WikiLeaks offers $128k for secret TPP text

Whistleblower website WikiLeaks has offered a US$100,000 (A$128,460) bounty for copies of a Pacific trade pact that is a central plank of President Barack Obama's diplomatic pivot to Asia.

WikiLeaks, which has published leaked chapters of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiating text before, started a drive to crowdsource money for the reward.

"The transparency clock has run out on the TPP. No more secrecy. No more excuses. Let's open the TPP once and for all," WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said in a statement.

Nine hours after the campaign was launched, WikiLeaks' website was showing $25,835 pledged by more than 100 people.

The text of the TPP, which is still under negotiation and would boost the flow of goods between 12 nations from Japan to Chile, is a classified document. The US Trade Representative has increased availability of the text to lawmakers, but critics complain there is still not enough oversight.

In Australia, concerns surround the hard-line stance the US is expected to be taking on intellectual property, including penalties for illegal downloads in signatory states.

Negotiations on the TPP are close to completion but many trading partners are waiting for approval of fast track, which would stop lawmakers from amending trade deals like the TPP, before making their final offers.