The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has called Australia’s politicians to reject the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal for fears that it would destroy jobs, increase economic inequality and drive up health costs. From The Guardian:
The Australian Council of Trade Unions appeared before the joint standing committee on treaties on Monday, which is reviewing the TPP.
It called on the Turnbull government to reject the TPP, claiming independent economic analyses showed the trade deal could destroy 39,000 direct jobs in Australia by 2025…
Belinda Tkalcevic, the ACTU’s director of policy, told members of the committee the World Bank had found the economic benefits of the TPP would be “negligible”.
She said recent research from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development also showed the TPP would increase economic inequality…
“The TPP puts globalisation before Australian workers, threatens the fundamentals of our democracy and drives up health costs,” Tkalcevic said. “By destroying thousands of Australian jobs and driving down wages we believe the TPP will lead to higher levels of inequality.
“The TPP is a toxic combination of more power to multinationals ahead of democracy and globalisation ahead of Australian workers”…
The ACTU’s worries might end up being academic given that both US Presidential candidates have strongly opposed the TPP, therefore, the deal might not be ratified.
Nevertheless, the ACTU’s concerns do highlight, yet again, why the Productivity Commission (PC) should be engaged to assess the TPP before being ratified by the Australian 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 to comprehensively review. Therefore, the PC’s expert assessment is vital.
A Parliamentary committee last year also released a report slamming the lack of adequate “oversight and scrutiny” pertaining to the TPP, and lamented that “parliament is faced with an all-or-nothing choice” on whether or not to approve trade agreements and can only officially review trade laws once they have officially passed.
Under the terms of the TPP, member countries have two years from signing to assess the agreement before it must be ratified. Therefore, there is still around 12 months for the PC to undertake a thorough assessment – easily enough time.
Sadly, the chances of the government following due process are slim to none, and the TPP will be rammed-through without thorough assessment.
