Tom Warne-Smith from the Environment Defenders Office writes for The Drum about the dangers of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in the TPP.
"Under the secretive Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement, Australia could be forced to pay foreign corporations not to dig up or destroy its coastline or native forests," he writes.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations have been widely criticised for their secrecy. Under the current process, the details of the deal were kept secret until after the text was agreed, and Cabinet, not Parliament makes the decision to sign the agreement. Parliament does not get to vote on the whole text, only on the implementing legislation.
For more information, see our explanation of the Australian process for trade agreements, and the Report of the Senate Inquiry into the trade agreement process, aptly called Blind Agreement.
A community-run forum on the TPP will be held in Melbourne's CBD on the 5th of Feburary from 6pm-7.30pm.
Speakers for the forum include:
Julia Gillard describes in The Guardian how tobacco companies are using trade agreements to undermine tobacco regulation and why investor rights to sue governments should not be included in the TPP and other trade agreements.
AFTINET Convener, Dr. Patricia Ranald, talks about the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions in the TPP at a NGO press conference in Singapore during TPP talks in December 2013.
Dr Ranald acknowledges the risks ISDS pose to health and environmental regulation, and why it is so controversial in Australia.
20/12/2013
Dr Deborah Gleeson reports on secrecy and health during the latest Trans-Pacific Partnerhip (TPP) negotiations in Singapore in The Conversation.
16/12/2013
AFTINET's Dr Patricia Ranald interviewed on ABC radio program Pacific Beat: 'TPP only of benefit for big business'
16/12/2013
The Australia Institute has issued a media release titled Aussies in the dark about risky TPP trade deal, following their recent study on Australian's knowledge and attitudes towards the TPP. The study found most Australians were not even aware that the deal was being negotiated.
14/12/2013
Australia has been accused of failing to defend its historic plain packaging tobacco legislation, with one report from Singapore talks describing Australia as a ‘‘constant stumbling block’’ to other nations attempting to secure the right to follow suit, reports Peter Martin in the Sydney Morning Herald.
13/12/2013
Higher medicine prices 
Workers' rights and the environment
Copyright monopolies on the Internet 
Secrecy