I've
been deeply engaged in the movement in opposition to the TPP treaty
and its associated agenda. This paper summarises my
thoughts and the evidence in relation to TPP. It attempts to join a
number of dots into a wider picture.
I've
taken it upon myself to collect these into an essay and pass
this to the Governor General.
This
was sent to His Excellency on Wednesday 29 June. This revised (edited
after a further proofread) essay was sent Monday 4 July.
Essay and
open letter to the Governor General of New Zealand
His
Excellency Lieutenant General The Right Honourable Sir Jerry Mateparae GNZM,
QSO and successors.
I've
been deeply engaged in the movement in opposition to the TPP treaty
and its associated agenda. This paper summarises my
thoughts and the evidence in relation to TPP. It attempts to join a
number of dots into a wider picture.
I've
taken it upon myself to collect these into an essay and pass
this to the Governor General.
This
was sent to His Excellency on Wednesday 29 June. This revised (edited
after a further proofread) essay was sent Monday 4 July.
I've
been deeply engaged in the movement in opposition to the TPP treaty
and its associated agenda. This paper summarises my
thoughts and the evidence in relation to TPP. It attempts to join a
number of dots into a wider picture.
I've
taken it upon myself to collect these into an essay and pass
this to the Governor General.
This
was sent to His Excellency on Wednesday 29 June. This revised (edited
after a further proofread) essay was sent Monday 4 July.By Greg Rzesniowieckii 29 June 2016.1
This essay
is about an international treaty Your Government intends ratifying known as
Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Perhaps
reflect on the following question as you consider the remainder of this essay;
“Is the New Zealand State a democracy and as Head of State, are you compelled to protect it’s democratic nature?”ii iii
If not
let's make it so.
Aotearoa New Zealand - opening and climate setting
In your
swearing in speech 31 August 2011, His Excellency Lieutenant General The Right
Honourable Sir Jerry Mateparae GNZM, QSO Governor-General of New Zealand, stated
what is most important; “he tangata, he tangata, he tangata.”iv
Democracy
is all about ‘he tangata’ and meeting the people’s needs in full consultation
with them.
I’ve made a
survey of geopolitics, it’s trends and momentum. I aim to share a slice of that
with Your Excellency. In the process I address our Constitution,v
which reflects our highest law. Do our constitutional elements protect the
democratic nature of the state?vi
If not,
what can the Office of Governor General offer to remedy Executive autocracy?vii
Your office holds tremendous potential power – are you at liberty to exercise
it in accord with your conscience determined through a survey of the realm and
its needs?
Do our
constitutional arrangements facilitate the endless power struggle known as
class warfare who's surface momentum trends toward determination in favour of
powerful vested and monied interests.
My survey
finds the winning trend being institutionalised provides for;
“the systemic rip-off of wealth from the poor toward the top of the privilege pyramid.”
What
happened to building a cohesive and egalitarian state (once upon a time,
referred to as the commonwealth)? Every bill and piece of legislation is a constitutional
alteration absent a formalised and publicly mandated constitution. The
determinations of the courts add to the mix.
If the
constitutional arrangements are adequate - what might be at work?
Is it
corruption that is at work? Or is it that insufficient 'safe-guards' are
built-in to the constitutional framework of the Aotearoa New Zealand nation
state governance system to ensure an egalitarian commonwealth? Or both?
What remedy
is required presuming you find yourself in agreement with my observations?
Your
Excellency has experience in various roles as soldier, public servant, Chief of
Intelligence and now Head of the NZ State. You are an officer and a gentleman.
Thank you for all that you have done to secure the state for the people thus
far in your career.
I feel that
you are well able to view with a critical and discriminating lens the material
I present.
Aotearoa New Zealand – security means what? – what of the people?
The TPP
legislation passed it’s first reading Thursday 12 May 2016. Additionally there
is the RCEP and TiSA – which are further impositions without consent.
This essay
is about democracy and governance. It is about the running of the NZ State.
I am one of
many who oppose the TPP, and the passage of the enabling legislation.viii
It is not in the public and national interest.ix
These ought to cohere if the state is a democracy, as the national interest
would be implicitly clear to the ‘informed populous’ who comprise the
democracy.
The GCSB
and NZSIS recently provided me the following description of our National
Interest from a question I posed them in December 2015; Please provide a
definition of the “New Zealand National Interest” that the New Zealand
Intelligence Security services work to protect?x
Their answer;
There is no definition of the “New Zealand
National Interest” within either agency’s legislation. The agencies work to
protect the New Zealand’s national security interests which are
outward-looking, connected to New Zealand’s economic and foreign policies. It
starts with the fundamental interest of maintaining New Zealand retains control
of its political, social and economic structures and looks outward to
maintaining security in the South Pacific region.
If New
Zealand’s political, social and economic structures are situated within a
democracy, then it is imperative that a New Zealand Government of any ideology
or political persuasion, does not undermine the fundamentals of our State. A
democracy’s potential to arrive at positive outcomes is limited by the degree
of secrecy and opacity of it’s government’s motives and actions - particularly
where the public is informed by propaganda.xi
If I may
offer a statement of principle;
“I associate personal and society wellbeing with ecological wellbeing.”
A
definition for security might be as described by a previous notable NZ public
servant, William Ball Sutch in his epic tome, ‘The Quest for Security in New
Zealand 1840 – 1966.’xii
It is well worth the survey if you can gain a copy.xiii
What is
your definition of ‘security’ Sir?
It must be
broader than mere military security to be socially beneficial. What of social,
economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing? Your Government removed these
from the 2002 Local Government Act's purposes in it's 2012 review. You Assented
to their removal, despite your utterance about what is most important in your
swearing in speech.
In regard
to security in the South Pacific region I attended the Victoria University of
Wellington (VUW) conference, ‘In the Eye of the Storm – Climate Change in the
Pacific in February 2016.’xiv
Does the New Zealand National Interest extend to the
security of the Pacific peoples, not just the geographic region and its
resources. Does NZ's National Interest include action to meet the Pacific
people's desire for the 1.5 degree limit they promoted and was agreed at the
Paris UNFCCC conference?xv We
are perilously close to that level now – in fact it may well be locked in.
Many
nations signed the UNFCCC in New York. Your Minister for Climate Change The
Hon. Paula Bennett represented New Zealand and signed on New Zealand’s behalf.xvi
xvii Sir, I note your interest in the subject of climate change and its
potential impacts on Antarctic ice sheets and sea levels.xviii
I
comprehend that which our scientists are telling us about planetary boundaries.
I'm a logical fellow so based on their findings, I am concerned with the state
of the planet, the people and our wellbeing.xix
I’ve become
apprehensive about the lack of global collective will to remedy gross acts;
aggressive war, covert war, toxic emissions/releases to the environment,
rampant deforestation and land-clearings, inhumane acts in their myriad form,
to mention a few.xx
My concern
for a credible solution to the climate change challenge grew with comprehension
of trade and investment treaties and the agenda of the proponents, including
Your NZ Government’s participation in the agenda in TPP.xxi
A
conspiracy in plain sight to defraud the public of their democratic state?xxii I expand on the scheme below.
Aotearoa New Zealand - planetary law and justice – why TPP?
If the
answer is TPP - what was the question?
Investment
and trade treaties become critical elements of international law binding the
respective governments to their arrangements. My question being;
“do they assist or constrain government action to protect public interest in the nations covered by them?”
This
question is a legitimate concern. The people ought determine these matters in a
democracy.
My answer
follows;
“TPP and future investment treaties will disallow or discourage mitigation of climate change or economic equity, through regulation based on human rights or precautionary principles, where the investor interest is in conflict with the community or commons interest.”xxiii xxiv xxv
This thesis
is proved repeatedly. The plaintive claim from NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and Trade’s (MFAT) Dr. David Walker makes the case! “Those were unintended
consequences - we’ve drafted a better protection this time”. This quote from
Dr. Walker’s public presentations in the TPP Roadshows and elsewhere. I ask,
‘how is that tested?’ We are gambling the planet's biospheric carrying capacity
against a track record of growing unintended consequences.
My
question;
“Is TPP reasonable risk management by those charged with the Sovereign Trust to protect the affairs of the people and their nation?”
