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January 22, 2016
Claim and counter-claim over TPP Maori impact.
Waatea Team
Posted On January 22, 2016
The Government has gone on the defensive over claims the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement will make it harder for the crown to meet its obligations to Maori under the Treaty of Waitangi.
Trade Minister Todd McClay yesterday released a new factsheet which he says sets the record straight on how TPP specifically recognises the Treaty of Waitangi, as well as other areas of significance for Maori including opportunities for Maori exporters.
He says nothing in TPP will prevent the Crown from meeting its obligations to Māori.
“As with all of New Zealand’s free trade agreements since 2001, TPP includes a specific provision preserving the pre-eminence of the Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand,” Mr McClay says.
He says that’s in addition to the obligations in TPP having been designed so as not to impair the ability of governments to make legitimate public policy, including in health, education, and protecting the environment.
But an analysis of the agreement prepared for Waitangi Tribunal claimants by eminent law experts says the TPP is less about traditional trade in goods than about restricting the kinds of laws, policies and actions governments can adopt.
The paper < https://tpplegal.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/ep3-tiriti-paper.pdf> by Dr Carwyn Jones, Associate Professor Claire Charters, Andrew Eruiti and Professor Jane Kelsey says there is no generic protection for indigenous peoples in the 12 signatory states, and an exception that allows New Zealand governments to give preferential treatment to Maori is inadequate.
“Several chapters guarantee foreign states and their commercial interests the right to participate in New Zealand’s domestic decisions, while Maori as tangata whenua have no similar guarantees,” it says.
“Rights of Maori relating to Intellectual Property (IP), biodiversity, and environmental law and policy, guaranteed through te Tiriti o Waitangi and the Uniuted Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, could be significantly affected by the TPPA.”
It says despite the Treaty of Waitangi exception, the provisions in the IP chapter will make it more difficult for Maori to achieve changes to New Zealand IP law that are necessary to protect rights and obligations of kaitiaki in relation to matauranga Maori.
The paper says despite previous Waitangi Tribunal findings that Maori should be consulted on such agreements, they were largely shut out of the TPP process.
Mr McClay says Maori not have significant ownership in key export sectors such as red meat, dairy, kiwifruit, forestry, and seafood so they stand to benefit from tariff savings of more than $200 million a year on those sectors.
The paper says the government’s claims of economic gains are far-fetched, not supported by evidence, and ignore the tangible and intangible costs of the TPPA to Maori.
A public meeting will be held on the TPP at Auckland Town Hall on January 26, with speakers including Professor Kelsey and Lori Wallach, a former trade lawyer who is now director of United States’ consumer group Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch.
Copyright © 2016, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com
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