The
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade agreement between Australia and
another 11 countries around the Pacific, has been negotiated over a period of
five years. It is significant because the countries involved collectively
represent over 40 per cent of world Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The text
of this agreement was recently released.
After years of speculation Australians now have the opportunity to see
details of what the federal Government has declared will bring enormous
benefits to the country.
The
chapter on the environment is a matter of concern to community members who see
the long-term necessity for strong environmental protection.
Matthew
Rimmer, Professor in Intellectual Property and Innovation Law at Queensland University
of Technology has pointed out some weaknesses.
“The
agreement has poor coverage of environmental issues, and weak enforcement
mechanisms. There is only limited
coverage of biodiversity, conservation, marine capture fisheries, and trade in
environmental services. The final text
of the chapter does not even mention ‘climate change’ – the most pressing global
environmental pressure in the world.”
Australia’s
Trade Minister, Andrew Robb, dismissed concerns about the treaty not addressing
climate change claiming that as a trade agreement it did not need to address
climate change.
Trade
agreements deal with economic matters.
Climate change is an economic issue because to reduce its impact
we need to move to a low carbon economy which obviously presents enormous economic
challenges – and opportunities. Failure
to see the need to include climate change suggests an ostrich-type head in the
sand mentality.
Another
concern is the controversial clause giving foreign companies the right to sue
Australian governments which introduce laws they claim have harmed their
investments. We have already seen this clause in use in another trade agreement
with a cigarette company suing Australia over its plain packaging laws.
Minister
Robb has claimed that he has negotiated safeguards on this. However, Dr Patricia Ranald from the
Australia Fair Trade and Investment Network said, “The general ‘safeguards’ in
the text are similar to those in other recent agreements which have not
prevented cases against health and environmental laws.”
There
are serious environmental concerns about the TPP.
-
Leonie Blain
This post was published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column of The Daily Examiner on November 16, 2015.