The tobacco
carve-out is surely a signal that not all might be well with the public
interest protections written into the Investment Chapter.xxvi
The 5 May
2016 Waitangi Tribunal decision supports the thesis despite its final decision
that the ‘Te Tiriti o Waitangi’ protection clause should be sufficient.xxvii The Waitangi Tribunal finding must
be balanced against the practicalities of stopping the NZ Government’s TPP
steam-roller, and the Tribunal’s desire to remain a relevant body. It can only
make recommendations to Your Government.
I
appreciate we might be placing similar pressure on the institutional role of
the Monarchy in the NZ Constitutional framework with the application and
petition for intervention by Your Office.xxviii
Gauging civil opposition to TPP, I sense there is a broad desire to move to ethical governance amongst our diverse NZ community. What does ethical governance look like and is Your Office one that promotes such an ideal?
Gauging civil opposition to TPP, I sense there is a broad desire to move to ethical governance amongst our diverse NZ community. What does ethical governance look like and is Your Office one that promotes such an ideal?
The
desirability of the ISDS (investor state dispute settlement) for the corporate
interest, is that it disciplines government against practice that supports and
protects communities, where the government act is against or in conflict with
the investor’s bottom line or profit. The Peru-US FTA is a perfect example of
the gross inhumanity perpetrated by our ally the US for its trade interest.xxix It is criminal to incite another to
violence, both in domestic and in international law. Who prosecutes the
powerful?
I find it
difficult to comprehend how the New Zealand Government can stomach its evident
complicity, by aiding and abetting the US aggressor, in its various schemes,
through continued uncritical association. A similar act by a person under
domestic law would be actionable and meet condemnation.
Our New
Zealand Government in supporting the ISDS institution, is party to the regime
that undermines public interest legislation and regulation in other nations.xxx Noam Chomsky describes them as
Stalinist in their imposition, which surely is an affront to any democratic
state?xxxi
The ISDS ‘disciplining
force’ employed against government is an effective tool used by cashed up
corporations, to constrain democracy.xxxii
The corporation’s interests have been consistently served by key governments
acting on behalf of the corporations when United Nations, WTO, trade,
investment, WHO, multilateral and other plutilateral negotiations are
undertaken. It appears that the conspiracy in plain sight is advanced with many
governments’ complicity. We the people oppose this unjust and arbitrary
imposition. We have done so repeatedly including historically in rejecting the
MAI (Multilateral Agreement on investment) and ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade
Agreement).xxxiii
Aotearoa New Zealand – the people, our democracy - what do we stand for?
Your
Excellency has in possession 4000+ signatures on a petition handed to Your
Officer Gregory Baughen, Saturday 30 January 2016, seeking Your Excellency
intervene on behalf of the people to ensure the New Zealand state operates
according to its fundamental principles as a democracy.xxxiv
Surely one is enough to compel you, were you to see the merit of the case -
after all what is the most important thing in the World? “He tangata, he
tangata, he tangata,” or so it is said.
I imagine
your file on this matter also contains the correspondence from Amanda Vickers
on behalf of the organisers of the petition setting out our request, proposing
You intervene on behalf of the people of the land.xxxv
‘We the people’ have repeatedly uttered our desire, “no TPP.”
As Head of
our New Zealand State, Your Office has the last say whether any legislation is
formally Assented. I appreciate that in ordinary circumstances you follow the
recommendation of your Ministers.
Sir I
assert, “these are not ordinary circumstances!”
The
Aotearoa New Zealand State is being manoeuvred into a trade bloc, with
stringent enforceable rules (creating new international law) which favour the
already powerful international investors and transnational corporations (TNCs).
Twenty
(20)% of global investment is covered by investor state dispute settlement
(ISDS) in investment treaties. TPP, the sister Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership (TTIP), Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership
(RCEP), and Canada European Trade Agreement (CETA), will if implemented as the
investor interests desire, lift that proportion. Over eighty (80)% of global
investment will be covered by ISDS - a substantial coup in favour of investors.
A global coup through a few plutilateral treaties. That is powerful magic Sir.
All without
the consent of the people in any of the respective nations covered.xxxvi The current crop of TPP, TTIP,
CETA, RCEP, TiSA etc, are no different to the Globalist MAI. These treaties
divorce and or distance government from setting social, environmental, economic
and financial policies in consultation with the participants who comprise the
national democracies.
All of
these impositions without the consent of the people.
It is a
conspiracy in plain sight for any with a lens large enough to encompass the
scale of the imposition. A military general must have the capacity and
capability to scope the battleground. The US have made the planet's land and
waters, the weather, the internet and space a war theatre. Add the Class war
and the battle for our bodies and minds and one appreciates the nature of the
battle being waged against humanity.
Are we up
to the challenge?
Can we win
Sir?
We have one
chance to overcome TPP and the globalising agenda for corporate control. Once
in TPP or TiSA (Trade in Services Agreement), it will be difficult to leave. We
are told that it is a mere administrative process. There is desperate politics
being played to gain our entry to the partnership.
If NZ
Assents to TPP, the politics will be hysterical were the people to convince the
government that divorce from the likely abusive relationship is a wise step –
look at the aftermath of the brexit vote. The precautionary principle is needed
here.
Again at no
point is the people’s consent requested. The abusive relationship is in fact
rape. In reality it is the rape of the losers in the class war – will you
assist we the people stop the TPP crime from being committed?
The already
privileged raping the less powerful is an historical fact and tendency, all
because they are systemically enabled – once enabled they cannot help
themselves – look to the Trans Canada ISDS suit against Obama’s decision to not
proceed with the Keystone Pipeline. We are told that TPP and its insidious ISDS
is in our National Interests.
I suggest
that;
If we are to have global governance of a formally structured nature – a grand scheme - the people of the nations being partnered, ought to be at least informed and their consent gained before the agreement is confirmed and implementation of the arrangement is entrenched.
Better
still in a democracy we must be consulted in the initial stages and our
suggestions considered with an open and engaged mind in what we offer as being
in our interests (again the process and inputs from the people in the flag
redesign process and the offerings about 'what we stand for'). Surely that is
the meaning of the right to self determination envisaged in the UN foundation
stone?
Your
Excellency and your successor could play a pivotal role. You volunteered that
“he tangata is the most important” as Governor and Head of State. A rough
survey reveals that all or most social wellbeing statistics are travelling in
the wrong direction over the past 5 years of your watch. You cannot be
satisfied with this outcome.
If these
impositions are not stopped, then the people and the planet become collateral
damage as the current stage of the capitalist feeding frenzy commodifies
everything, and everyone along with the service these provide, then
appropriates anything that looks or smells like money.
Is it the
people or the money that is important? We know which is powerful, however,
which is most important?
Aotearoa New Zealand – the lawful context
My paper to
the FADT select committee, ‘Application of the Vienna Convention on the Law of
Treaties (VCLT) in respect to Trans Pacific Partnership and Aotearoa New
Zealand - April 2016’xxxvii
outlines the law of treaty making as I apprehend its written form. The VCLT
makes the point that treaties are to be interpreted in commonly used language.
In the paper I highlight where the TPP is in conflict with the VCLT treaty and
our NZ Constitution. The paper highlights a level of hypocrisy, by referencing
the extensive Flag Change consultation process, compared to the TPP’s denial of
democracy. Both are matters amending our constitution.
I ask that
You and your successor do not provide Your Assent to the TPP legislation, until
the people have consented by way of binding referendum.
Those
concerned continue to gather more signatures on the petition to Your
Excellency.xxxviii
TPP Free Wellington now offer the petition online to spread knowledge of its
existence and the nature of our Constitutional Monarchy.xxxix
Your Office
is the Supreme Administrator on behalf of the Sovereign Trust to which ‘we the
people’ are the beneficiaries. Beneficiaries of a trust can only receive
benefits. As such You cannot affix Your Signature and Seal to any Deed, Law or
Act, that does not satisfy a reasonable test of benefit for the people.
Aotearoa New Zealand – we the people speak!
Sir, I
demonstrate that the public desire for democracy and a binding referendum on
TPP is widespread.
There was a
vast trove of material offered the FADT committeexl
throughout the TPP treaty examination process, which is required under Your
Government’s parliamentary standing orders.xli
I offered a
number of papers to the FADT Select Committee based on my discoveries and
observations on the nature of TPP and our place in the World of nations and
powers.xlii
In the
course of my oral evidence your Member of Parliament Kennedy Graham asked
(paraphrased), ‘what could MFAT do to consult fully with the New Zealand
people, and secondly what would be an improved process, including what
constitutional changes might be required for the future?’
