Clayton Mitchell New Zealand First MP

The government has been keeping secrets around its involvement in what is possibly the world's largest multi-national ‘free-trade' agreement.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) is being negotiated by 12 countries: New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and Brunei Darussalam.

Negotiations between these nations have been reportedly ongoing since 2009, but it is likely that informal negotiations began much earlier.

The United States describes the purpose of the TPPA as increasing US exports and supporting American jobs. Last week, Prime Minister John Key stated that 'New Zealand wouldn't get everything, but would get something beneficial to exporters.” However, as these negotiations have all been shrouded in secrecy, with the exception of a few Wikileaks, we have no idea what 'everything” the Prime Minister is referring to or any benchmark for what 'something” New Zealand exporters might get.

We have seen a significant contrast to our Prime Minister's secrecy in Malaysia, where their International Trade and Industry Minister stated clearly that they are pushing back on 'international property rights”, seeking to ensure affordable healthcare for their population and that 'whether or not Malaysia becomes a party to the TPPA will be a collective decision”, 'presented to the public and Parliament for debate”.

Because the current New Zealand government has not been candid, what we do know, thanks to a few chapters of the trade agreement having been leaked, is that under the TPPA, medicines would become more expensive, freedoms of speech, internet use and access of information would all be restricted.

Also under the TPPA, the privatisation of state assets would be irreversible and big foreign companies would gain the right to sue the New Zealand government for profit loss in secretive, offshore tribunals. This would make it incredibly difficult for the government to protect our rights and interests as New Zealanders.