Senate debates

Monday, 15 October 2018

Bills

A Fair Go for Australians in Trade Bill 2018; Second Reading

4:04 pm

Photo of Anne UrquhartAnne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to table an explanatory memorandum relating to the bill.

Leave granted.

I table an explanatory memorandum and I seek leave to have Senator Carr's second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

No one doubts that trade is essential to the prosperity of this country.

The Centre for International Economics estimates that one in five Australian jobs is linked to trade.

That means 2.2 million Australians work in a trade-related job.

67 per cent of mining jobs and 41 per cent of manufacturing jobs are trade-related.

Because trade is so vital, we must ensure that any trade agreements we negotiate with other nations do not disadvantage Australians.

In seeking to gain access to new markets, we must not surrender the rights of Australian workers and those who depend on them.

We must take no action that limits the ability of Australia's national government to make policy and to legislate.

To do so would effectively undermine Australian sovereignty.

For these reasons, the way Australia negotiates trade agreements needs to change.

Many people are sceptical about the value of existing trade agreements, and about the proposed Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, known as TPP11.

Many people believe that the way we negotiate free trade agreements must be made more transparent.

Labor agrees with them.

This government continues to trade away labour-market testing in the agreements it negotiates.

It also includes Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanisms, regardless of the growing opposition to them, in Australia and overseas.

The government's attitude is not acceptable.

That is why I have brought this bill before the Senate.

The bill will provide a fairer, more transparent approach to the negotiation of trade agreements.

And that will lead to better outcomes.

The bill prohibits the waiver of labour market testing in trade agreements.

The policy of Coalition governments has been that labour-market testing is required before a foreign worker can be employed in Australia, unless an international obligation applies.

That policy has allowed the government to use trade agreements to waive requirements for an employer to first check if an Australian can do a job before bringing in a worker on a skilled visa.

An employer who wants to bring a plumber, mechanic, electrician or other skilled worker from overseas into Australia, should first check whether there is an Australian who can do the job.

That is basic justice.

Trade agreements should not trade away Australian jobs.

The bill also prohibits the government from signing trade agreements that include Investor-State Dispute Settlement provisions.

These provisions provide foreign corporations with the right to sue the Commonwealth for legitimate policy decisions taken by the government.

That surrender of sovereignty would rightly be viewed as outrageous by most Australians.

The bill therefore makes clear that Investor-State Dispute Settlement provisions should not be included in Australian trade agreements or bilateral investment treaties.

The bill makes it mandatory for governments to enforce, in all future trade agreements, practical and theoretical testing of the skills of foreign workers.

To get better outcomes from trade agreements and to ensure proper consultation and scrutiny of trade agreements, the bill provides for the establishment of an Accredited Trade Advisers program.

The Minister would consult with Accredited Advisers from unions, civil society groups and industry.

The Accredited Advisers will be able to provide feedback on trade agreements as they are being negotiated.

The bill also requires the Minister to commission an Independent National Interest Assessment of each agreement.

This assessment would provide independent analysis of the economic, strategic and social impacts of a trade agreement. These social impacts include, but are not limited to, an agreement's impact on workers, the environment and gender.

This analysis would have to be tabled before an agreement is signed.

The bill legislates a number of policies that Labor has already announced, and which a Shorten Labor government would implement.

In addition to these measures that require legislation, we have also announced that a Shorten Labor government will end the secrecy surrounding trade negotiations.

To do this we will strengthen the role of the Parliament and provide the public with more information.

At the conclusion of each round of negotiation, members of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties will be provided with a briefing and a public update will be released.

Where feasible, a draft of the negotiated text will be tabled in the Parliament.

In addition, members of the JSCoT will be provided with the government's Statement of Objectives for negotiations, for examination and report prior to the commencement of formal negotiations.

4 This will give the Parliament, industry, civil society and the wider community an opportunity to tell us what they want out of trade agreements.

It is possible that the government could sign new trade agreements between now and the election scheduled for next year.

Any trade agreements signed by the government in the next few months are unlikely to come before the Parliament before the next election.

That is because the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties requires 20 joint sitting days to consider trade agreements before it reports and enabling legislation can be introduced.

However, if between now and the election the government does sign a new trade agreement that includes an ISDS clause or waives labour-market testing, a Shorten Labor government would renegotiate that agreement.

We would remove those clauses before bringing legislation before the Parliament.

The bill also prohibits the Government from signing trade agreements that require the privatisation of any public services, as trade agreements should not affect these services.

And, the bill prohibits the Government from signing agreements that would undermine the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, so we can ensure that all Australians have the best access to life saving medicines.

This bill prohibits the Government from signing any trade agreements that would undermine our anti-dumping laws.

Dumping is not trade, it's cheating. It's why strong anti-dumping laws are so important.

The bill also prohibits the Government from signing trade agreements that would limit the right of the Commonwealth to regulate in the interest of public welfare or in relation to safe products including stopping the importation of unsafe products.

The bill prohibits the Government from signing any trade agreement that includes procurement provisions that would restrict our ability to:

(a) protect Australia's essential security interests; or

(b) 5benefit local small and medium enterprises; or

(c) protect national treasures; or

(d) implement measures for the health, welfare and economic and social advancement of Indigenous people; or

(e) promote ethical standards and sustainable development though ethical procurement; or

(f) provide for the full, fair and reasonable participation of local enterprises in government contracts as outlined in Commonwealth, State and Territory industry participation policies and successor programs and policies; or

(g) maintain the Australian industry capability programs and its successor programs and policies.

High quality trade agreements should also lead to better working conditions and labour standards, not worse.

That's why this bill also requires the Australian Government to include in all bilateral trade agreements a labour chapter with internationally recognised labour principles.

The Bill also sets out that the Australian Government should seek to include a labour chapter in any regional or multilateral trade agreement it signs.

Labor will be announcing other measures before the end of the year to:

        Labor will not abandon Australian workers or surrender Australian sovereignty, as the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison governments have done.

        Labor understands that there can be no prosperity without justice for all.

        That understanding will always guide the trade policy of a Labor government.

        I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

        Leave granted; debate adjourned.