Trans-Pacific Partnership

Coalition policy gives manufacturing bosses a seat at trade negotiations, not farmers, unions or other groups

An obscure clause buried in the Liberal-National Coalition’s manufacturing policy says they will ‘appoint at least one industry representative who will be directly included in the negotiation of Free Trade Agreements’. The policy is on p.14 of the Coalition Manufacturing policy released last week. As it was not in the Coalition trade policy, AFTINET only became aware of it today, after we had sent out our comparison of parties’ trade policies.

This is an extraordinary and probably unworkable policy for three reasons.

Workers speak out about TPPA

The global union movement has produced a short video of workers in all of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPPA) countries discussing the impact of the free trade agreement.

Workers from around the world speak out about downward pressure on wages and labour rights, more polluted air and water, reduced access to life saving medicines, and more powerful corporations influencing our laws and trying to override our voices.

They have also created a petition targeting all the countries participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Sign the petition here.

AFTINET's Convener speaks to ABC radio from Brunei

AFTINET's convener Dr Patricia Ranald spoke to ABC radio this morning from Brunei, where she is observing the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) currently under negotiation.

Dr Ranald reports on the progress of the negotiation and talks about Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) and how it could affect our health and environmental regulation, using the examples of tobacco and coal seam gas mining.

Trade Agreement could prevent regulation of CSG mining

Proposals in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement for investor rights to sue governments threaten the ability of our governments to regulate in the interests of the public and the environment, including on Coal Seam Gas (CSG) issues.

Canada signed an agreement with the United States giving investors the right to sue governments in the North American Free Trade Agreement. Now, the US Lone Pine energy company is suing the provincial government of Quebec for $250 million because they imposed a moratorium on shale gas mining pending an environmental study. In a similar way, farmers and members of the community here have influenced the NSW and Victorian state governments to also adopt moratoriums to examine the impact of coal seam gas mining on land use and the environment. If the right for corporations to sue governments is agreed in these negotiations, our governments could be sued in the same way as the Quebec government.

This would undermine the ability of our community to insist upon environmental regulations to protect our communities and farmlands.

You can send a letter about this issue directly to Trade Minister Andrew Robb

For more information, see AFTINET's leaflet: Free Trade Agreement could prevent regulation of Coal Seam Gas mining

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