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“The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is the largest corporate power grab of the last 20 years, and shrouded in government secrecy,” writes Australia’s online activism group, GetUp!. Sound familiar? It’s basically the same argument, one of many, German opponents of a similar proposed free trade agreement with the United States are making, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). An opinion poll has found 41% of Germans thinking TTIP would be bad for Germany. The opposition Greens demand that negotiations for it be ended. In Australia, GetUp!, which claims a membership of more than a million and many political successes, plans to pay independent experts to do an analysis of the TTP to break the government secrecy. 

Australia has already formally signed up to the TTP.

GetUp! has written to its members:

“A monstrous, highly controversial trade deal with no independent analysis? It's up to us to find out once and for all what this government is so desperate to hide.

“The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is the largest corporate power grab of the last 20 years, and shrouded in government secrecy.

“Trade Envoy Andrew Robb's so determined to keep Australians in the dark about the TPP's true costs that he's shutting down talk of even a basic analysis. So if he won't do one, we will.

“Former Trade Minister Robb has already made a pretty spectacular stumble. At the same time as insisting ‘we're not going to change our system’, he told a US publication that US pharmaceutical corporations could be assured the same monopoly rights over biologic medicines that they enjoy in the United States.

“The Government's so scared of the truth, it has even rejected offers by the Productivity Commission to conduct a TPP analysis – despite this being exactly what the Commission was created to do. And if they're scared, then we know we're onto something big.

“Working with leading academics, we can show exactly what this trojan horse deal has in store – by commissioning our own independent cost analysis to submit to the Senate review process.

“Currently, an undecided Senate will vote on the TPP without knowing the true cost to our country. But if we can get our analysis done in time, we'll be the ones to finally blow the lid off the government's TPP cover up, and help kill the dirty deal in the Senate.

“We'll use modelling by respected researchers to expose the TPP's ruthless transfer of wealth to multinational corporations, including the impact of letting foreign corporations sue our government over laws that protect us and our families.

“The Government will never see it coming, and it'll be hard for them to contradict our findings because they refuse to undertake their own research. Better yet: there's no way the Senate can ratify a deal that trusted modelling shows does more harm than good to Australia.

“Academics tell us the modelling will take some months. If we're to submit our independent cost-benefit analysis in time for Parliament to see it before they vote, we'll need to act fast.

“There are powerful corporations behind this sweetheart deal – that's never stopped us before. But to take them on, we need proof, and that means an expert evaluation of the deal – to expose it for what it really is.

“Commissioning our own cost-benefit analysis may be our best and last chance to kill this deal.”