Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to be able to rise to speak to oppose these two TPP bills, the Customs Amendment (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership Implementation) Bill 2018 and the Customs Tariff Amendment (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership Implementation) Bill 2018. This legislation is appalling. It is atrocious. It is so damaging to Australia on so many grounds. We have been debating Trans-Pacific Partnership legislation for many years. We haven't yet signed off on a TPP agreement. It's no surprise, because it has been hugely controversial for many years. This latest iteration of the TPP agreement is just as bad as those that we have been debating over years and years.

This is fundamentally bad legislation. On the grounds that this is going to be a wonderful economic bonanza, we are being asked to trash too many things that Australians hold dear. Australians are having the wool pulled over their eyes, because they do not know what is in this legislation. It is a bad deal for ordinary Australians right across the country. It's a bad deal for workers. It's an appalling deal for our environment and for our future. But, of course, it's a good deal for the big multinational corporations, who are already taking Australia for a ride. That's the nub of it. That's why this legislation is being moved through this parliament. That shows who has the power. It's not the ordinary Australians, it's not the workers and it's not our environment or our future. It's the profits of these big multinational corporations that are dictating this legislation to the government and, very sadly, to the Labor Party. The really sad thing is, when you look at the evidence about the supposed economic benefits that are going to flow through to us, they are actually totally illusory: it's not even good for our economy. We've come to expect such bad legislation from this right-wing government that we've had to put up with for the last five years. We've come to expect that this right-wing government is in the pockets of these big multinational corporations. But it is very sad and it is very disappointing to see that the Labor Party have kowtowed to these same interests.

This legislation is also being supported by Labor. But, as we know, it's actually only being supported by part of Labor. We know that there are many ALP members, including senators in this place, who have vehemently protested about this legislation, who know the damage it's going to cause to the country and who are vehemently against this deal—but they've lost. They've lost in the Labor caucus. That's because of the numbers in the Labor Party and those people in the Labor Party who are also in the pockets of the same big corporations—who benefit from the same revolving doors; who do the bidding of the coal, gas and oil lobby; who do the bidding of the big pharmaceutical companies; and who do the bidding of the big agribusinesses. Sadly, those people in the Labor Party have won, and that shows you the state of the Labor Party today. You cannot rely on them to be doing what they say they're going to do—standing up for workers, standing up for our environment or standing up for the interests of ordinary Australians. No, they are happy to sell them out because of the pressure from those big multinational corporations and their shareholders.

The Greens support trade. We are an island nation. We cannot put up the shutters to the rest of the world. We rely on trade. The Greens support the exporting and importing of goods. But it needs to be fair trade. We don't have to tie ourselves to every trade agreement that comes along without proper scrutiny and without fierce negotiation—and on this trade agreement the negotiators have failed. This agreement is not in the interests of Australia.

Let's talk through its problems. Trade can sound very complicated. In fact, I know that the average Australian, when you start talking about trade deals, when you start talking about investor-state dispute settlement provisions, turns off. They think: 'Oh no, it's too complicated. We'll just leave it to the government to sort it out.' But they can't do that. Today the big news, which I heard just as I was coming in here, was that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are expecting a baby. That was in the headlines and the notifications from The Guardian and The Age that came through on my phone. That's the sort of stuff this government is hoping will pique the interests of ordinary Australians. But let's not get them thinking about the TPP! Let's not get them thinking about what is going on in this chamber tonight! Trade can sound complicated, but what people need to realise is that it impacts on everyday decisions, on everyday activities, on the everyday wellbeing of ordinary Australians—much more than whether the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are having a baby.

There are two reasons, fundamentally, that this is bad legislation—two big areas where it fails. One is the inclusion of the ISDS provisions. The second is the lack of labour market testing. Let's talk about the ISDS provisions. Fundamentally, why we have been debating the TPP over many years is because of how appalling a deal it is for Australia to have ISDS provisions. These ISDS provisions strike at the heart of our democracy, of our ability to make decisions about what's in the interests of Australia, our environment and our future. ISDS provisions expand the right of multinational corporations based on legal concepts that are not recognised in our national system, and they offer advantages that are not available to domestic investors. That means that, where you've got ISDS provisions within a trade deal like this, those big multinational corporations—which I know are not making decisions based on what's in the interests of ordinary Australians; they are making decisions on what's in the interests of their shareholders and their owners—can sue governments who are making decisions that they have decided are in the best interests of their citizens and their environment.

It's not just the Greens scaremongering and saying, 'This is a problem.' There is already so much evidence in the public domain—hard evidence, hard examples—where ISDS provisions have been used by corporations to sue governments.