That Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement the Abbott Government intends to sign

Finding out a little more about what is behind Abbott’s seven veils of secrecy........

Download the full TPP Treaty Environment Chapter as PDF here

Wikileaks press release: Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) - Environment Chapter

Today, 15 January 2014, WikiLeaks released the secret draft text for the entire TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) Environment Chapter and the corresponding Chairs' Report. The TPP transnational legal regime would cover 12 countries initially and encompass 40 per cent of global GDP and one-third of world trade. The Environment Chapter has long been sought by journalists and environmental groups. The released text dates from the Chief Negotiators' summit in Salt Lake City, Utah, on 19-24 November 2013.

The Environment Chapter covers what the Parties propose to be their positions on: environmental issues, including climate change, biodiversity and fishing stocks; and trade and investment in 'environmental' goods and services. It also outlines how to resolve environmental disputes arising out of the treaty's subsequent implementation. The draft Consolidated Text was prepared by the Chairs of the Environment Working Group, at the request of TPP Ministers at the Brunei round of the negotiations.

When compared against other TPP chapters, the Environment Chapter is noteworthy for its absence of mandated clauses or meaningful enforcement measures. The dispute settlement mechanisms it creates are cooperative instead of binding; there are no required penalties and no proposed criminal sanctions. With the exception of fisheries, trade in 'environmental' goods and the disputed inclusion of other multilateral agreements, the Chapter appears to function as a public relations exercise.

Julian Assange, WikiLeaks' publisher, stated: "Today's WikiLeaks release shows that the public sweetner in the TPP is just media sugar water. The fabled TPP environmental chapter turns out to be a toothless public relations exercise with no enforcement mechanism."

The Chairs' Report of the Environment Working Group also shows that there are still significant areas of contention in the Working Group. The report claims that the draft Consolidated Text displays much compromise between the Parties already, but more is needed to reach a final text. The main areas of contention listed include the role of this agreement with respect to multilateral environmental agreements and the dispute resolution process.

The documents date from 24 November 2013 ─ the end of the Salt Lake City round. They were requested by the Ministers of the TPP after the August 2013 Brunei round. The Consolidated Text was designed to be a "landing zone" document to further the negotiations quickly and displays what the Chairs say is a good representation of all Parties' positions at the time. The WikiLeaks Consolidated Text and corresponding Chairs' Report show that there remains a lot of controversy and disagreement within the Working Group. The Consolidated Text published by WikiLeaks is not bracketed, as per the IP Chapter released in November 2013, as it is drafted by the Chairs of the Working Group at their responsibility. Instead, the accompanying Chairs' Report provides commentary on the draft Consolidated Text and is the equivalent of bracketed disagreements for the countries that have not agreed on certain Articles, and provides their positions.

Current TPP negotiation member states are the United States, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Chile, Singapore, Peru, Vietnam, New Zealand and Brunei. This is the third in the series of Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) leaks published by WikiLeaks.

Further reading: 

TPP Environment Chapter Analysis by Professor Jane Kelsey, New Zealand

Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) Series so far:

      TPP Intellectual Property Chapter

      TPP Agreement Documents

      TPP Environment Chapter Consolidated Text

      TPP Environment Chapter Working Group Chairs' Report

Defending their Jenny

Letter to the editor in The Northern Star, 15 February 2014:

Poor treatment

For nearly 5.5 years Lismore local government area has had the enormous benefit of Jenny Dowell as our mayor. I have had the privilege of working with Jenny as both Deputy Mayor and Councillor and I would estimate that Jenny spends at least 60 hours a week on her Mayoral duties. Jenny is scrupulous in not taking advantage of her role for political ends and supports decisions of Council even when she personally disagrees with them.

This does not mean that I or everybody agrees with Jenny on every issue.

However I strongly believe she is deserving of our respect.

Frankly I have been appalled by the way our Mayor has been treated over the issue of fluoridation of our water supply. In recent months our Mayor has received death threats, been abused repeatedly in social media, had people shout and scream at her in all manner of public places, had her integrity called into question and had people turn their backs on her. All because she supports, as do five other Councillors the artificial fluoridation of our water supply. Can I suggest that for all of us who oppose fluoride that taking out our anger and frustration on our mayor is not only totally disrespectful of someone deserving of our greatest respect, but also completely counter- productive to the campaign to keep fluoride out of our water supply.

