal

Thank you to the sponsors (so far): NZCTU, EPMU, CAFCA, Oxfam, MUNZ, FIRST, TEU.

Local meetings in Dunedin, Wellington and Auckland
Dr Josh Freeman and Prof Jane Kelsey speak in Dunedin, Sunday 1 March
Fabians meeting Wellington, 5.30pm Wed 4 March, Connolly Hall, speaker Jane Kelsey
Fabians meeting Auckland: ‘High Noon for the TPPA’, 5.30pm Thursday 5 March, Case Room 3, Owen Glenn Building, Auckland University, speakers Barry Coates, Pat Neuwelt, Prof Jane Kelsey

TPPA ministers defer decision-making meeting
The clock is ticking on Obama’s deadline of late May/early June to conclude this deal. The meeting of ministers planned for 13-15 March has now been delayed to April. The US and Japan have not yet reached a deal, and without that deal nothing else can happen. Jane Kelsey’s Herald op ed explains. This makes the timeline even tighter and increases the chance they can’t pull it off under Obama’s presidency. That makes our message to the government on 7 March all the more important.

Great work by NZ doctors
NZ doctors spearheaded a letter from clinicians in numerous TPPA countries that was published in the prestigious Lancet last week. Their call for a health impact assessment of the TPPA before anything is signed created news around the world. Numerous press releases and an opinion piece by Dr Josh Freeman in the Dominion Post were picked up in a supportive editorial in the Waikato Times. The Age in Australia ran an editorial: ‘Dearer drugs and movies: will Australia lose out in the mother of all trade agreements?’

The DomPost sends the Beehive a message
The Dominion Post editorial on 16 February, under the headline “Trans-Pacific Partnership: Trade deal secrecy par for the course”, drew links to the secret Sky City deal. It poured scorn on the government’s justification for the secrecy based on the EU’s Ombudsman’s report that led the EU to release documents in its EU negotiation.

Protesters greet John Key in Oxford, Canterbury
Is John Key getting the message?

Campaign against foreign investors’ Bill of Rights

We are about to launch a campaign against foreign investors’ special rights to sue the government in dodgy offshore tribunals under the TPPA and other agreements. People have told the government they oppose investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). But it continues signing them. The latest is the NZ-Korea FTA. Mass submissions opposing ISDS in the Korea agreement will show the government what will happen with the TPPA.. More soon.

Great resources on ISDS
John Oliveron Big Tobacco’s tactics using ISDS to sink smokefree laws
Australian Senate Debate on ISDS
FTAWatch in Thailand explains the basics of ISDS

The latest desperate White House propaganda
Obama is getting desperate. Last week his office sent out a propaganda video pitching the TPPA as great for ‘hardworking Americans’. But hardworking Americans know it will be the same as NAFTA – rich get richer, corporations cream the profit, and ordinary families and workers lose out.