We encourage you to contact your local Member of Parliament, urging them to take action against Investor-state Dispute settlement (ISDS) in some trade and investment agreements. ISDS allows foreign investors to sue the government for billions if they can convince an international tribunal that their profits have been reduced by government decisions, even if the decision is in the public interest. Labor’s policy is to exclude ISDS from future trade agreements and review it in existing agreements, partly inspired by its experience of being sued by the Philip Morris Tobacco Company over its 2012 plain packaging law. Now the government is being sued over climate action.

You can contact your MP by inserting your postcode or electorate here.

Some suggested wording for your message is below:

Dear (insert name)

I am writing to urge you to support the urgent exclusion of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions from future trade agreements and the review and removal of ISDS clauses in existing agreements.

ISDS allows foreign investors to bypass Australian courts and sue the government for billions of dollars in secretive international tribunals when they believe their profits have been affected by government decisions. 

The removal of ISDS from agreements has become more urgent because Australian billionaire Clive Palmer registered his mining company in Singapore, claimed to be a Singapore investor and sued the Australian government in four separate cases. The first claim was for $300 billion after he lost a High Court appeal against a Western Australian government decision to refuse an iron ore mining license. The last three claims for $120 billion are because a Queensland Court refused his coal mining license and a license for a coal-fired power plant for environmental reasons, including increased carbon emissions. The tribunal in the first case found that Palmer was not a Singaporean investor. He lost a technical challenge to this decision but he is continuing to claim $120 billion for the three coal cases

Palmer’s coal cases are just one example of a growing global list of ISDS cases from fossil fuel companies against government decisions to reduce carbon emissions, and Australia could face more cases from fossil fuel companies. A recent United Nations Report concluded that ISDS is a major obstacle to the urgent actions needed to address the climate crisis. The government must act swiftly to safeguard our ability to act on climate change and other public policies.

I strongly urge you to: 

1. Support the government policy of excluding ISDS in current negotiations and future trade and investment agreements.
2. Support speeding up the review of ISDS provisions in current bilateral and regional agreements with a clear timeline for their review and removal.
3. Urge the government to work with other governments to support a coordinated withdrawal from ISDS arrangements.

I hope you will champion this important cause in Parliament and look forward to hearing your position on this issue.

Yours sincerely,