In Auckland this week our government is negotiating an international agreement that could have a huge effect on the lives New Zealanders for generations to come.

Known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA). It involves 11 Asian and Pacific-rim countries, including the United States. The negotiations are shrouded in secrecy.

It’s a complicated beast and to be honest I’ve struggled to get my head around it - and that’s part of the problem.

On the surface it sounds relatively innocuous, but the devil is in the detail.

This cartoon drawn by Greenpeace volunteer Mat Brady says it all really.

It’s being sold to us by the Government as ‘a mega trade deal’, but that’s very deceptive. It’s more of a grab by multinational corporations that will undermine our environmental protection laws.

Much of what this deal actually means for New Zealand is being withheld; discussed in secret and will be kept from the public for many years after the agreement has been signed.

The TPPA is not a trade deal. It is not about imports and exports – it’s about regulation and control. Its framework is designed to allow corporations to influence the way we manage our natural resources, our health care, and intellectual property.

Leaked documents have shown that it contains clauses that will allow overseas corporations to sue the New Zealand Government (or any future government) if it attempts to change New Zealand law in a way that might undermine their profits. This could tie the hands of New Zealanders to create laws to ban toxic products, protect our unique wildlife, ban toxic products and create the smart innovative economy we need.

The Australian Government are so wary of this clause that they have refused to sign up to it, yet our our Government is happily trading away our democracy, our Treaty of Waitangi obligations and our self-determination.

We must speak up now.

TAKE ACTION: Use this rapid-fire online form to send a message to ALL NZ political party leaders at once to demand transparency and a deal that’s in the best interests of ALL New Zealanders or stop the negotiations altogether.