BARNABY Joyce and the Nationals have demonstrated a cargo-cult mentality around the Trans-Pacific Partnership (“TPP will save local industries millions”, NDL, October 12).
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They have accepted some baubles that will take years to arrive if they happen at all, but they have potentially traded away our rights and freedoms in the process.
For Australia, there is far more at stake in this deal than goods and services.
For a start, our government and the Australian taxpayer are now vulnerable to being sued by foreign companies if our democratic parliament passes laws that corporations dislike.
Even worse, Australia’s brilliant health and education systems are now vulnerable to commercialisation by edu-businesses and pharmaceutical companies calling the shots.
It won’t do us any good to wait 10 or 15 years for some trade sweeteners if we end up with a US-style health
system and a commercialised schools and universities along the way.
Our current and future national interest lies in negotiating openly and democratically with all the nations of the world, instead of the closed-door deals we keep getting from this Liberal/Nationals government.
