Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Sorry—sign up to an open-ended ISDS clause before? There are interjections that we have already done it. I do not recall this parliament ever signing up to something that says we are going to sign away our sovereignty to some overseas corporations and they will tell us about the range of matters later. This is pretty unprecedented.

Here we have a situation where standing up for sovereignty, standing up for a basic principle that says we should advertise locally first and then welcome someone in to come and work here afterwards if we cannot find local labour—the basic principle that says, 'Let's have some evidence of economic benefits before we pass it'—is being completely abrogated. This government, which came up and tore shreds off Labor, when it was in power, for not having a Productivity Commission analysis of the NBN, is now asking us to sign up to something that does not even have a Treasury analysis, a Productivity Commission analysis or any reputable analysis underpinning it. Well, I am not prepared to do that. I am not prepared to say that this parliament will write an open-ended cheque to overseas companies and that they can tell us how we are allowed to legislate for the benefit of our people. I hope that the rest of the parliament does not either.

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