Following
the oral hearing I considered my response and wrote to The Hon. Kennedy Graham
and the Select Committee members on Sunday 1 May suggesting practical ways in
which our treaty making process might be made more akin our democratic values.
I suggested the development of a model treaty through a consultative public
process.xliii
In respect
to TPP and its projected monetary benefits are small relative to the cost.
Recall that, all is speculation until it is implemented.xliv
Aotearoa New Zealand – our role in the world – how do we score?
In regard
to the workings of the World, our survey appears to be broader in scope and consideration
than Your NZ Government’s.xlv
The West’s creative works on 11 September 2001 is the causal pretext employed
to enlarge the ‘disaster capitalism’ model currently in ascendency.xlvi The coffin lid is now nailed firmly
shut on the West being “Mr Goodguy!” Realism identifies that we inhabit,
“dystopia in the making.” The previously mentioned denial of scientific finding
in our public policy settings, plus an objective observation of the trend of
social, environmental and economic wellbeing indicators, adds weight to my
thesis.
We in the
land of New Zealand and particularly Your Excellency’s Government, are
complicit by silence, if not collusion to cover up gross war crime and
corruption! It was Edmund Burke who said, “Evil flourishes when good men do
nothing.”
One assumes
that applies to nations, “Evil nations flourish when good nations do nothing.”
Perhaps more so for nations which are sovereign entities with powerful force and
weight of word in their considered statements, judgements and Acts.
How do we
redeem our sullied name, as people and as a nation state?
How do we
distance ourselves from further complicity in genocide and aggressive war?
What of the
planetary reality?
Who if not
our governments to regulate the development of the planet, its peoples and the
orderliness of the process, unencumbered by corporate interest in determining
the principles and levels of social and ecological welfare to be attained when
development is permitted?
Aotearoa New Zealand – I wish it were funny
The
following image unfortunately depicts, 'the winning or dominant strategy at
work' governing planetary development on Papatuanuku our planet Earth.
Sustainability
is about conserving and ensuring that there is abundance now and forever. The
current paradigm is wasteful. The employment of industrial warfare for the
settlement of disputes is the most wasteful of all strategies.
If the
Presidents of the USA and Iran have a disagreement they like any other adults
on the planet ought to be able to sit down and work out a just settlement. We
have arbitration in all other realms, what about over the larger powers?
Sir, You
were involved in the carnage first hand as Commander of our NZ military forces
employed in the post 9/11 wars. You know more than most my meaning.xlvii
My
extrapolations, if factually based, are possibly more credible than Your
Government’s official summation of the matter. What is the unofficial
summation? The assessment and facts they appear unwilling to formally
acknowledge to myself, a private person and beneficiary in the Trust.xlviii
As Head of
State and Administrator of the Trust, some say sacred trust, You are obliged to
ensure Your Government acts appropriately, or refuse to continue in Office.xlix
Aotearoa New Zealand – the people's evidence - TPP
Those
opposing TPP have the weight of informed public opinion from civil, academic
and professional society, as the many who opposed it at the select committee
come from all walks of life in our State. These include many in commerce,
professional roles including health practitioners, community, environmental
organisations and as individuals.
The Vice
Chancellors of all eight (8) NZ universities oppose the TPP!l The evidence and position paper
from the university Vice Chancellors is the Christmas Star on the TPP Tree of
Knowledge. Their thesis, ‘TPP is not in our interests.’ The Vice Chancellors
evidence is supremely authoritative.
To deny the authority of the Vice Chancellors’ evidence to the FADT select committee is similar to the Roman Catholic Church requiring Copernicus and/or Galileo to recant and say that the Earth is the centre of the Universe despite their observations?li The question of dogma reigning over empiricism appears as relevant today.
The Vice
Chancellors provided two of the 400 papers offered the committee by 255 oral
presenters. In total more than 6000lii
people offered their opinion, evidence or thoughts to the committee in written
form.
Aotearoa New Zealand – lest we forget
We exist in
an interesting period of history on this planet. You might have an eye to
destiny, our Nation’s and Your place in that great book of names and deeds.
What will You be remembered for?
What is the
soldier’s greatest epitaph?
What does,
“lest we forget” mean to You?
In light of
the World War One commemorations: Who fought the wars? For who’s benefit were
they fought?
Working
class men sacrificed their lives and often their sanity. Their wives, mothers
and daughters staffed the production processes and kept the nation running
whilst the men folk were off on ‘the great adventure’. The social contract was
leveraged for the service of 100,000 New Zealanders, including tangata whenua
in the 28th Battalion, in the Great War. The war to end all wars.
150,000 New
Zealanders served twenty years later, in the war to prove them wrong!
In the
first World War 18,000 killed and another 40,000 maimed. All scarred by what
they participated in. How many dead, maimed and scared in World War Two? In
World War One NZ sacrificed 6000 per million of our population to the
blood-thirsty gods of war, whereas the British number was under 2000. You know
Sir that veterans do not talk of their experiences to the uninitiated. The
horrors that these New Zealanders experienced for King and Empire lie at the
heart of the military Art. The one Art in which the participants refuse to
share detailed experiences. The real horrors cannot be publicly displayed nor
shared orally – the state waging war severely curtails free media reporting –
thus the citizenry are left only with their imaginations, the misrepesentations
of Hollywood - or there's ignorant bliss.
Where is
the return quid pro quo in the social contract? How is it that the State allows
the working class less opportunities, less income relative to the cost of
living, reduces housing affordability and further depresses their status
through encouraging casualisation of labour, all the while systemically
reducing labour’s bargaining power in the market place. ‘Trickle-down
economics’ is a dead duck that never flew.liii
The State
sets the economic policies. If an increasing proportion of the surplus over
labour value in the economy is being siphoned up to the already wealthy
proportion of the population - it is as a result of the policy settings of
government i.e. taxation and its distribution, wages, social security, housing,
health, transport, war munitions, economic including legislative frameworks
that enable tax havens (Shewan's report into NZ's foreign trust system
identifies the deficiency – known to the shrewd, not the mass of the people
till the Panama Papers) and other nefarious activity.
Add to that
the diminishment of the State role in the economy, usually without the sanction
of the population. To the contrary, the Citizens Initiated Referendum (CIR) on
Asset Sales and the public vote for the retention of the power assets, surely
is sufficient evidence of my thesis.liv
It is evident they were stolen without consent of the people! The UK's Brexit
vote points to the reaction of those dispossessed and denied an equitable and
just role in the commonwealth. The liberal socialist and liberal capitalist
cries foul over the Brexit vote, neither offered much solidarity to their fellow
countrymen and women thrown upon industry's dustpile.
Aotearoa New Zealand – intelligence and governance
TPP is no
good for the Aotearoa New Zealand State - neither for its National Interest (as
defined above) nor for the interests of the inhabitants (on the presumption
these interests cohere).
There is
sufficient evidence to cause a reasonable one to pause and take stock. The
precautionary principle demands independent and comprehensive analysis and
assessment prior to any further step to ratify the TPP treaty. We in the TPP
Action movement have repeatedly requested this in our statements of demand and
calls for a democratic process to be implemented.
A
development that adds weight to the ‘corporate interest coup,’ is the frequent
reference to Aotearoa-New Zealand as ‘NZ.Inc.’ The flag change proposal had all
the qualities of a logo facelift. It is a failed coup.lv
Its attempt, only adds to the ‘open conspiracy’, to defraud the public of their
democracy and replace it with a corporate facsimile.lvi
Is the NZ
State that you lead, a plutocracy or a democracy?
The FADT
TPP treaty examination report tabled in the parliament on 4 May 2016lvii ignores the bulk of the public
evidence. That report had three minority reports from the Labour, Green and NZ
First party representatives. To read these and the majority report on behalf of
the National party members, identifies that we inhabit multiple parallel universes
as far as risk, public interest and values are concerned. I attended and
listened to most of the days of evidence from late February through end of
April - missing only the Christchurch hearings, and a few in Wellington. From
these I can say with some certainty that middle New Zealand does not want TPP.
The
committee’s majority report pays no heed to the calls from most of those who
offered material to the committee. They were not mentioned, nor the contents of
their material given any acknowledgement of note.
Thousands
offered paper and hundreds asked to be heard, some travelling the length of the
country to obtain their 10 minutes of the committee’s precious time. All
ignored by those who wrote the majority report.
