Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to contribute to the discussion on this report as well. I concur with many of the comments made by Senator Patrick. He described this as Groundhog Day. This is the second report into this particular version of the TPP and about the third or fourth into the TPP across the board. There will be another one, of course, when the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee hands down their report into the implementing legislation. So this debate is far from over. But what is absolutely crystal clear is what a dog of a deal the TPP is for Australia. It is a very, very marginal boost to our GDP. We know that even the Productivity Commission, one of the most conservative economic bodies in the country, has said, 'Really, this is a bad deal; it doesn't give any real benefit to Australia'. In fact it does the opposite.

It does the opposite in a number of ways. Firstly, in relation to the exemption for six out of the 10 countries Australia is entering into a deal with, they can simply bring in as many workers as they want without having to check whether there is an Australian in the community who could do the job. So at a time when we're talking about how we get jobs for Australians, young people in particular—I come from South Australia, where we have one of the highest unemployment rates in the country and the highest unemployment rate among young people in the country—this allows big foreign companies to ship in their own workers. They don't have to check if somebody else is available do the job or would like to do the job or could be skilled to do the job or is already skilled and willing and able to do the job; they can just bringing their own workers. What does that do? It doesn't just undermine the ability of young Australians to get a foothold in the workforce; it pushes down wages and working conditions. It is a very, very bad step for the future of the changing workforce here in Australia.

One of the other key problems with this deal is, of course, those investor state dispute resolution clauses—the ISDS clauses as they have been called by other speakers. These rules allow a foreign company to sue the Australian people through our federal government, our state government or local government. It means that if our parliament decides to enact a law that our citizens want, that our community wants, such as plain packaging of tobacco, or a moratorium on coal exports or no new coalmines, or protecting a particular part of the Great Barrier Reef, or stopping oil and gas drilling in the Great Australian Bight, big foreign companies attached to the 11 countries involved in the TPP can come and sue the Australian people and our government simply for enacting laws that we want our government to act on. This is a huge undermining of democracy. As the European Union and their Court of Justice have found, it is a threat to national sovereignty.

In the European Union, ISDS clauses have become so problematic that they are now ruled out of any trade negotiations. They're not to occur; they're not to be used; they have no ability to be included. In fact, as Australia is continuing to talk to the European Union about our free trade agreement with the EU, Australia has been told, point blank, by the Europeans, 'Don't even think about bringing those insidious ISDS clauses to the table, because we're not having a bar of it.' Yet here in Australia, in the absolute desperation of this government to get a deal done at all costs, we saw the then trade minister, Steve Ciobo, and the government roll over, sign on the dotted line, sign up to everything, throw Australian workers under the bus and throw Australian democracy and the sovereignty of the nation under a bus, all so that they could come home and say, 'Deal done. It's okay. We, the government, have done something.' It's a pathetic and a very, very dangerous precedent for Australia and our relationship with trading neighbours and nations in the years to come.

Australia is, of course, a trading partner. We have to be. We can't pull down the shutters and nor should we, but we have to drive a fair dinkum bargain and negotiate properly. Canada got what they wanted out of the TPP deal. New Zealand got what they wanted out of the TPP deal. New Zealand got out of the idea of having to be caught by the ISDS clauses, even when it came to Australia, but our government and our trade minister went to water and sold Australia short. Now the Labor opposition, rather than turning the heat on this government and doing their job as an opposition, have rolled over. They're going to vote for this legislation. They're going to cuddle up to the Morrison government, big business and big corporations, and to the unions and Australian workers across the country they're going to say, 'Just wait until we're in government and we'll fix it. It'll all go away.' Bollocks. We all know that when you sign a deal like this it sticks. It's very, very difficult to get out of the TPP once it's signed, sealed, delivered and passed into law through this place.

The Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, is carrying on and trying to pretend that he can have it both ways: he can cuddle up to business, give the workers a pat on the back and say, 'She'll be right, mate.' Well, she won't be right, because it's going to be very, very difficult to get out of this once it's in place. Which nation in this agreement is going to say, 'Australia has a new Prime Minister'—another Prime Minister—'We'll just reopen negotiations because it suits Australia.' That is not how trade negotiations work. The government know it, the Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, knows it and decent people within the Labor Party know it, and they're hoping the Australian people just don't notice. It's a dud deal. It's been a dud deal for Australia from the beginning. It's appalling to see the opposition go to water on this. It is absolutely appalling to see the Labor Party, the workers' party, throw the unions and Australian workers under the bus, along with the right of the Australian people to be represented properly and with full integrity in their parliaments, all because they want this dealt with so that it will go away. All the Labor Party need to do is not vote for this legislation when it comes before this House. They've already gone to water over in the House of Representatives. The Leader of the Opposition went weak at the knees at the idea that he had to confront the new Prime Minister over this. Well, in this place they can redeem themselves. They can stand up for the rights of Australian workers, for the rights of the Australian community and for the environment.

I tell you what: second to Australian workers' rights being undermined through the TPP will come the environment. These multinational companies care about nothing but their own profit and ripping out what they can from this planet. Maximise profit today, forget about what happens tomorrow—that's what this deal delivers. It is a deal for corporations. It's a deal done for boardrooms, in secret behind back doors, not for people and not for the community. It's a dud deal and it should absolutely be thrown out on its ear. The Labor Party should know better.