Rt Hon Winston Peters
New Zealand First Leader

11 February 2014

Stop the Secrecy around the Trade Negotiations

The clock is ticking - it’s time for the Prime Minister to give a straight answer over the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, says New Zealand First leader Rt Hon Winston Peters.

In Parliament today, Mr Key was questioned over his previous statement that ‘transparency is a good thing’ and how this relates to his lack of transparency in the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations.

“Once again democracy was nowhere to be seen as Mr Key favoured secrecy and failed to explain why his Government refused to be transparent during the negotiations.

“The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has always released the wording of its agreements – while the United States of America and Malaysia have also briefed their parliamentarians.

“Currently, a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the European Union and the United States are being negotiated and details, including an explanation for the general public, are being released.

“Mr Key is trying to keep the public in ignorance over the TPP, but New Zealanders deserve to know what rights are being negotiated away by this Government.

“The Prime Minister is misleading when he says the public will have the chance to have their say on the content of the TPP during the select committee process.

“They will have their say over the associated legislation that New Zealand will have to implement to agree to the terms of the TPP.

“But they will not get a say on the text of the treaty as that will have already been ratified by Cabinet,” says Mr Peters.

ENDS

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