Only days ago Trade Minister Andrew Robb said it was ‘nonsense’ that Australians were being kept in the dark on the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP). Despite all his government’s efforts to the contrary, today Australians are less in the dark with the WikiLeaks release of the environment chapter of the agreement.
Senator Whish-Wilson said, “Just as the Jakarta Post has become the only source for news about the Abbott government’s asylum seeker policy, WikiLeaks is now our only source for information about Abbott’s trade policy.
“The leaked environment chapter indicates that Australian federal environment laws would be subject to being contested in shady international arbitration panels.
“And alarmingly it also indicates that the environmental laws of sub-national or state governments could also be subject to challenge. Have the state Premiers been consulted on this?
“The Chair’s Report on the environment chapter makes it clear that all countries including Australia will have to make many more tough compromises. How much worse can it get?
“The environment chapter is supposed to be the sweetener to encourage US Democrats to support the TPP. But the leak shows that it is at best corporate greenwashing, at worst it puts our existing environmental protections at risk. The language of the text indicates that corporate special interests will continue to get their way in putting profits before people.
“The US negotiating tactic is to force all countries to swallow these contentious provisions before they even allow discussion of the things Australia wants like market access for agriculture. We are still light years from discussing the traditional areas of trade like beef or rice sales.
“It’s going to take more than a spoonful of sugar tariff cuts to make this TPP bad medicine go down. Trade Minister Robb should obey the will of the Senate and release the text so all Australians can judge if the TPP is in the national interest,” Senator Whish-Wilson concluded.
Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson’s portfolios include Tourism, Trade, Small Business and Competition Policy, Waste and Tasmanian Marine issues.