Your
Excellency, I raise serious matters in my evidence to the FADT committee.lviii Where the allegations of deep
corruption and aggression are proven factual, it requires the prosecution of
senior persons in public administration for terrific crimes against the people
of their own states, and of foreign states they have attacked.
We appear
to ignore the gross human rights violations and war crimes of our allies.
The US and
‘the coalition of the willing’ launched aggressive war in the post 9/11 period.lix These are our allies, with whom we
have entered and renewed formal ties in the Wellington and Washington
Declarations.lx
As I press
on in my interrogation of our NZ Government agencies, I aim to uncover how much
of the genocidal policies of our allies New Zealand formally know of and
sanction. I abhor the level of denial and blinkered vision that allows the
genocide to continue. It is a billion times worse than the abuse of Moko by his
carers. These are pawns at the bottom of the food chain. Will the strength of
feeling pouring into the aether from the hearts of the people of Aotearoa be
harnessed by NZ.Inc to further entrench the paranoid security state with the
call for “law and order?”lxi
Moko’s
treatment and subsequent death is ghastly.
Now think
on the daring, planning and level of premeditation involved in undertaking
false flag events – all conspiracies to alter history. Your Excellency would be
intimately aware of the required capacity, capability and security access
required to successfully pull-off the 9/11 project. I wonder what the code name
was? “9/11” itself?
Why not
after all it is the biggest lie to engender the most profound disruption
and alteration to the world of human affairs. Use the emergency code itself to
create a sense of fear and panic in the minds of the US population as well as
the globe. The destruction of the World Trade Centre’s seven (7) buildings, the
attack and explosions at the Pentagon and the aircraft that was destroyed in
mid air over Shanksville with pieces falling onto the surface of a lake, do not
align with the 9/11 Commission report of 2004.
Nevertheless,
we entered a war on a sovereign nation Afghanistan as part of a global posse
known as the “Coalition of the Willing” to destroy the aggressor known as Osama
Bin Laden.
My thesis
acknowledges that the 9/11 perpetrators have effected the perfect genocidal
crime. That admiration only reaches up to this point in time.
The direct
killers of Moko have been brought to book with sentencing on Monday 27 June.
What of the 9/11 perpetrators? When will they get their day in court?
The people
who create and foster corruption at the highest levels, the ones who promote
hatred, fear and loathing, are the ones who must meet blind justice.
Aotearoa New Zealand – google intelligence – why pay for the GCSB and NZSIS?
On the
matter of whether US naval ships visit (or any other nuclear power’s assets)
for our NZ Navy's 75th anniversary celebrations - Prime Minister
John Key is happy to bend our Nuclear Free status on the basis of material
available in the public space as the USA policy is to not reveal whether their
ships carry nuclear arms.lxii
Any nuclear powered vessel is barred.
Why bother
with the NZ Intelligence and Security apparatus if we can rely on google to get
around our allies top secret security measures. Infinitely cheaper.
Can it be
that we can use google for a general survey of the planet? Would the result
model reality?
All of the
content of my letter to Your Excellency comes from the google search engine and
is publicly available. The art is in discriminating between reality and
illusion.
Aotearoa New Zealand – alliances and values – crime and punishment
Back to our
knowledge of New Zealand’s part in geopolitical chess, whether the information
is acquired via google or another source: New Zealand harbours, participates
and provides cover for a genocidal maniac in the US nation (under it's current
military and foreign policy regime) - the US has power and does cause mayhem.
It has power and potential many orders greater than the threat posed by Adolf
Hitler’s Nazi Germany. Hitler didn't deploy nuclear devices.
Our Ally the
US is ramping up the rhetoric in a head to head with both China and USSR. It
has provocations and covert projects in most nations on the planet – Its
willingness to employ external aggression has grown through the past 120 years
history “that lesson also from google.” It was busy taming its vast land in the
period prior to 1900, so google informs, “launching atrocity on the native
populations.”
What does
this alliance say about New Zealand, its Government and the National Interest
definition provided by our Intelligence Services?
We allow
and now facilitate the destruction of many Pacific Ocean Nations' way of life
through our support for the fossil fuel industry and are adverse to initiatives
to promote alternative and sustainable power generation. The US has delayed and
obstructed progress to mitigate climate change for a long period.lxiii The cumulative result is climate
change caused though our industrial scale activities. The significant spike in
global temperature is well illustrated in the following gif:
Guilt by
association – we share the guilt - we are complicit as we do not expose the
crime. The crimes we are concerned with are; genocide, war crimes, waging
aggressive war and ecocide.
In a
domestic setting, as we see with Moko, and other sensationalised horrific
crimes - it becomes apparent the public abhor injustice and malicious violence.
Aotearoa New Zealand – what do we institutionalise?
conclusions and recommendations
In TPP we
enter a geopolitical club and trade bloc that continues the existing trend and
momentum toward corporate control over the people, denying them effective
democratic power through institutional law changes in both domestic and
international realms. The trend will further encourage corruption, which is
degrading to any democracy and the diminishes the ability of the State to
protect its National Interest. Does that definition include the security of all
the people of the NZ State.lxiv
Recalling the GCSB and NZSIS response on the National Interest they follow;
It
starts with the fundamental interest of maintaining New Zealand retains control
of its political, social and economic structures and looks outward to
maintaining security in the South Pacific region.
On this
starting point I am in agreement, provided that the reference to New Zealand is
properly constituted as a democracy and that the State is obliged to guide the
people in an upward momentum toward betterment.
This paper
and its references are offered as evidence toward your consideration of the
question of TPP and its ratification should you require it. I know that you
will have a broad comprehension given your career and life experience.
From a
perspective of values and how they are upheld in the institutions of
government, I feel it is critical that the matters I raise with Your Excellency
are at the least “considered with an open mind granted any other opinion.” You
have the benefit of my apprehension of the nature of our New Zealand
Government, our constitutional arrangements and nature of those who ‘rule the
world.’
If your assessment
coincides with the one outlined herein, I suggest the following course of
action;
- The
institution of a Commission of Inquiry into the matter of plutilateral2 and multilateral trade and
investment treaties including the Trans Pacific Partnership treaty so as to
ascertain their efficacy and value in meeting the needs of the security of the
people of the Aotearoa NZ State and all of her interests (Security in its
enlarged form as defined above ).
- Recommend a
binding referendum to answer the question in a formal democratic manner whether
the New Zealand people consent to TPP.
- Moratorium
on further action to ratify any plutilateral and multilateral trade and
investment treaty until the first two are met.
We need to
collaborate effectively to minimise risk of further destruction of planetary
beneficence and natural abundance. Where people, their businesses and their
governments measurably improve the natural abundance, we are increasing the
resilience and sustainability of the region, state and planet. We can then say,
“we are correct in our actions.”
I bid Your
Excellency well in the remainder of your time in office, and any future
appointments. I merely pray that you remember what is most important, “he
tangata, he tangata, he tangata.”
Warmest
regards from greg
Greg
Rzesniowiecki
#TPPFreeAotearoa
Ends
1TPP – how does this fit our
democracy – GG rev#1 file is proof-read revision of 29 June correspondence
done 4-7-2016
2Plutilateral herein refers to less
than multilateral. Multilateral refers to all the nations – as in all the
nations party to the WTO, the UN or other universal grouping.
iThe Campaign Against Foreign Control
of Aotearoa (CAFCA) Watchdog journals; 136, 137, 138, 139 and 141 carry reports
by Greg Rzesniowiecki in respect to my work in relation to the TPP:
http://www.converge.org.nz/watchdog/36/03.html
http://www.converge.org.nz/watchdog/37/07.html
http://www.converge.org.nz/watchdog/38/05.html
http://www.converge.org.nz/watchdog/39/06.html
http://www.converge.org.nz/watchdog/41/04.html
http://www.converge.org.nz/watchdog/36/03.html
http://www.converge.org.nz/watchdog/37/07.html
http://www.converge.org.nz/watchdog/38/05.html
http://www.converge.org.nz/watchdog/39/06.html
http://www.converge.org.nz/watchdog/41/04.html
I am not affiliated to any political party. I am interested
in good public policy and beneficial governance in Aotearoa New Zealand and
globally. I am a liberal humanitarian. I am firmly of the belief that
neoliberal capitalism is an inappropriate ideology for the running of a state
or planet if the object is a sustainable and equitable future, in which all
gain a fair opportunity to develop to their full potential.
iiDemocracy etymology and definition,
for an extensive description go here: https://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/ober/090704.pdf
...which on page 6 offers the following: passage from a court case of the
mid-fourth century B.C;
(Demosthenes 21: Against Meidias) Here, Demosthenes employs
a rich vocabulary of strength, control, ability, and protection in summing up
the democratic relationship between law, action, and public goods:
For in fact, if you [jurors] cared to consider and
investigate the question of what it is that gives power and control (ischuroi
kai kurioi) over everything in the polis to those of you who are jurors at any
given time ... you would find that the reason is not that you alone of the
citizens are armed and mobilized in ranks, nor that you are physically the best
and strongest, nor that you are youngest in age, nor anything of the sort, but
rather you'd find that you are powerful (ischuein) through the laws (nomoi).
