[LINK] Trans-Pacific Partnership IP Chapter Leaked

[Jan Whitaker]

At 02:11 PM 14/11/2013, David Boxall wrote:
><http://pirateparty.org.au/2013/11/14/trans-pacific-partnership-ip-chapter-leaked-enforcement-provisions-abound/>
>
>Trans-Pacific Partnership IP Chapter Leaked: Enforcement Provisions Abound
>
>Posted on November 14, 2013


Call for goverment to come clean over US trade deal

Peter Martin, Philip Dorling
Published: November 14, 2013 - 9:13PM

The government is being pressed to come clean on Australia's 
negotiating position on the Trans Pacific trade deal after the 
release of "chilling" details that showed Australia siding with the 
United States against the interests of other Pacific nations 
including Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and Vietnam.

The Greens will use a Senate motion in early December to force the 
government to release the complete details of Australia's position on 
the 12-nation trade deal after Wikileaks posted online the 
negotiating positions relating to intellectual property.

"We have one piece of the puzzle, and it is chilling," Greens senator 
Peter Whish-Wilson said. "The Greens will move for the rest of the 
document to be made public before the government signs up to 
something we will regret."

US proposals in the document could see Australians placed under 
surveillance as part of a crackdown on internet piracy and the 
patents for medicines more easily extended through a process known as 
"evergreening".

Labor - under whose watch the negotiations were conducted in secret - 
called on the Coalition to adopt a more open approach.

Trade spokesperson Penny Wong said the Abbott government should be 
"open and transparent with Australians about their intentions: are 
they prepared to include investor-state dispute settlement provisions 
in the Trans Pacific Partnership, and if so could they explain why 
this is in Australia's national interest."

Labor has pledged to reject an agreement with investor-state dispute 
settlement provisions arguing that foreign companies should not be 
allowed to sue Australian governments. Ahead of the election the 
Coalition indicated it had a softer stance.

Trade Minister Andrew Robb is en route to South Korea, Japan and 
China for trade talks and has previously spoken about his desire to 
quickly conclude the Trans Pacific Partnership talks.

The Wikileaks revelations came as 151 Democrat members of the 
Congress Democrats wrote to President Obama opposing his request for 
a further "fast track" authority to quickly close a deal. It follows 
a similar letter from 22 Republican members of Congress.

The Democrat letter said: "Twentieth Century 'Fast Track' is simply 
not appropriate for 21st Century agreements. The United States cannot 
afford another trade agreement that replicates the mistakes of the past."

Sydney University intellectual property law expert Kimberlee 
Weatherall said Australia's negotiators appeared to have taken 
completely the wrong approach, agreeing to anything Australia had 
previously signed up to in the US-Australia trade agreement even if 
wasn't appropriate for a larger agreement.

"They've agreed to too much detail. If you are trying to negotiate a 
trade agreement that's going to last for 10, maybe 30 years, you 
don't want it to reflect the finer points of existing laws and 
existing technologies," she said.

This story was found at: 
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/call-for-goverment-to-come-clean-over-us-trade-deal-20131114-2xjjy.html 





Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com

Sooner or later, I hate to break it to you, you're gonna die, so how 
do you fill in the space between here and there? It's yours. Seize your space.
~Margaret Atwood, writer

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