The Guardian has revealed today that Australian politicians have been granted access to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement on the proviso that they sign a confidentiality agreement requiring them not to divulge any details for four years:
MPs and senators were briefed on the deal Monday night by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade assistant secretary Elizabeth Ward and other officials.
The MPs were told that, despite the negotiations being “in the final stages” and “at the end game”, key provisions had not been agreed – including intellectual property clauses of deep concern to the Australian government and controversial legal avenues for corporations to take action against governments – so-called investor state dispute settlements (ISDS). They were also told the ISDS process itself was still being negotiated, including provisions on transparency.
They were told they could view the current TPP negotiating text on Tuesday “subject to certain confidentiality requirements” and were shown a document they would be required to sign before any viewing…
Meanwhile, according to The AFR, Wikileaks has offered a $100,000 bounty for anyone that leaks a full copy of the TPP text:
WikiLeaks, which has published leaked chapters of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiating text before, started a drive to crowdsource money for the reward, just as U.S. unions launched a new push to make the text public.
“The transparency clock has run out on the TPP. No more secrecy. No more excuses. Let’s open the TPP once and for all,” WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said in a statement.
Nine hours after the campaign was launched, WikiLeaks’ website was showing $US25,835 pledged by more than 100 people.
Sadly, Wikileaks – which previously leaked drafts of the intellectual property and investment chapters – remains the only way that ordinary citizens could view the TPP text before it is signed.
Under current processes, the cabinet will decide whether Australia signs the final TPP agreement before tabling the text in parliament. It will then be examined by the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties before implementing legislation is considered by both houses of parliament.
