Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I want to get back to the question that I had for the minister that she still hasn't answered yet, but before I do I just want to say to Senator Carr: I know that you did stand up for workers in the automotive industry going back over a decade ago, when the tsunami of free trade was heading for this country, and I know that you personally have been involved with seeing thousands of workers and their families losing their jobs and their communities on the back of the free trade deals that this country has signed in the last 10 years. I know you're aware that there might be benefits to trade, but there are also costs. You're aware of that personally. What we're trying to do here today is minimise those costs.

The amendment that Senator Hanson-Young has put up does that up-front, but we know that if anything gets amended then the deal's off, which is really the irony of this whole situation. We're doing our job in here as senators, yet, because this deal is signed and sealed by the executive and by the government, often for political purposes, through a treaty process that's a couple of hundred years old and desperately needs to be upgraded, we can't actually amend this deal or make it better, because we would lose the whole thing.

Minister, it's extremely important that you answer my question from earlier, and I'll put it to you again. You haven't actually answered this bit. I'm asking about the process. It's not a hypothetical question. There are suspended clauses. I can't find any examples of where suspended clauses have appeared in any other trade deals, like they have in the TPP. If the US rejoins and the clauses are not changed, so they stay as they are, will there be a legislative process where it comes back to parliament for our ratification, or are we voting on the contingency of those clauses being immediately reactivated if the US rejoins? It's a critical question. Fine, legislation is required to change the customs duties and tariffs—we're all aware of that. But, as they are, these are in there as suspended clauses. If they're not changed and the US is happy with them, will there be any kind of legislative process where a sovereign parliament, in a country like Australia, will get to ratify those clauses becoming part of the TPP, or are they de facto already part of the TPP? It is the most important question I can ask you here today. Unfortunately, I don't have more time; I could do this for days, but I really want to know the answer to this question.