And what is the power (ischus) of the laws? Is it that, if any of you is
attacked and gives a shout, they'll come running to your aid? No, they are just
inscribed letters and have no ability (ouchi dunaint’) to do that. What then is
their motive power (dunamis)? You are, if you secure them and make them
authoritative (kurioi) whenever anyone asks for aid. So the laws are powerful
(ischuroi) through you and you through the laws. You must therefore stand up
for them (toutois boethein) in just the same way as any individual would stand
up for himself if attacked; you must take the view that offenses against the
law are public concerns (koina)... (21.223-225).
An early or original meaning of democracy is the collective
capacity of a public to make good things happen in the public realm, through
awarding people to posts as jurors so as to implement the law. The Governor
General has the highest office as juror of all. Which better office to ask the
question, “is New Zealand a democracy?” “What is our high law?”
iiiIf you disagree with the definition
of democracy, perhaps consider yours in light of your reflections as you
consider my letter’s suggestions and observations. Democracy is all about
people deciding the fate of the state, here through the election of parties
that represent their interests. If the NZ and global political party system is
fractured and ineffective in representing the people’s interests there is a
corruption in the process. What influence is the most corrosive in politics,
besides pure power itself? Any chance the answer is money?
The Governor General (GG) Sir Jerry Mateparae stated in his
inauguration speech in 2011 that his Oaths of Allegiance to the Queen and to
the People of New Zealand1 “reflect my commitment to our country and the
People… that I will serve faithfully and impartially. The values and
undertakings in these oaths are very important to me.”
Sir Jerry further stated at that time, “My view reflects the sentiment of the proverb “He aha te mea nui o te ao—What is the most important thing in the world? The answer is: he tangata, he tangata, he tangata––it is people, it is people, it is people!”
Sir Jerry further stated at that time, “My view reflects the sentiment of the proverb “He aha te mea nui o te ao—What is the most important thing in the world? The answer is: he tangata, he tangata, he tangata––it is people, it is people, it is people!”
viThe term, “Lest We Forget” is usually
employed for state building purposes, however it’s resonance with the people is
the that the World War One veterans were fighting for a democratic ideal and
set of values associated with freedom, despite the constant reference to
Empire. In this Piscean Age ruled by Neptune is this an illusion or is the
Sovereign engaged in promoting the welfare of the citizenry? The response of
many New Zealanders who associate the flag with the glorious dead informs us of
public values and what the people hold dear. In large measure the people have
bought the illusion. I entered the list with this contribution to the Flag Referendum
Bill pdf of paper: http://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-nz/51SCJE_EVI_00DBHOH_BILL62371_1_A430716/d2849323f8ee5dc25e36f2e8d187e6d42308e2d6
and my oral notes dropbox link pdf: https://www.dropbox.com/s/86t4rugjx3xvqrq/Flag%20Referendum%20Bill%20greg%27s%20notes%20%207th%20May%202015.pdf?dl=0
viiExecutive autocracy is the opposite
of most people’s appreciation of democracy. In bilateral and multilateral trade
and investment treaties the Crown prerogative is employed to sideline, ignore
and belittle civil opposition to the scheme being imposed. At no point is a
democratic decision taken prior to the Government signing and committing the NZ
State to the arrangement. The report of the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade
Select Committee in relation to the International Treaties Bill (November
2002): http://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-nz/47DBSCH_SCR2271_1/f2681c0ad96519e7e6d291ce532d7611eac7efa4
Matt Robson Progressive party’s minority report acknowledges the undemocratic
nature of the exercise of Crown prerogative by the Executive in respect to
treaty making:
“...Parliament would have a practical mechanism to begin
bridging the divide between the exclusive Executive right to make treaties and
the responsibility of Parliament to ensure that the interests of democracy are
protected. As this committee gained experience it would be able to advise Parliament
of further practical and effective steps to allow for the democratisation of
the process. The Progressive member believes it is time to take treaty making
and foreign affairs in general out of the realm of the mysterious and into the
realm of the normal democratic processes of Parliament.
The arguments that now is not the time and we do not have
the resources are advanced whenever those with vested interests wish to protect
a position. In a globalised world treaties and conventions have a greater and greater
impact on the ordinary citizen. Their representatives in Parliament require
adequate information to be able to protect the interests of the electors....”
The subsequent second reading debate hansard (19 February
2003) is interesting reading with the benefit of 13 years of hindsight: http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/pb/debates/debates/47HansD_20030219_00001032/international-treaties-bill-%E2%80%94-second-reading
viiiThere’s probably been more public
contributions to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade (FADT) select committee
TPP treaty examination process than any treaty or bill for a while. Consider
the size and complexity of the text - 6000 plus pages of potential loopholes.
ixThe point of this correspondence is
to make this case. You are privileged with information and knowledge, accessed
in your various official capacities, which I can only hope to review, which may
allow you to disregard or overthrow the thesis I herein attempt.
xThe questions were directed at both
the GCSB and the NZSIS 25 December 2015. They finally returned an answer to the
full 37 questions 12 April 2016, with the one question referred to the NZ
Defence Forces who following a 15 day extension, answered on Monday May 30.
That question #19 asked, “Please provide the advice to Cabinet that motivated
the Government to not participate in the 2003 Iraq War?” I was seeking details
of the advice to the NZ Government in 2003 that persuaded them there was no
justification for declaring and waging aggressive war on the nation state of
Iraq. I am not alone, Britain has its Chilcott inquiry and there has been war
crimes tribunals such as the Kuala Lumpar War Crimes Tribunal which prosecuted
Bush and co. on the crime of torture.
xiMy thirty five (35) Official Information
Act questions to the NZ security services on 25 December 2015 gained no
positive answers in which official information was disclosed (NZ Defence Force
answer to question #19, 30 May 2016, was in itself a deceptive ploy by the GCSB
to avoid answering affirmatively to a question to which Your ex Minister of
Foreign Affairs and Trade Phil Goff had in November 2014 confirmed they had the
goods – so a lie by evasion).
The statement of the National Interest standard was offered
by NZ Intelligence Services, however that in itself does not disclose the
specific official information requested, where is it written? Did they just
make up the guiding code? So much for the Official Information Act’s
presumption that Government information ought be openly available. Maybe one
(1) out of 35 is the score to date. The Ombudsman's office is pursuing that
question #19 as the Officer comprehends the previous Foreign Minister Phil
Goff's testimony in select committee which suggests the GCSB is not operating
to the letter nor spirit of the OIA.
xiiThis in my view is an important
history book from a man who made history: http://www.amazon.com/quest-security-Zealand-1840-1966/dp/B0006BSL72
and here at National Library: http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2079165
xiiiWhy are important texts of our
economic and political history not in reprint, and circulated to politics and
history students as well as for general consumption?
xivWebsite: http://www.victoria.ac.nz/vicpasifika/our-community/events/climate-conference
and final statement: http://www.victoria.ac.nz/vicpasifika/our-community/events/climate-conference/outcome-statement-pacific-climate-change-conference.pdf
xvI prepared a paper for panel
discussion #16; Neoliberalism, TPP and Pacific Climate Change, from dropbox
pdf: https://www.dropbox.com/s/nirramw9qot5ump/Pacific%20Climate%20Change%20Conference%20-%20Panel%20session%2016%20Neoliberalism%20the%20TPPA%20and%20climate%20change%20in%20the%20Pacific.pdf?dl=0
asking who government listened to if not to the people when setting the NZ INDC
offer at an abysmally low level. “Is our government captured by those who
promote an agenda based in ecocide and climate vandalism?” And comes to
conclusions; Neoliberalism encourages short-term thinking. Corporations
maximise profits through the externalisation of costs. The commons and
inhabitants carry those costs. The public interest suffers. TPP will
excacerbate these.
xviThat Your minister signed the UNFCCC
does not give me much comfort that the NZ Government support action to mitigate
climate change. It is not long ago that many government ministers and MPs
publicly refute the evidence of anthropogenic climate change. The low INDC
offer of the government 11% reduction by 2030 based on 1995 levels of emissions
is one of the least ambitious offers of any nation despite overwhelming support
for strong action from the NZ public. Again the professions and academia were
well represented amongst proponents for urgent strong action.
xviiClimate change is the global sword
of Damocles which requires urgent attention and action. See this gif image
which displays graphically the average annual temperature since 1850. The
trajectory is unmistakably wild and clearly into new territory. https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2016/05/10/5_9_16_Andrea_TempSpiralEdHawkins.gif
The gif comes from this website and the data to construct
the model is based on a large research effort. It presents an interesting
abstract of the situation we face: http://www.climate-lab-book.ac.uk/2016/spiralling-global-temperatures/
xixWhat science tells us is one thing.
