*snort*

Groser clearly has an interesting negotiating technique.

Translation: "Explaining is losing."

And already, US Senate Leader Harry Reid has vetoed fast-tracking for the TPPA.

Fine with me.

You can't buy it back if you don't sell it. And guess whose buddies clip the ticket both ways.

Simon Bridges knowingly includes a mere ‘just 10%’ of [[http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/marine-and-coastal/other-marine-protection/banks-peninsula/|Banks Peninsula Marine Mammal…

That’s not really accurate. It’s about not tightening environmental regulations.

ETA: What's particularly curious is that everyone else, even NZ, is resisting the tighter language. What's up on WikiLeaks doesn't really go into enough detail to know why that is.

– ABC: The environment would pay for 'free trade'
– [[http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/15/us/politics/administration-is-seen-as-retreating-on-environment-in-talks-on-pacific-trade.html|NYT: Administration Is Seen…

Bank of Tokyo threatened Government

__The Bank of Tokyo threatened the Government with bad publicity and warned of implications for foreign investment if it was forced to…

I'm not familiar with this but here's a press release from the Aussie Fair Trade and Investment Network (whatever that is) which more or less repeats what you've just said, after a speedy search:

__"The Philip Morris tobacco…

He's not making it up, though I don't have a supporting link. Aus has a trade agreement with Hong Kong that provides…

Is there a link for that? I'd have thought the courts would throw that…

The general line is that the TPP is a series of chapters about de-regulating industry in order to facilitate free trade... except for the IP chapter which is all about tight regulation in order to…

GM labeling anyone?

Whoops. Changed horses halfway through there, and then pressed print instead of preview.

Um – what's the point of a free trade agreement if it bans free trade ....

We clearly have different uses in mind.. :)

Fortunately New Zealand’s parliament is very compact, efficient and effective at getting legislation passed when compared with some of these other ones, so we can be sure to uphold our side of the bargain no matter what problems the US…

I'm going to have to skim over the chapter…

Can't tell if trolling but... I do sometimes wonder if that's why the media haven't done much on this. OpEds and stories in the political section of the paper don't get much traction. We need the clickbait headlines:
**The Government is signing a secret…

As well as cyber-snooping gone mad, corporate welfare gone mad, drone assassinations gone mad...

Was more meaning the US than us, but certainly elements of both parliaments are revolting. It's just that, both there and here, it's the minorities in the empowered bodies that are revolting. In the US it's the Republicans who…

More so. It's all about incrementally boiling the frog. The game is "just how much can we take before they revolt". And the answer seems to be that our parliament is not revolting.

You mean, much in keeping with the current situation, then?

Actually, Australia stands to get even more fucked by the TPP, there are a few…

IOW, Australia is taking the position "We got fucked, so now we're going to try and make sure you get fucked too."

The extra 20 years for copyright after death has been estimated to cost Australia about $88 million a year. They'll also be able to veto…

I’m not finding this totally surprising. There are obvious similarities with NZ, but it always felt like a much more Americanised culture than NZ during the few years I was living there. Maybe something about all the levels of government, the tax return…

Not prevent so much as alter the benefit:cost equation such that they might not be financially viable. Which is unlikely…