The Trans Pacific Partnership is the latest in a series of secretly negotiated sweeping "trade deals" that allow companies to sue governments to repeal environmental and labor laws, expand Internet censorship and surveillance, and a host of other nasties.
New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser told the NZ Parliament that:
Hon TIM GROSER : We are trying to make this negotiation a success, and the member is well aware that there is some quite heavy politics here and that full disclosure to certain parties is likely to lead this to go immediately into the public debate on an ill-informed basis before the deal has been done. We are very conscious of the interests of New Zealanders in protecting themselves from such legislation, and we will continue to take a very responsible approach in this negotiation.
In other words, if people were allowed to know what was in this deal, they'd object to it, and so we have to keep it a secret.
New Zealand's Trade Minister Admits They Keep TPP Documents Secret To Avoid 'Public Debate' [Mike Masnick/Techdirt]
(Image: A man with an ass's head blindfolding a woman who is vomiting, public domain0