Do our politicians and government care about facts? Most recently from the
Dominion Post Monday 9 May, ‘The High Cost of Muzzling Scientists’: http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/79716207/the-high-public-cost-of-muzzling-scientists
this with a miltary perspective on climate change from Dita De Boni: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/dita-de-boni/news/article.cfm?a_id=611&objectid=11477745
On planetary boundaries try this: https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/earth-has-crossed-several-planetary-boundaries-thresholds-human-induced-environmental-changes
and this TED talk by Johan Rockstrom talks about the planetary risks we allow: https://www.ted.com/talks/johan_rockstrom_let_the_environment_guide_our_development
Johan says in the first minute; “We live on a human-dominated planet,
putting unprecedented pressure on the systems on Earth. This is bad news, but
perhaps surprising to you, it's also part of the good news. We're the first
generation -- thanks to science -- to be informed that we may be undermining
the stability and the ability of planet Earth to support human development as
we know it. It's also good news, because the planetary risks we're facing are
so large, that business as usual is not an option. In fact, we're in a phase
where transformative change is necessary, which opens the window for
innovation, for new ideas and new paradigms. This is a scientific journey on
the challenges facing humanity in the global phase of sustainability.”
Also this TED blog: http://ideas.ted.com/the-9-limits-of-our-planet-and-how-weve-raced-past-4-of-them/
xx‘Crimes Against Humanity – the
Global Struggle For Global Justice’ 2000 by Geoffrey Robertson QC provides
ample evidence of state despotism to domestic and foreign populations to the
end of the millennium.
Despotism this century in the post 9/11 war on terror is
referenced elsewhere, however this article from the Near East Observer places
the Syrian conflict as a proxy war (continuing the clash of powers from the
previous century) rather than a civil war as propounded by the West: http://journal-neo.org/2016/05/05/is-the-war-on-terror-really-a-crusade-against-islam/
xxiWe apprehend an agenda to lock up
and consolidate a hegemonic sphere of interest in a binding pact with
enforceable rules. See my paper in dropbox
link, “Neo-liberalism, TPP and Pacific Climate Change” for the Eye in the Storm
VUW Pacific Climate Change Conference, where I draw parallels between the
likely treatment of climate change mitigation legislation under UNFCCC and the
delay and obfuscation in implementing Smokefree 2025 tobacco control
legislation implemented as part of our commitment to the WHO FCTC (Framework
Convention on Tobacco Control), signed by 168 nations and binding 180.
xxiiIt was whilst investigating the
crime known as 9/11 that I came across Otago University Meta Ethics
Philosopher, Professor Charles Pigden’s essay, ‘Conspiracy Theories and the
Conventional Wisdom’ who’s central thesis is that conspiracies exist and to
find out one must investigate. Now revised: http://philpapers.org/rec/PIGCTA-2
For a pdf. file of the paper link: http://philpapers.org/archive/PIGCTA-2.pdf
Prof. Pigden’s abstract states; “Conspiracy theories should be neither
believed nor investigated - that is the conventional wisdom. I argue that it is
sometimes permissible both to investigate and to believe. Hence this is a
dispute in the ethics of belief. I defend epistemic ‘oughts’ which apply in the
first instance to belief-forming strategies which are partly under our control.
But the belief-forming strategy of not believing conspiracy theories would be a
political disaster and the epistemic equivalent of self-mutilation. I discuss
several variations of this strategy, interpreting ‘conspiracy theory’ in
different ways but I conclude that on all these readings, the conventional
wisdom is deeply unwise.” (my bold emphasis)
xxiiiFuture agreements include trade in
services agreement (TiSA), Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
(TTIP), Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the EU NZ economic
partnership (proposed and being discussed actively), and more including with
Saudi Arabia.
xxivRemembering the precautionary
principle is established in European Law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precautionary_principle
which might be part of the answer as to why the EU are in an apparently
superior position to our TPP agreement with the US in their TTIP treaty
negotiations or are they? http://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/en/News/2016/TTIP-leaks-update-Greenpeace-response-to-Commission-statements/
My sense of the game is that it is all about power
irrespective of the law. Or does the law equal power applied? The law is not in
a position to discipline the powerful. This is apparent in the flagrant abuses
of international law – Geoffrey Robertson QC’s ‘Crimes Against Humanity – The
Struggle For Global Justice’ provides sobering reading. It was written in 1999
revised 2000. It provides an interesting perspective or lens through which to
view the subsequent 16 years to now.
xxv100 NZ and international jurors
volunteered that opinion paraphrased in 2012: https://tpplegal.wordpress.com/open-letter/
xxviThe tobacco carveout is a curious
pyrrhic victory in that it sends a strong message that the TPP protections for
governments to regulate and legislate in the public interest might be
insufficient to deter ISDS suits under TPP. This is covered in my linked paper
to the VUW ‘Eye of the Storm’ climate change conference, in endnotes 15 and 21.
xxviiWaitangi Tribunal decision: http://www.justice.govt.nz/tribunals/waitangi-tribunal/news/tppa-treaty-clause-not-a-breach-tribunal-says
and here: http://maorilawreview.co.nz/2016/05/trans-pacific-partnership-agreement-treaty-of-waitangi-clause-provides-protection/
xxviiiLetter
to Hon. Kennedy Graham and FADT Select Committee on constitutional
considerations to provide for democratic engagement in international treaty
making: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pflwduixj1561y0/AACZ9NJnvBG6lnEjy2gZGGjRa/FADT-response-Kennedy-Graham.pdf?dl=0
xxixGuardian Article 2014 about the
events of 2009 in Peru: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/andes-to-the-amazon/2014/jun/29/peru-licence-to-kill-environmental-protestors
xxxGlobalism might promote the end of
the effective state, which would also deny the legitimate interest of the
people in their democracy. The corporation’s assumption of authority is an
emergent quality made possible by the ever-pressured and diminishing state. The
corporation’s first responsibility is to the shareholders, not the host state
and the needs of its citizens. Citizens are stakeholders in the state
corporation which exists through a Trust which ought work for the mass of the
citizenry (people's interests and full security).
Once it was for the state to regulate the terms of the
arrangements by which actors in the economy transact their relations.
Who does an ‘ideological globalist’ (one who promotes a
global free trade market when no such animal exists) serve and how can she
legitimately pursue the NZ Intelligence and Security services’ definition of
National Interest outlined on page 2?
xxxiNoam Chomsky in an article in the
Guardian 10 May 2016: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/09/noam-chomsky-who-rules-the-world-us-foregin-policy
says;
“In the contemporary global order, the institutions of
the masters hold enormous power, not only in the international arena but also
within their home states, on which they rely to protect their power and to
provide economic support by a wide variety of means.
When we consider the role of the masters of mankind, we turn
to such state policy priorities of the moment as the Trans-Pacific Partnership,
one of the investor-rights agreements mislabelled “free-trade agreements” in
propaganda and commentary. They are negotiated in secret, apart from the
hundreds of corporate lawyers and lobbyists writing the crucial details. The
intention is to have them adopted in good Stalinist style with “fast track”
procedures designed to block discussion and allow only the choice of yes or no
(hence yes).
The designers regularly do quite well, not surprisingly.
