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

I would say they're trying to distract away from that question. This is chapter 20. I won't say you deliberately misled the chamber then, Minister, but what we're doing today is ratifying this in parliament. You've signed this deal. Your executive has ratified it, but parliament hasn't ratified it yet. That's exactly why we're here today. That's what I would say a vote on the legislation is. But it's an attempt to actually distract away from the critical issue about which I asked you, which, by the way, is a question that hasn't been answered. And I'm sure you'd expect me, as a Greens senator, to be asking this question.

This environmental chapter was put in the TPP to try to bring civil society on board with the TPP. I've been following it long enough to know that's the case. It was designed to bring in environment groups, as were the other chapters in there around slave labour and wildlife trade. There's a whole array of stuff in here. As I mentioned earlier, it covers just about every aspect of life in every country that's signing up to this, and it is part of what we are ratifying as a parliament. You are giving effect to the customs and tariff side of this. That's what actually makes this treaty come into effect. But it is all the same. So this is absolutely critical, and I ask you again: is there a binding clause in here? Is it the purpose of this environmental chapter that Australia can take action against the Japanese government if they go down into the Southern Ocean this summer or next summer and resume commercial whaling, which has been banned for over 35 years? Will this actually allow us, as a country, within our relationship in the TPP-11, to take action against the Japanese government?