Pirate Party Australia are disgusted at reports that the United States plans to cancel the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) stakeholder programme[1].

The Party gave a presentation at a stakeholder’s meeting in Melbourne last month, where they criticised the lack of transparency surrounding the TPPA negotiations, as well as the effect it would have on access to pharmaceuticals in developing nations[2].

“The stakeholders meeting in the Melbourne round was only possible thanks to leaks from concerned negotiators. It was still a puzzle to even know what exactly we were arguing against,” said Simon Frew, Deputy President of Pirate Party Australia.

“This further attack on involvement of civil society exemplifies US belligerence against the citizens of the participating countries. All of the US negotiating positions are wet dreams of Hollywood, the pharmaceutical industry, and a handful of major US corporations who will be the only beneficiaries of this further move toward secrecy.”

“The lack of transparency surrounding the negotiation of one of the largest multilateral treaties of our time, which will affect everything from generic medicines to labour laws to copyright, is shocking beyond belief. We call on DFAT to do the right thing by the Australian people and walk away from this debarcle once dubbed a ‘treaty negotiation’,” added Brendan Molloy, Secretary of Pirate Party Australia.

Pirate Party Australia calls upon the negotiators to leak drafts so that civil society can better organise its opposition to this travesty of democracy, and demands that Australia immediately withdraw from the negotiations.

“Nothing good can come from secret agreements made behind closed doors,” Mr Frew concluded.

[1] http://tppwatch.org/2012/04/04/us-abandons-fig-leaf-of-transparency-cancels-tppa-stakeholder-programme/
[2] https://pirateparty.org.au/2012/03/04/pirate-party-australias-presentation-to-trans-pacific-partnership-stakeholders-meeting-in-melbourne/