Singapore trade agreement amendments: submissions needed

3 May 2017: Amendments to the 2003 Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement were tabled in Parliament  on March 20 and are being reviewed by the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties. The problem with the amendments is that they largely reflect the text of the TPP.

For example, they include more extensive services and investment commitments, commitments to Increased numbers of temporary workers and to remove labour market testing for temporary workers, and more commitments on state government procurement.  The original agreement included a version of ISDS which has been updated and has more exceptions, but still contains many of the weaknesses of the TPP version. See the AFTINET submission here.

If you made a submission on the TPP, please consider doing a short submission which registers your objections to amendments which reflect the content of the TPP. The committee will report on August 9. Public submissions closed on May 1, but you can request the committee to put in a late submission.