Steve Ciobo the new “yes man” on TPP

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By Leith van Onselen

New Trade Minister, Steve Ciobo, has attacked US Democratic front-runner, Hillary Clinton, for opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, accusing Ms Clinton of running a union-backed misinformation campaign against the pact. From The AFR:

“I’m not surprised that the trade union movement and, of course, the political arm of the Australian Labor Party is on a similar platform to, for example, Hillary Clinton,” he told The Australian Financial Review. “They both derive their key support from the union movement and from collectives who claim to be focused on worker protections.

“I will not take a backwards step in terms of putting forward the clear truthful situation in the face of an ongoing campaign of misinformation from the union movement or people like that.”

Asked then if he was saying that Ms Clinton’s opposition to the trade agreement has been based on misinformation, Mr Ciobo said: “absolutely”.

Well Mr Ciobo, there’s only one way to prove that Ms Clinton’s concerns about the TPP are unjustified, and that is to refer the agreement to the Productivity Commission (PC) for assessment prior to it being ratified by parliament.

The TPP is an incredibly complex agreement whose text numbers some 6,000 pages and 30 chapters. It is far too complex for the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCOT) to comprehensively review. Therefore, the PC’s expert assessment is vital.

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It’s not like time is an issue, either, given member nations have two years to ratify the agreement.

The truth is that the Turnbull Government is against referring the TPP to the PC because it risks uncovering any gremlins lurking in the text. The PC could also determine that the TPP is, in fact, detrimental to Australia’s interest – as modelling by the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University has done, which found that employment in Australia would contract by 39,000 jobs.

Steve Ciobo’s allegations of “misinformation” about the TPP reeks of hypocrisy given the Government’s complete and utter lack of transparency and accountability surrounding the deal.

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.