Dave Sharma (Wentworth, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties I present the committee's report, incorporating additional comments, entitled Report 188: investments Uruguay, ISDS UN convention and convention SKAO.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—Report 188 contains the committee's review of three treaty actions: the Agreement between Australia and the Oriental Republic of Uruguay on the Promotion and Protection of Investments, the United Nations Convention on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-state Arbitration and the Convention establishing the Square Kilometre Array Observatory. Australia's approach to investment treaties has evolved over time to keep up to date with modern investment treaty practices. To reflect these changes the government has undertaken reforms to update our older-style treaties. This is the case for the new investment treaty with Uruguay. The agreement replaces a 2002 bilateral investment treaty. Updated provisions include explicit procedural and substantive safeguards for investor-state dispute settlements, or ISDS.

The need for greater transparency in relation to ISDS proceedings has been a longstanding matter of public concern, including here in Australia. The United Nations convention will enhance transparency and public accessibility to ISDS arbitration. It will allow for the existing UN rules on transparency in treaty based investor-state arbitration to apply to a wider pool of investment treaties. The convention will update Australia's network of older-style bilateral investment treaties and bring them into line with the modern transparency provisions of more recent free trade agreements.

The last treaty considered in this report, the Convention establishing the Square Kilometre Array Observatory, provides for the establishment of the governing body of the Square Kilometre Array Observatory. The Square Kilometre Array, or SKA, is a global big-science project to build the world's largest and most capable radio telescope. The project began in the early 1990s and is an international partnership to build and operate the world's largest, most advanced radio observatories. Australia and South Africa will each host SKA arrays of telescopes. Australia's involvement in the project is expected to provide a range of benefits. These will include reinforcing Australia's commitment to international cooperation in scientific and technological fields. Australia's Astronomer-at-large, Professor Watson, promised the committee that the SKA is expected to generate Nobel prizes. He went further and said he expects some of those to come to Australian scientists.

The committee recommends binding treaty action be taken for all three treaty actions reviewed in this report. I would like to thank fellow committee members and the secretariat for their work on this report. On behalf of the committee, I commend the report to the House.