July 02, 2015
Little endorses TPPA claim
Labour leader Andrew Little has welcomed a possible Waitangi Tribunal inquiry into whether signing the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement would breach the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.
The tribunal has given the crown until midday today to file submissions and evidence on whether it should grant urgency to two claims on the issue.
Mr Little says while the text of the treaty is being kept secret, enough has leaked out to show that it could compromise the right of a New Zealand government to legislate in various areas.
"When you’ve got a treaty between the Crown and Maori people that gives the Crown the right to govern and Maori to be in partnership with that, you then have this treaty with the US and 11 other countries that can cut across that. What status does that leave the treaty in? I think it’s a legitimate case well worth arguing out and getting an answer to because I think the TPP does have the potential to cut right across treaty rights," he says.
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