At the eleventh hour, Labor, the Greens and the cross-benchers have united to raise concern about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, which is entering its final stages of negotiation. From The Guardian:
The Australian parliamentary working group, founded by Labor’s Melissa Parke, Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson and independent senator Nick Xenophon, will officially launch on Monday…
Xenophon said the group is an example of “from little things big things grow”, adding there is “increasing disquiet” over the TPP deal and how it is being negotiated.
The group aims to better inform the community, via educating parliamentarians, on the implications of the deal.
“If people realised what this delivered, they would be horrified,” Parke said. “There are many [parliamentary] colleagues who have expressed concern about the TPP.”
Of particular concern is the lack of information on what the deal contains…
Labor has raised concerns about the possible inclusion of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) clauses, which allow corporations to sue federal and state governments if laws are enacted that adversely affect them.
Parke describes ISDS clauses as “really scary”.
“They’re like Trojan horses, because they allow so many other things in,” she said.
Despite raising concerns on ISDS clauses, and refusing to sign free trade agreements that contained them when in office, Labor has refused to rule out supporting the TPP even with ISDS clauses.
While it is great to see the opposition parties showing opposition to the TPP, we do have to ask why it has taken so long? I have been warning about the risks emanating from this deal for nearly 18 months – since Wikileaks first leaked the draft investment and intellectual property chapters – and yet few in parliament (the Greens’ Peter Whish-Wilson the obvious exception) have said boo until very recently.
Labor’s wet lettuce response – cautioning against ISDS but refusing to rule-out supporting the TPP – is also disappointing. As noted by Peter Whish-Wilson: “‘What a total cop out. Grow a spine’,… [Labor] should state its opposition to ISDS clauses now, before it is too late”.
Meanwhile, the Huffington Post has published an article arguing why the TPP should be defeated, with oft mentioned concerns around ISDS and intellectual property front-and-centre:
…the TPP would also undermine democracy by giving multi-national corporations the right to challenge any law that could reduce their “expected future profits” through what is known as the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system. Under existing trade agreements, Phillip Morris is using this process to sue Australia and Uruguay for passing laws designed to prevent the children in those countries from smoking. These countries should be rewarded for taking action to protect the public health of their citizens. Instead, they are being taken to an international court because their laws are hurting the bottom line of one of the largest tobacco companies in the world..
Do we really want to tell governments all around the world, including the U.S., that if they pass legislation protecting the well-being of their citizens they could pay substantial fines to multi-national corporations because of the loss of future profits? What an incredible undermining of democracy! But that’s exactly what will happen if the TPP goes into effect.
Fourth, this legislation, strongly supported by the major drug companies, would substantially raise the prices of medicine in some of the poorest countries on earth. The drug companies are doing everything they can to prevent countries from moving to lower cost generics, even if it means that thousands will die because they cannot afford higher prices for the drugs they need. That is unacceptable. Doctors Without Borders has stated: “The TPP agreement is on track to become the most harmful trade pact ever for access to medicines in developing countries.”
Higher pharmaceutical costs, higher digital content costs, and reduced sovereignty to set laws in the national interest – that’s what we have to look forward to under the TPP.
