The TPP, Treaties and the Constitution

The TPP, Treaties and the Constitution

Article by Michael Taylor

"Will our sovereign rights be signed away with the Trans-Pacific
Partnership (the TPP) Agreement? Matthew Mitchell examines the
likelihood in this guest article.

Currently our government is
negotiating the TPP with America (and other nations) in a secret
process. This process and many proposed elements of the agreement have
been universally condemned by civil society. In particular the
Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system, which the Abbott
government has indicated it may accept. The ISDS has been protested
against by over 30 civil society organisations in Australia (in a letter
published by AFTINET) and also by judges, lawyers and academics
globally (in an open letter) arguing that it:

     “threatens to undermine the justice systems in our various countries”

And that:

   
“the increasing use of this mechanism to skirt domestic court systems
and the structural problems inherent in the arbitral regime are
corrosive of the rule of law and fairness.”

In fact, if agreed to, the ISDS would effectively sell out our sovereignty over our nation as described in the Huffington Post:

   
“From leaked drafts, terms of the Trans-Pacific deal have come under
fire for proposing to grant corporations the political power to directly
challenge government regulations in international court. This
sovereignty issue has long been a sticking point for both conservatives
and progressive members of Congress, as the right to challenge
government rules had been restricted to sovereign nations under World
Trade Organization pacts and other deals.”
As per Article by Michael Taylor