The Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement (KAFTA) enables Korean miners to sue states over environmental regulation. Korean companies own three of the most controversial mining projects in NSW.
AFTINET has made a detailed submission to the Senate Inquiry on the Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement (KAFTA).
Download AFTINET's Submission here.
AFTINET's submission includes details about the inclusion of investor rights to sue governments over domestic legislation (investor-state dispute settlement) and why claimed "safeguards" will not work, as well as other aspects of the KAFTA.
The Korea Free Trade Agreement, announced late last year, includes investor rights to sue governments (or ISDS).
Submissions to the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCOT) Inquiry into the Korea FTA have now closed, but you can still send a submission to the Senate Inquiry .
The government does not have a majority on the Senate Inquiry. If there are many submissions to the Senate Inquiry, then there will be more ammunition for a full critical debate about the Korea FTA when the implementing legislation goes before the Senate.
The Korea FTA has been tabled in Parliament, and the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCOT) is also conducting an Inquiry, for which submissions closed on June 2013. The government has a majority on this Committee. However, critical submissions are important to demonstrate community opposition and encourage the non-government members to make a minority critical report.
Updated 3/07/2014
The proposed Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement (KAFTA) was referred to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee for inquiry and report on March 27, 2014, by the Shadow Spokesperson for Trade, Senator Penny Wong.
Matthew Cawood writes for Fairfax country media about community concerns around Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) in trade agreements, quoting AFTINET convener Dr Patricia Ranald.
08/04/2014
“ISDS: The Devil in KAFTA’s detail” by Matthew Cawood in the Fairfax rural press is a critical discussion of investor rights to sue governments in the Korea FTA and in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP).
24/02/2014
In an article published in The Canberra Times, Kyla Teinhaara and Jeffrey Mcgee argue that the recently completed Australia-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KAFTA) should be renegotiated to remove the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) clause.
ABC PM radio discusses the recently concluded Free Trade Agreement between Australia and Korea. A number of people are interviewed including the Trade Minister Andrew Robb and AFTINET's Dr Patricia Ranald.
“The Abbott Government has agreed to include Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) in the Korea Australia FTA text which was released today. ISDS enables foreign investors to sue national, state or local governments for hundreds of millions of dollars of damages if they can allege a domestic law or policy “harms” their investment.