People are incidental, with the consequences one might anticipate.”
xxxiiThis article features Gus Van
Haarten Canadian Law Professor: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/79903061/expert-warns-nz-about-foreign-lawsuits-as-tppa-bill-passes-first-reading
Gus also proposed an ISDS carve-out from all Investment treaties to be included
in the UNFCCC. That sensible policy was not adopted.
xxxiiiMAI
drew widespread criticism from civil society groups and developing countries,
particularly over the possibility that the agreement would make it difficult to
regulate foreign investors. After an intense global campaign was waged against
the MAI by the treaty's critics, the host nation France announced in October
1998 that it would not support the agreement, effectively preventing its
adoption due to the OECD's consensus procedures: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multilateral_Agreement_on_Investment
and ACTA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement
xxxiv‘Fundamentals’ is the name given to
his lecture in 1980 by Lord Cook, where he outlines his view of the nature of
the NZ state as a democracy, which the judiciary (jurors) were forsworn to
protect. One presumes the advice is applicable to all in high office.
xxxvA number of pieces of correspondence
to Your Excellency are available for review in this dropbox file along with the
updated version of the petition form, to take account of the fact of the TPP
Signing on Thursday 4 February 2016: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6uutdlt8l583hsh/AAAhCIhYSY8jS64DGz0MBiG0a?dl=0
which includes this pdf.file of TPP Free Wellington (TFW) correspondence
through December 2015 including the initial response from Your Officer Gregory
Baughen to TPW request for an audience to meet you with our petition and
concern: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6uutdlt8l583hsh/AABj5YcibO2tkYhAVKrtQe-Qa/Governor%20General%20correspondence%20and%20petition.pdf?dl=0
xxxviaIt is here that we can see the full
implication emerge. It is evident that the NZ Government is fully supportive of
this coup by the Global transnational corporations over the people’s
governments. This is a conspiracy of the largest dimensions. Where were the
arrangements developed and why were they not related to the people affected in
a manner that allows them to appreciate the intent of the corporate coup?
Global civil society opposed and defeated the multilateral agreement on
investment (MAI), surely opposition to the content of MAI rolls over to
opposition to TPP’s Investment Chapter given the similarity of content and
implication? http://www.globalissues.org/article/48/multilateral-agreement-on-investment
xxxviiFrom
dropbox link pdf: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pflwduixj1561y0/AACAZPeIP2sBqWEZWEvXi8W3a/Application%20of%20VCLT%20to%20TPP%20and%20Aotearoa%20NZ%20-%20April%202016.pdf?dl=0
xxxixOnline apetition hosted at Action
Station: https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/demand-a-binding-referendum-on-tpp-let-the-people-decide?source=facebook-share-button&time=1464778402
xlFADT Select Committee TPP treaty
examination, all evidence: http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/pb/sc/documents/evidence?custom=00dbsch_itr_68247_1
xliNZ Parliament Standing Orders
International Treaties: http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/about-parliament/how-parliament-works/ppnz/00HOOOCPPNZ_431/chapter-43-international-relations
xliiMy oral presentation Thursday 28
April to FADT committee is hosted at Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-208366937/gregfullmoontppa-oral-hearing-160428
My various evidence
and research papers are linked on the Soundcloud page, with a comment that
links to a dropbox file - TPP Greg's FADT evidence: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pflwduixj1561y0/AACdVXHyadUV99k2f4UhqN4za?dl=0
Dropbox folder containing 9 documents to FADT Select
Committee’s TPP treaty examination in three tranches 29 February, 28 April
2016, and in response to question from Kennedy Graham at the 28 April hearings
on constitutional measures to consider for the future on the 1 May 2016.
xliiiFADT paper 1 May 2016, ‘Further
response to Hon. Kennedy Graham question of my oral evidence presented 28 April
2016’: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pflwduixj1561y0/AACdVXHyadUV99k2f4UhqN4za?dl=0
xlivThe best estimates and projections
will rarely be absolutely accurate. The issue is how approximately do any of
the predictions mirror reality, in their assumptions and abstractions? The US
has just released another assessment which does not paint a rosy picture of
benefit for the US: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-trade-tpp-idUSKCN0Y92XX
xlvOne of the papers I offered is
entitled, ‘United states (US) vs Aotearoa NZ values, Do These Correlate?’ link
here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pflwduixj1561y0/AABAx0cfgVLpcn8tdW9XTGela/US%20%E2%80%93%20%20Aotearoa%20NZ%20Values%20-%20Do%20These%20Correlate.pdf?dl=0
to hammer the coffin lid closed on the West being nice guys, the following
report outlines the acknowledgement by government officials of their nation’s
involvement in ‘false flag’ terror events often against their own citizens in
order to launch aggressive war. The War on Terror announced by POTUS George W
Bush 20 September 2001 rides on the back of the 9/11 false flag terror event: http://www.globalresearch.ca/53-admitted-false-flag-attacks/5432931
none of the powers are innocent. The deeper I go, the uglier the truth. Who are
we marrying in TPP?
xlviNaomi Klein’s tome, ‘The Shock
Doctrine’ is an important contribution to the public apprehension of what the
US national security state is about: http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine
From the website:
In THE SHOCK DOCTRINE, Naomi Klein explodes the myth that
the global free market triumphed democratically. Exposing the thinking, the
money trail and the puppet strings behind the world-changing crises and wars of
the last four decades, The Shock Doctrine is the gripping story of how
America’s “free market” policies have come to dominate the world-- through the
exploitation of disaster-shocked people and countries.
My paper for the FADT Select Committee referenced at endnote
45 above, ‘US – Aotearoa NA Values – do these cohere?’ adds to the evidence and
conclusion, ‘that the current mode of capitalist exploitation is cannibalistic’
- are these Aotearoa - NZ values?
xlviiJon Stephenson’s reporting on our
actions in relation to Afghan prisoners of war paints the picture that our
Defence forces and bureaucracy prefer opacity to sunlight. The denial of
criminality and the thrashing of the reputation of a journalist merely doing
his job adds weight to the ‘conspiracy to deny the truth’ of what the post 9/11
wars are about: http://www.metromag.co.nz/metro-archive/eyes-wide-shut/
and the settlement of the matter as far as Jon Stephenson’s reporting being
accurate: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11522106
xlviiiThe
presumption toward disclosure of state held information provided in the
Official Information Act’s principle’s is recognition of the Trust (State)
obligations toward the beneficiaries (citizens), whether the disclosure
pertains to domestic or foreign relations matters. It took me 60 working days
to get a ‘nil answer’ from the GCSB and the NZSIS to most of the 35 questions I
asked them in December 2015. I have received an answer from the Department of
Defence (30-5-2016) in relation to the advice to the NZ Government Cabinet in
respect to entering the Iraq War in early 2003. This area is vexed as my sense
is that your Government’s agencies have lied to me, or at best misrepresented
that they do not hold files containing the advice they provided the Clark
Labour Government in respect to Operation Enduring Freedom. The Hon. Phil Goff
in 2003 was the Foreign Affairs Minister. In the course of my oral presentation
to the FADT select committee in relation to the Countering Foreign Terrorist
Fighters Legislation Bill, Goff stated that the Government received advice from
the GCSB that there was no basis to join the War on Iraq. He further made the
point that following the June 2003 decision to send a humanitarian
reconstruction team to Basra, that the NZ Defence Forces were not participating
in Operation Enduring Freedom. The Hon. Phil Goff’s comments were recorded by
NZ parliamentary services and I’ve uploaded them to Soundcloud here: https://soundcloud.com/user-208366937
I’ve recently watched the New Zealand production, ‘Notes to
Eternity’. In the film Noam Chomsky makes the point that he and his network are
better informed than the CIA, as the spies are ideologically bound to not look
at what will create discordance with state dogma: http://notestoeternity.com/
xlixThe organisers of the petition to
Your Excellency note the comments of prominent jurors. Sir Robin Cooke Privy
Councillor and Chief Justice of the NZ Court of Appeal said; “…the modern
common law should be seen to have a free and democratic society as its basic
tenet and, for that reason, to be built on two complementary and lawfully
unalterable principles: the operation of a democratic legislature and the
operation of independent courts… …if a change, by legislation or otherwise,
were seen to undermine either of them to a significant extent, it would be the
responsibility of Judges to say so and, if their judgements to that effect were
disregarded, to resign or to acknowledge frankly that they are prepared to
depart from their judicial oath and to serve a state not entitled to be called
a free democracy.” (“Fundamentals”, New Zealand Law Journal, May 1988.)
lUniversities of New Zealand TPP
evidence to the FADT committee oral evidence 7 April: http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/pb/sc/documents/evidence/51SCFDT_EVI_00DBSCH_ITR_68247_1_A495232/universities-new-zealand
plus supplementary offered to committee to clarify the Vice Chancellors’
committee statutory role reinforcing their right to their opinion in opposition
to the TPP: http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/pb/sc/documents/evidence/51SCFDT_EVI_00DBSCH_ITR_68247_1_A504677/universities-new-zealand-supp1
liNicholas Copernicus and Galileo
Galilei were two scientists who printed books that later became banned.
