Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of Senator McGauran, I present the report of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties No. 95, Treaties tabled on 4, 17 and 25 June and 26 August 2008. I seek leave to move a motion in relation to the report and to incorporate a tabling statement.

Leave granted.

I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

The statement read as follows—

I present Report 95 of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties. The reports reviews 12 treaty actions, including:

• the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;
• the Australia-Chile Free Trade Agreement;
• the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women;
• an agreement with the EU on transferring air carriers’ passenger name record data to the Australian Customs Service;
• agreements on Defence co-operation with France and the United Arab Emirates; and
• six other treaty actions which are more technical in nature.

In each case the Committee has supported the proposed agreements and recommended that binding treaty action be taken. However, we have made additional recommendations on the Australia-Chile Free Trade Agreement; the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; and the agreement on Defence co-operation with the United Arab Emirates.

The Australia-Chile Free Trade Agreement will remove most barriers to Australia’s exports of goods to Chile, and provide economic integration for markets through commitments in a range of areas including trade in services, investment, government procurement, intellectual property, electronic commerce, and competition policy.

The Committee has concluded that the FTA is in Australia’s national interest and has therefore recommended that binding treaty action be taken.

However, Horticulture Australia has expressed concern about the potential impact of the FTA on their industries, including the risk of added pressure from Chile for Australia to weaken our biosecurity measures, or to expedite Chilean requests for biosecurity assessments.

The union movement has also expressed concern that short-term labour movements from Chile under Australia’s “457” visa conditions, which are currently under review, could be locked in by the FTA.

After hearing all the evidence, the Committee is satisfied that the FTA will not restrict Australia’s ability to amend its migration and labour laws as it sees fit, and will not result in Chilean requests for biosecurity assessments being given higher priority than would otherwise be the case.

However we have recommended that DFAT undertake and publish a review of the operation of the Agreement, no later than two years after its commencement, to assess the ongoing relevance of the concerns expressed.

More broadly, we have recommended that the Government, before commencing negotiations for any future trade agreement, should table in Parliament a document setting out its priorities and objectives. The document should include independent assessments of the costs and benefits. Such assessments should consider the economic regional, social, cultural, regulatory and environmental impacts which are expected to arise.

The Committee believes that such an arrangement would improve transparency in trade agreement negotiations, and address a number of concerns which were expressed by witnesses to this inquiry.

Earlier this year the Committee recommended that binding treaty action be taken on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We undertook to produce a more detailed report outlining the scope of our inquiry into the Convention and our conclusions.

This Report contains the Committee’s additional findings in relation to the Convention. It is our view that the Convention will help protect the rights of all people with disabilities and promote respect for their inherent dignity. The Convention obliges governments to eliminate discrimination in a range of areas, including marriage, parenthood, education, health and employment. The Convention also contains provisions relating to the protection of children, ensuring individuals are recognised before law, and providing equal access to facilities and services.

The Convention reflects protections already existing under Australia’s domestic laws and has received widespread support. However, taking into account the concerns of witnesses the Committee has made some additional recommendations which we feel will aid in the implementation of the Convention.

The Committee recommends that the Government consider expanding the role of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commissioner, to enable the Commissioner to provide Parliament with an annual report on compliance with the Convention. We also recommend that a review be carried out of the relevant provisions of the Migration Act, and the administration of migration policy, to ensure that there is no discrimination against persons with disabilities in breach of the Convention.

The Treaty on Defence Co-operation between Australia and the United Arab Emirates is designed to promote co-operation in a range of fields, including military training and education, joint military exercises, defence materiel and equipment, security and defence policy, and protection from weapons of mass destruction.

The Committee supports this agreement. However, the UAE imposes the death penalty for certain serious criminal offences, and in evidence to us it was noted that Australian service personnel could, theoretically, be subject to the death penalty if convicted of such offences during their posting.

While this risk is slight, the Committee nonetheless recommends that in any specific arrangements for the exchange of Defence personnel, the Government seek to ensure that Australian personnel are protected from corporal or capital punishment under UAE law.

This report reviews 12 proposed treaty actions in total. This has been a substantial undertaking and I thank my colleagues on the Committee for their diligence, as well as the numerous agencies and individuals who gave evidence.

I commend the report to the Senate.

Question agreed to.