I quite like the overall proposal, as it covers a lot of the issues we are seeing in the International sphere. That said, under the point:
- Renegotiate or withdraw from treaties which unduly restrict policy including:
There is no mention of re-negotiating Treaties with Investor State Dispute Settlement clauses. I think we need to be explicit in our opposition to ISDS clauses in Treaties and where we have signed up to them, we should renegotiate or if impossible get out of those Treaties.
It is clear that we would not accept ISDS clauses in future agreements, however I think it should be a basis for withdrawing or re-negotiating Treaties that Australian governments have already signed up to.
For people not up to date on these tribunals, they are designed to allow foreign multi-nationals doing business in Australia (or any signatory country) to sue the government for projected lost profits if the government passes a law that harms their businesses. The Courts are secret and they have poor rules of arbitration. They are an anathema to democracy, where multi-national corporations are given greater power over a countries’ laws than the citizens themselves.