On Saturday, more than 20 people marched down Oamaru’s main street, supported by vehicle toots and cheers from drivers as they tried to raise awareness about what the trade deal could mean for small communities such as Oamaru.
The TPP is one of the world’s largest trade liberalisation deals, covering 40% of global trade and 800 million people.
Its signatories are the United States, Brunei, Australia, Vietnam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Singapore, Peru, Mexico, Malaysia and New Zealand.
Barrister and Oamaru protest organiser Katherine Henry believed the deal could affect the autonomy of government at a local, regional and national level, because of power corporations could have under the deal.
"If any of these corporates think we have not done right by them, either in a contract or under the TPP, they can pass the court process and take New Zealand through the Investor State Dispute Settlement arbitration process."
The process was fraught with potential conflicts of interest, she said.
"There is no precedent system so they are not bound by previous cases ... and there are no appeals.
"Our Parliament and councils, local and regional, will be looking over their shoulders to see what big corporate is going to be suing them next.
"They’ll be very brave to stand up against those corporations for us."
She said the agreement was not just about free trade as it gave unprecedented power to foreign corporations which invest in New Zealand.
"Foreign corporates will be able to invest more easily because the Oversees Investment Act threshold will rise from $100 million to $200 million for business sales.
"Also under the TPP we won’t be able to add new screening categories to the Overseas Investment Act when unforeseen issues arise, for example, residential housing."
Amy McCauley, of Oamaru, said she wanted awareness of the TPP raised and believed that not enough was known by the wider public about the trade deal .
"There’s not enough visibility about it. It needs to be slowed down and everybody needs to be made aware of it.
"There’s lots of anti TPP, but not much coming in saying it’s really good and why. Where are all the pro-TPP?"
For the TPP to take effect, it has to be ratified by at least six countries that account for 85% of the group’s economic output.
