Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) clauses in trade agreements restrict Australia's sovereignty and ability to fairly regulate and legislate in the public interest,

  (ii) ISDS clauses in trade agreements empower multi-national corporations to sue Governments for decisions which impede company profits,

  (iii) approximately 52 per cent of ISDS claims were partly or fully successful in the multi-national corporations' favour, and 60 per cent of the cases decided on merits were won by investors,

  (iv) ISDS clauses are a drain on the taxpayer and government resources,

  (v) in 2009, Swedish energy company Vattenfall brought a successful ISDS claim against the German Government, for imposing quality controls for waste waters released from their power plant which supposedly made their investment project "unviable", and

  (vi) in 2015, United States company Bilcon, brought a successful ISDS claim against the Canadian Government, for not allowing it to build a quarry and marine terminal in an ecologically sensitive coastal area in eastern Canada; and

(b) calls on the Government to ban Investor-State Dispute Settlement for all trade agreements.