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Rebuilding the decimated democracy - values as compass points. Countering TPP and ugly sisters RCEP and TiSA - secret pacts to undermine the democracy. TPP hangs in the balance. The public opposition has been ignored by the government as it rushed to cement the TPP into the New Zealand Rulebook. We await the attitude of the US President and Congress to cast the die. Will Trump allow congress to trump his campaign promise to stop TPP? We cannot wait passively as our government is negotiating more of these corporate rights treaties; RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) and TiSA (Trade in Services Agreement). RCEP is between the Asian economies led by China and India including Australia and ourselves. It has similar content as TPP and is negotiated in anti-democratic secrecy. Civil society is not informed until a final agreement is reached between the governments. TiSA is between the advanced economies and encompasses services. See Wikileaks for leaked TiSA chapters which are about deregulating financial rules - it was deregulation that gave us the GFC (Great Financial Crisis). We can work during the NZ general election campaign by seeking commitments from alternative government parties that they will withdraw from the TPP. What do New Zealanders really want? Greg has been consolidating the material he's been \u200bstudying\u200b over the past couple of years. He has been considering values as signposts to where the public mood rests.\u200b It wasn't long ago that the NZ Government asked the people about their values. It was a component of the Flag Referendum process of 2015/6. New Zealanders were asked what they stand for. The people offered 10,292 flag designs. They offered 43,000 individual contributions of what they stood for. View the word cloud below of most frequent values expressed by the New Zealand public. Here is the image from the website. Place Picture IN here of: many words \xa0Like EQUALITY HISTORY FREEDOM that is in documents \xa0\xa0- Thank you - Tim None of the above suggest the TPP. Forty three thousand (43,000) people is a large sample of the 4.6 million New Zealand population. The Flag Referendum process was advanced as a constitutional matter. Surely the Stand For values are an important contribution to the values underpinning our NZ Constitution. Is New Zealand a democracy? Are the people's values reflected in the Government's policy settings? Greg says the obvious finding is that the New Zealand Government does not reflect the deep values of the people of this State. It appears the values theme runs deep in the Kiwi psyche. Colmar Brunton finds ethical values run deep Recently Colmar Brunton published their latest Better Futures Report (November 2016) highlighting that values matter to New Zealanders. Scoop reported that Kiwis are hot on global sustainability goals. \u201cMost Kiwis rate global sustainability goals as very important \u2013 especially those relating to social issues \u2013 according to a report released today. The Colmar Brunton 2016 Better Futures Report incorporated the results of New Zealand\u2019s first ever survey into the public\u2019s attitude to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to which the Government signed up in 2015. The 17 SDGs include a mix of social, environmental, cultural and economic goals such as no poverty, climate action, reduced inequalities, clean water and sanitation, decent work and economic growth and quality education. Colmar Brunton Chief Client Officer Sarah Bolger says. "Between 60% and 80% of Kiwis rate each goal as very important. When those people were asked to name the single most important goal the top six in order of priority were: no poverty, good health and well-being, quality education, sustainable cities and communities, clean water and sanitation, and zero hunger. It\u2019s clear from this that New Zealanders care most about improving the day-to-day lives of others and there is a strong skew towards social issues in the top six goals. In particular Kiwis think we need to do more towards achieving zero hunger, sustainable cities and communities and no poverty, as they believe our performance in these areas fails to measure up to the importance we place on them.\u201d Considering both the Stand For values and the Better Futures Report leads generally to what people might consider of import in the coming year. My purpose is to use these values to highlight a potential 2017 general election agenda: \xa0TPP - \xa0(plus TISA and RCEP) grow the campaign. TPP if ratified by the US locks NZ in as our parliament has ratified, subject to an alternative government withdrawing.. Professor Jane Kelsey and It's Our Future propose ramping up the campaign against TiSA from 3 February. The campaign is to gain commitments from parties to withdraw from TPP and to ensure that RCEP and TiSA do not undermine our domestic arrangements. \xa0Questions for 2017 General Election; \xa0How do we place TPP and trade and investment treaties into the election campaign? What is the long-term solution to democratise international treaties? \xa0Is a Manifesto/Charter/Blueprint approach (2017 election and beyond) to these ideas a way of advancing our agenda? \xa0The NZ constitution. Can we advance a constitutional policy that international treaties are negotiated openly and agreed in the parliament before signature? There's a few initiatives to place the constitution and our status as a Constitutional Monarchy vs a move to republic. This won't be resolved in 2017 however there is a strong move to get the discussion going in a serious manner. I know there are a variety of perspectives on this, however it is critical we inform ourselves about possibilities and implications. To this effect the following might be of interest. The following blog highlights some thoughts about the need to remedy some of our dilemmas: http://values-compasspointsinaposttruthworld.blogspot.co.nz/2016/12/working-on-open-egalitarian-and.html\xa0 http://values-compasspointsinaposttruthworld.blogspot.co.nz/\xa0 Professor Jane Kelsey and It's Our Future propose ramping up the campaign against TiSA from 3 February, see https://itsourfuture.org.nz \xa0 \u200bStand For Values are hosted here: http://www.standfor.co.nz/ \xa0 Scoop published media release from Colmar Brunton 24 Nov 2016: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1611/S00349/report-kiwis-hot-on-global-sustainability-goals.htm References for Constitutional reading: The constitution book by Geoff Palmer and Andrew Butler, \u201cA Constitution for Aoteoroa,\u201d is of interest and leads to the whole question of what is possible with a discussion about constitutions. (They propose to accept public suggestions on their proposal till 30 September 2017, so it might occur in the midst of the general election.) http://vup.victoria.ac.nz/a-constitution-for-aotearoa-new-zealand/\xa0 Their website: \xa0http://constitutionaotearoa.org.nz/the-conversation/speeches/book-launch-speech-geoffrey-palmer/ \xa0 The draft constitution that Palmer and Butler propose: http://constitutionaotearoa.org.nz/proposed-constitution-full-text/\xa0 Our current NZ constitutional documents are here: https://gg.govt.nz/role/constofnz/intro\xa0 And the Maori report on the constitution is referred to here: http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/201821049/moana-jackson-a-new-constitution-for-aotearoa\xa0 and linked here: \xa0http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/MatikeMaiAotearoaReport.pdf\xa0 The Awareness Party Constitution: \xa0http://www.theawarenessparty.com/constitution/\xa0 And the Icelandic Constitution story here: \xa0https://medium.com/equal-citizens/on-icelands-crowdsourced-constitution-ad99aae75fce#.9hn79xmzw\xa0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_constitutional_reform,_2010%E2%80%9313 This interview was sponsored by The Awareness Party - \xa0http://www.theawarenessparty.com/ \xa0 Greg\u2019s only income is from public donations. To sustain Greg continue his work contribute to Kiwibank account: Public Advocacy Donations Account 38-9017-0439360-00 - reference TPP roadie