Cr Simon Clough

Lismore City Council

Murdoch's minions have been drinking the Kool-Aid again

*

 Basically the Australian Bureau of Statistics defines the labour force as every person 15 years of age and older who is capable of work.

Those usually excluded are persons in this age group who are voluntarily keeping house (unpaid), have permanently retired, are members of contemplative religious orders or are in gaols, hospitals, boarding schools etc.

In January 2014 the size of the labour force was calculated at 12.18 million, with total employed persons being 11.45 million and total unemployed persons being 728,600 (seasonally adjusted). [6202.0 - Labour Force, Australia, Jan 2014]

This brought the unemployment rate for January in at 6 per cent.

Sounds simple doesn’t it?

Yet The Australian ran this opening sentence in an article titled Remove hurdles to employment on 14 February 2014; Australia's unemployment rate is now just shy of 51 per cent. That is not a misprint. Then went on to state; In a country of 23.38 million people only 7.95 million have a full-time job, with another 3.51 million in part-time jobs

The newspaper appears to have reached this conclusion by calculating its 11.46 million employed persons as a percentage of its total Australian population (mewling infants, primary school children, retirees, the frail aged in nursing homes etc., all merrily included) and then subtracting this from 100 to reach 51 per cent unemployment across the nation.

I’m still wondering what on earth the editor was drinking thinking when he decided to let such drivel go forward for publication.

One thing is certain – his journalist must have been quaffing Kool-Aid** by the bucket full.

* Kool-Aid image from Google Images

** Drinking the Kool-Aid

Even as former Australian Defence Minister Peter Reith attempts to rewrite history, he can't hide from the truth

With former Howard Coalition Government Defence Minister Peter Reith complaining this month about his treatment by the media during the “Children Overboard Affair” and, baldly stating that he believed the children overboard story to be true at the time, although it was later found to be untrue by a Senate Select Committee, perhaps it’s time to look back on the truth of the matter.

Extract from the Executive Summary of the Main Report of the Senate Select Committee’s 2000 Inquiry Into A Certain Maritime Incident:

On 11 October 2001, Minister Reith and his staff were separately informed that the

photographs were not of the alleged children overboard events of 7 October, but were

of the foundering of SIEV 4 on 8 October.

On or about 17 October 2001, Admiral Barrie informed Minister Reith that there were

serious doubts about the veracity of the report that children had been thrown

overboard from SIEV 4.

On 7 November 2001, the then Acting Chief of Defence Force, Air Marshal Angus

Houston, informed Minister Reith that children had not been thrown overboard from

SIEV 4.

On four other occasions the lack of or dubious nature of evidence for the ‘children

overboard’ report were drawn to the attention of the Minister or his staff by officers

from Defence.

On no occasion did the Defence organisation produce any evidence to PM & C, and

through it to the office of the Prime Minister, which corroborated the original report

that children had been thrown overboard. However, on no occasion did the Defence

organisation provide definitive advice to the Department of the Prime Minister and

Cabinet or the People Smuggling Taskforce that children were not thrown overboard

from SIEV 4 or that the photographs were not of that alleged incident.

On 7 November 2001, Minister Reith informed the Prime Minister that, at the least,

there were doubts about whether the photographs represented the alleged children

overboard incident or whether they represented events connected with SIEV 4’s

sinking.

Despite direct media questioning on the issue, no correction, retraction or

communication about the existence of doubts in connection with either the alleged

incident itself or the photographs as evidence for it was made by any member of the

Federal Government before the election on 10 November 2001.

Minister Reith made a number of misleading statements, implying that the published

photographs and a video supported the original report that children had been thrown

overboard well after he had received definitive advice to the contrary.

The Committee finds that Mr Reith deceived the Australian people during the 2001

Federal Election campaign concerning the state of the evidence for the claim that

children had been thrown overboard from SIEV 4. [my red bolding]