2019-10-17
Australian Greens Trade spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John has called on the government to protect the rights of Australian workers and the integrity of our democracy before signing off on the Indonesia, Hong Kong and Peru Free Trade Agreements which are now before Parliament.
“The Greens will be moving two straightforward sets of amendments to the implementing legislation of these FTAs to protect the rights of Australian workers and the integrity of our democracy,” Senator Steele-John said.
“The first will be to require that jobs are advertised locally, and we would expect that everyone across the political spectrum who has been beating their chests about the importance of job creation in this country would be happy to support this.
“The second will be strip these FTAs of the Investor State Dispute Settlement provisions that allow big multinational corporations to sue the Australian government if it acts in the best interests of the Australian people instead of them.
“In the context of ongoing pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and the human rights abuses perpetrated against the people of West Papua, the Australian Greens remain strongly opposed to the consideration of these Free Trade Agreements.
“But, given the bipartisan support for the implementing legislation, we hope that those members of both major parties who have been outspoken about protecting both the rights of Australian workers and the integrity of our democracy over the interests of corporations can support our amendments.”