Copernicus faced no persecution when he was alive because he died shortly after
publishing his book. Galileo, on the other hand, was tried by the Inquisition
after his book was published. Both scientists held the same theory that the
Earth revolved around the sun, a theory now known to be true. However, the
Church disapproved of this theory because the Holy Scriptures state that the
Earth is at the centre, not the Sun. As the contents of the Bible were taken
literally, the publishing of these books proved, to the Church, that Copernicus
and Galileo were sinners; they preached, through their writing, that the Bible
was wrong: http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/533/copernicus-galileo-and-the-church-science-in-a-religious-world
liiThere were 400 papers from 255 oral
presenters, most in person or by teleconference to the FADT hearings. There
were 3000 papers or submissions from individuals who did not appear and a
further 3000 who contributed through an online platform run by Action Station.
This according to Hon. Kennedy Graham was an extraordinary high level of public
engagement for a select committee process.
liiiThere are many studies and official
studies to support this thesis. In fact no other finding can be reached by any
reasoned survey of the data. IMF: http://qz.com/429487/a-new-imf-study-debunks-trickle-down-economics/ We can go back a bit to the 1930’s
and survey the Brookings Institute’s reports under the general heading ‘Income
and Economic Progress’ and the later volume entitled ‘The Recovery Problem in
the United States’ to identify that productive economies perform more
effectively with increased equity in the state income pie: https://www.marxists.org/archive/mattick-paul/1937/08/brookings.htm
livNZ Elections Assets Sales Citizens
Initiated Referendum result 442,985 in favour of the sell-off, 920,188 opposed:
http://www.electionresults.govt.nz/2013_citizens_referendum/
lvMy evidence to the Flag Referendum
Bill consideration of the Justice and Electoral committee, both evidence and
the notes I used to speak to herein: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/z9ecgmgdkzgrkx5/AACQ-JSEqUjXibBGn-0g726Ba?dl=0
….it appears that in some circles that the flag has more than mere symbolic
value. What power does it hold? For if it is a symbol of power then any who
alter such a powerful entity are themselves powerful. All politics is about the
exercise of power. In a sense redrafting the face of the National Symbol is
going for Gold.Whilst great for kings its not much good as a measure of value
as usually there is only one winner and we need loftier principles than self
aggrandisement to drive social and political economic settings. Egalitarianism
has a larger place in the conduct of public affairs. Or if it does not
egalitarianism ought be prominent.
lviCorporate boxing as analogy for the
current trends – corporations can be risk-accepting in respect to the commons
and others, whereas government is generally risk adverse. Corporate boxing’s
rules afford less protection to the protagonists than amateur or professional
rules. The commentators in ‘Corporate Boxing’ say as much during the brawly
parts of the fights. The difference is the knock down rules and assessment of
whether a knocked-out fighter can receive more punishment, despite being
whacked and unable to defend their self.
lviiFADT TPP treaty examination report 4
May 2016 pdf: http://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-nz/51DBSCH_SCR68965_1/017c7d1eedfaa46cda74da3faa83982cee1ab4d3
or link located on page at: http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/pb/sc/documents/reports/51DBSCH_SCR68965_1/international-treaty-examination-of-the-trans-pacific-partnership
The Select Committee representatives are listed in appendix 1 and the
government’s TPP National Interest Analysis (NIA) is appendix 2.
lviiiThe office of Governor General is a
critical role in New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements. I note that you
were briefly placed at the head of the New Zealand security services prior to
the announcement and assuming your present office on the 31 August 2011. I note
that Dame Patsy Reddy, has had service in the security service sector as
co-panelist in the recent review of the NZ Security Services, see report here: http://www.igis.govt.nz/legislation/independent-review-of-intelligence-and-security/
lixIt may be for this reason that our
ally the US elects not to ratify the Rome Statute, despite it recommending that
African despots be charged and tried in that jurisdiction.
lxihttp://www.stuff.co.nz/national/80064776/Mokos-death-sparks-Government-inquiry-into-laws-around-murder-and-manslaughter
lxiiJohn Key speaks of the manner in
which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade gain assessments of whether a
foreign naval asset is nuclear armed: http://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/newzealand/government-rely-google-maintain-nzs-nuclear-free-law
lxiiiI entered a deep look at the problem
of climate change to the Ministry for the Environment’s review of the NZ
Government’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) commitment to
the UNFCCC, June 2015 paper: https://www.dropbox.com/s/syhgf87pmynbqub/Greg%27s%20paper%20CCc%203-6-2015%20%23%20rev%203%20%287-6-2015%29.pdf?dl=0
lxivThe Panama Trust exposures and the
tendency for wealthy people and governments to conspire in arrangements to
minimise the global tax take is a serious withholding of funds from the common
pool available for taxation for the maintenance of the social fabric that
governments are charged with providing for their people and their communities.
Is this an open conspiracy of the elite with surplus wealth, perhaps now
plugged for a time by Shewan's recommendations. What of the other nations and
their tax base?
I received a reply fairly promptly early Tuesday morning the 5th July. The following is a faithful representation of the content of the reply from Gregory Baughen the Governor General's official secretary.
ReplyDelete....
Dear Greg
Thank you for your email and the attachments, and also for your earlier message of 29 June.
It is well known that you oppose the intention of the present Government that New Zealand should become a party to the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Some other members of the public share that opposition.
I hope that the role of the Governor-General in New Zealand’s system of constitutional monarchy and representative democracy is also well known. The person who holds the office of Governor-General should not, and does not, act in a way that would prevent the government of the day from carrying out its policy programme.
In the event that the House of Representatives places before the Governor-General a Bill on the TPP, duly passed and with advice from ministers of the Crown, the Governor-General will act on that advice.
Yours sincerely
Gregory Baughen
Official Secretary to the Governor-General of New Zealand
Wellington, New Zealand
" The person who holds the office of Governor-General should not, and does not, act in a way that would prevent the government of the day from carrying out its policy programme.
ReplyDeleteIn the event that the House of Representatives places before the Governor-General a Bill on the TPP, duly passed and with advice from ministers of the Crown, the Governor-General will act on that advice."
Would suggest this course is futile is my read based on this reply?
According to some fighting the TPP is futile in itself. This opinion has no bearing on efforts I extend to
ReplyDeletea) cause the TPP to be abandoned in its current form, nor
b) stop me from pursuing the matter with the Governor General as I and many see is appropriate to point out the undemocratic nature of our constitution.
Cheers though.
Gregory Baughen's interpretation of the Governor-General's role in New Zealand is hopelessly incorrect. That he is permitted to make such a statement in support of "policy programmes of the day" may indicate that the government, and the Governor-General himself, also hold hopelessly incorrect views.
ReplyDeleteDear Greg that was a wonderful and informative piece. keep up the good work I only wish more people saw the TTP for what it really is. steve
ReplyDeleteYou might like this link Steve and any who are watching.
DeleteRegarding Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the enforcement of investor rights.
This is gold from from John Oliver on Philip Morris suing nations through Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS).
We are very concerned for Government's and Council's ability to regulate in the public interest. This might place it in perspective for the community.
18 minutes on what arseholes Philip Morris are. Watch it, because this is what we are up against with corporate ISDS suits against Governments who legislate in the public interest. They are but one of the many we will have to contend with under TPP.
Whether NZ has much to worry about under this current government is moot, it has been fudging on Tobacco Control Legislation for years now despite being a signatory to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), and appear to jump asking "how high" every time a corporation gets a bit grumpy with public interest legislation proposed by our servants in Gov.
http://www.hbo.com/last-week-tonight-with-john-oliver/episodes/02/26-february-15-2015/video/ep-26-clip-big-tobaccos-still-at-it.html?
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