The highly secretive agreement amounts to the redefinition of Western sovereignty, says one critic

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Labor, the Greens and crossbenchers have formed a new group to raise concerns about the highly secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership deal as political opposition builds ahead of its signing.

One critic told Guardian Australia the agreement amounts to the redefinition of western sovereignty.

The historic agreement between 12 Pacific rim nations could be reached within a fortnight, as the United States mobilises support behind president Barack Obama’s centrepiece trade policy.

The Australian parliamentary working group, founded by Labor’s Melissa Parke, Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson and independent senator Nick Xenophon, will officially launch on Monday.

Consumer group Choice and community conglomerate Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network (Aftinet) will also speak at Monday’s lunchtime event, to be held in Parliament House.

Xenophon said the group is an example of “from little things big things grow”, adding there is “increasing disquiet” over the TPP deal and how it is being negotiated.

The group aims to better inform the community, via educating parliamentarians, on the implications of the deal.



“If people realised what this delivered, they would be horrified,” Parke said. “There are many [parliamentary] colleagues who have expressed concern about the TPP.”

Of particular concern is the lack of information on what the deal contains. Parliamentarians will not know the contents of the agreement until trade minister Andrew Robb has already signed off on it. A committee will be able to scrutinise the deal, but will not be able to change a single word.

Whish-Wilson said opposing it after it has been signed will be incredibly difficult.

“By the time we get to see that fine print, cabinet will have approved it,” he said. “[Stopping momentum] will be like standing in front of a speeding train.”

“Mr Robb had repeatedly offered to facilitate for any member of parliament both a briefing and viewing of the draft text. While several MPs had sought to take up this offer, we are not aware that Senators Whish-Wilson or Xenophon had,” a spokesman for trade minister Andrew Robb, who is currently in the Philippines, said. “Senator Whish-Wilson, despite repeatedly canvassing concerns through the media had never made a direct approach to us for more information or clarity.”

“The critics always conveniently ignore the more than 1,000 briefings with interested stakeholders, which have proved invaluable in terms of testing and guiding our negotiating positions,” the spokesman said.



The head of Aftinet, Patricia Ranald, said Australia is finally beginning to join the “global movement for more transparency” in demanding the detail of the agreement, but is calling for the text of the agreement to be released and passed by parliament before being signed off by the executive.

Choice agrees. Director of campaigns, Matt Levey, said the group’s biggest concern is “we just don’t know what’s in it”.

“If Australia is losing out from this deal, we don’t even know about it,” he said.

Labor has raised concerns about the possible inclusion of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) clauses, which allow corporations to sue federal and state governments if laws are enacted that adversely affect them.

Parke describes ISDS clauses as “really scary”.

“They’re like Trojan horses, because they allow so many other things in,” she said.

Despite raising concerns on ISDS clauses, and refusing to sign free trade agreements that contained them when in office, Labor has refused to rule out supporting the TPP even with ISDS clauses.

“What a total cop out. Grow a spine,” Whish-Wilson advised Labor, adding it should state its opposition to ISDS clauses now, before it is too late.

The TPP will be high on the agenda of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) national conference, to be held in Melbourne next week.

It has raised concerns about the potential effect of the TPP on the wages of Australian workers’ wages and conditions.

“The TPP makes corporate profits more important than protections for clean air, clean water, climate stability and workers’ rights,” ACTU president Ged Kearney said last month.

“TPP talks are being held in secret without unions, business, church, environmental or community groups being involved. This is great for big multinational companies but terrible for ordinary people and the role of governments.”

Critics say ISDS clauses can have an impact on workers’ rights, pointing to an example in which waste management company Veolia sued the Egyptian government for raising the minimum wage because it affected the multinational’s profit margin.

The Australian Medical Association has highlighted ways in which the TPP affects Australia’s health policies, citing the cost of medicines and food and product labelling as major concerns.

ISDS clauses could see a spike in cases such as the recent Philip Morris case, in which the cigarette company sued the Australian government over its plain packaging laws.

The pharmaceuticals industry wants data exclusivity for biologic drugs to last for 12 years under a TPP rather than the current five.