August 03, 2015
What would the TPPA mean to Maori?
What would the TPPA mean to Maori?
MARYN BRADBURY
The spectre of foreign corporations being able to manipulate domestic law making abilities by the NZ Parliament has not been put to rest by last weeks latest failure to sign it.
The idea that 600 corporate lobbyists are able to see a text that we, the citizens of the country signing it, can not, should cause concern. Corporations don't care about trampling our rights while Politicians are at least forced to, once every 3 years, pretend they won't.
These are the US corporations trying to force this law through…
3M Company
Abbott
ACE Group
Advanced Medical Technology Association
Aflac International
American Apparel & Footwear Association
American Automotive Policy Council
American Chemistry Council
American Council of Life Insurers
American Farm Bureau Federation
American Feed Industry Association
American Forest & Paper Association
American Insurance Association
American Legislative Exchange Council
American Meat Institute
American Soybean Association
Amway
APL
Apple
Applied Materials
Archer Daniels Midland Company
American Natural Soda Ash Corporation
Association of Global Automakers
Biotechnology Industry Organization
Boeing Business Roundtable
BSA – The Software Alliance
CA Technologies
Cargill Caterpillar
Chevron Chubb Corp.
Citigroup Inc
Coalition of Services Industries
The Coca Cola Company Inc
Computing Technology Industry Association
Conoco Phillips Consumer Specialty Products Association (CSPA)
Corn Refiners Association
Cotton Council International Council of the Americas
Crop Life America
The Walt Disney Company
Distilled Spirits Council of the United States
The Dow Chemical Company
EBay
Emergency Committee for American Trade
FedEx Express
Express Association of America
Exxon Mobil
Financial Services Forum
Fluor
FMC Corporation
Food Marketing Institute
Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America
Gap, Inc.
General Electric
General Motors
Glanbia USA
GlaxoSmithKline
Goldman Sachs
Grocery Manufacturers Association
Halliburton
Hanesbrands
Herbalife
Hewlett-Packard
Honda North America
Idaho Potato Commission
IDS International
IBM Information Technology
Industry Council Intel
Interactive Advertising Bureau
International Dairy Foods Association
International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA)
J.C. Penney
John Deere
Johnson & Johnson
Kraft Foods
Levi Strauss & Co.
Lilly Louis Dreyfus Commodities
Mars McGraw Hill Financial
Metlife
Microsoft
Mondelez International
Monsanto
Morgan Stanley
Motion Picture Association of America
Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association
National Association of Manufacturers
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
National Center for APEC
National Confectioners Association
National Corn Growers Association
National Council of Wheat Growers
National Electrical Manufacturers Association
National Fisheries Institute
National Foreign Trade Council
National Milk Producers Federation
National Oilseed Processors Association
National Pork Producers Council
National Potato Council
National Retail Federation
National Turkey Federation
Nike
Northwest Horticultural Council
Novartis
Oracle
Outdoor Industry Association
Pet Food Institute
Pfizer Philip Morris International
PhRMA
Plastics Industry Trade Association
PPG Industries
Procter & Gamble
Qualcomm Incorporated
Retail Industry Leaders Association
Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association
Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International
Software & Information Industry Association
SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association
Sudbury International Sweeteners Users Association
Target Inc.
TechAmerica Telecommunications Industry Association
The Entertainment Software Association
The National Chicken Council
Time Warner Inc.
Toyota North America
TUMI U.S. Apple Association
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
U.S. Grains Council
U.S. New Zealand Council
U.S. Wheat Associates
USA-ITA United States Council for International Business
United Technologies Corporation
UPS US-ASEAN Business Council
Viacom
Visa
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Washington Council on International Trade
World Trade Center San Diego
Xerox
Zimmer
I think it's safe to say that none of those corporations care particularly much for the protection of the Treaty of Waitangi.
Currently the TPPA has an exclusion for the Treaty of Waitangi, this from the Government's website…
For New Zealand, the Treaty of Waitangi exception in our FTAs is a critical addition to the GATT exceptions. As the founding document of New Zealand, the Treaty provides a framework for the on-going relationship between the Government of New Zealand and Maori. Given its importance, the Treaty exception has been included in all of New Zealand's FTAs, including multi-party processes like the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA and the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services. The exception is designed to ensure that successive governments retain flexibility to implement domestic policies that favour Maori without being obliged to offer equivalent treatment to overseas entities.
The Treaty of Waitangi exception is qualified by a requirement that any measures that provide more favourable treatment to Maori must not be used by New Zealand as a means of arbitrary or unjustified discrimination against persons from the other Parties, or as a disguised restriction on international trade. This is the same qualification that applies to the GATT Article XX exceptions. It provides an important reassurance to our trading partners that New Zealand will only seek to invoke this exception for legitimate purposes related to Māori and the Treaty of Waitangi.
…the problem here however is that it still opens the Government up to being prosecuted for standing up to Corporations who want to challenge Maori ownership of natural resources.
Maori have learned from bitter experience the problems associated with having to take the Government to court over treaty violations, how much more complex does that become if they need to go overseas to Tribunals more focused on the rights of the Corporation to make money than indigenous sovereignty?
Martyn Bradbury
Editor – TheDailyBlog.co.nz
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