The Green Party is set to vote against the revised version of the TPP negotiated by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at APEC in Vietnam, meaning the government will have to rely on support from National to get it over the line.
The Green Party released a strongly worded statement this afternoon outlining their "strong opposition" to the newly re-worked TPP deal.
"The Green Party has long opposed the TPPA. The new proposed deal, which came out of the weekend's talks, still contains key ISDS concessions to corporations that put our democracy at risk, so our position remains the same.
"We support fair trade that brings real benefit to all New Zealanders – not trade deals that put our rights and our Government's ability to legislate to protect our people and our environment at risk," said Green Party trade spokesperson Golriz Ghahraman.
The news will come as a blow to Jacinda Ardern, after negotiating for changes that would make the deal more palatable for the Greens, who stated the rift over the TPP will not affect the relationship between the Green Party and Labour.
"Standing in opposition to the TPPA does not make a difference to our relationship with Labour.
Indeed it is a sign of the strength of that relationship that we can respectfully disagree on an important issue like the TPPA but still get on with the business of government," Ms Ghahraman said.
The Prime Minister said the narrowing of clauses in the TPP which would allow foreign corporations to sue our government was a priority. (Source: Other)
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the new version of the deal that's been cut at the APEC summit this weekend has new safeguards to protect New Zealand.
However, Ms Ghahraman has said the new deal still doesn't go far enough to gain support from the Greens meaning the government will need National's support to get the deal ratified.
SHARE ME