AFTINET MEDIA RELEASE                                                                                                                            

September 9, 2022

Forty-six community organisations from Australia and the region have endorsed a letter calling for greater transparency and rejection of failed past trade models as Ministers from 14 member countries of the Indo Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) meet in Los Angeles today. IPEF includes the US, Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Fiji.

September 8, 2022: Read Patricia Ranald's article in The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/british-investors-could-sue-australia-over-c...

September 5, 2022: Labor’s Trade Minster Senator Don Farrell declared over the weekend that he wanted the Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement (A-UK FTA) ratified by the end of the year, despite the fact that the Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCOT) is yet to review it, and Labor is yet to test it against its own trade policy.

August 25, 2022: The Guardian reports that the Italian government has been ordered by an international tribunal to pay EUR190 million plus interest, a likely total of EUR250 m, (A$360 m) to UK oil and gas company Rockhopper Explorations, because in 2015 Italy banned new oil and gas projects within 12 nautical miles of its coastline.

August 19, 2022: The interim IACEPA was negotiated under the previous government in haste and without consultation with civil society organisations.. Some of its provisions are not consistent with the current government’s policy. The interim agreement contains only 14 chapters out of a possible 20 or 30 chapters and commits to negotiations for a comprehensive agreement which would include further chapters.

August 16, 2022: Yesterday the Australian and Victorian governments announced a 10 year contract for public funding for pharmaceutical company Moderna  to partner with Monash University to produce mRNA vaccines in Australia.

The manufacturing project aims to protect Australians against future pandemics, support local industry and create highly skilled local jobs, all of which are welcome goals. The project follows a separate research initiative of  Monash University and the Doherty Institute which is conducting clinical trials for a new generation vaccine designed to protect against the Omicron variant.

The Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network (AFTINET) is a network of community groups and individuals that campaigns for fair trade based on human rights, labour rights and environmental sustainability (see www.aftinet.org.au).

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August 10, 2022: Patricia Ranald's article in The Guardian argues that the Labor government should resist threats from international energy companies to use special legal rights in some trade agreements to sue for billions if they take action to safeguard energy supplies or phase out fossil fuels. These rights  enable  companies sue the federal government if a change in law or policy reduces their profits, even if the change is in the public interest,  known as Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS).

MEDIA RELEASE   August 9, 2022: National fair trade, public health, human rights and aid and development organisations have written to the Trade Minister and other relevant ministers urging them to take further action to address the continuing shocking global inequity of access to Covid 19 vaccines treatments and other products. While over 80% of people in Australia have had two vaccination, and treatments are now available, only 20% in low income countries have had one vaccination and there is even less access to treatments.

August 8, 2022: The submissions for the Australia-UK Free Tread Agreement closed before the election. The Joint Standing Committee on Treaties  will consider all previous submissions.