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Blind Agreement: Reforming Australia's Treaty-Making Process The Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee Blind agreement: reforming Australia's treaty-making process June 2015 Commonwealth of Australia 2015 ISBN 978-1-76010-228-9 Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee Department of the Senate PO Box 6100 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Australia Phone: + 61 2 6277 3535 Fax: + 61 2 6277 5818 Email: [email protected] Internet: http://www.aph.gov.au/senate_fadt This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License. The details of this licence are available on the Creative Commons website: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/ Printed by the Senate Printing Unit, Parliament House, Canberra. ii Committee Membership Senator Alex Gallacher, Chair ALP, SA Senator Chris Back, Deputy Chair LP, WA Senator Sam Dastyari ALP, NSW Senator David Fawcett LP, SA Senator Anne McEwen ALP, SA Senator Scott Ludlam AG, WA Participating members who contributed to the inquiry Senator the Hon Joseph Ludwig ALP, QLD Senator Peter Whish-Wilson AG, TAS Senator Nick Xenophon IND, SA Secretariat Mr David Sullivan, Committee Secretary Mr Owen Griffiths, Principal Research Officer Ms Casey Mazzarella, Senior Research Officer Ms Kimberley Balaga, Research Officer Ms Lauren Waugh, Research Officer Dr Ruth Edwards, Administrative Officer iii iv Table of Contents Committee Membership ................................................................................... iii Foreword ............................................................................................................. ix Abbreviations ..................................................................................................... xi Recommendations ........................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1.............................................................................................................. 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 Referral ................................................................................................................... 1 Purpose of the inquiry ............................................................................................ 1 Structure of the report ............................................................................................. 3 Conduct of the inquiry ............................................................................................ 3 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................. 3 Chapter 2.............................................................................................................. 5 Background ............................................................................................................... 5 Development of the treaty-making process ............................................................ 5 The changing face of treaties ................................................................................ 12 Chapter 3............................................................................................................ 17 The role of parliament in treaty making .............................................................. 17 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 17 Practices in other jurisdictions.............................................................................. 20 A strengthened role for parliament ....................................................................... 24 Committee view .................................................................................................... 27 Parliamentary access to treaty text ....................................................................... 28 Committee view .................................................................................................... 29 Parliamentary committees .................................................................................... 30 Committee view .................................................................................................... 36 Chapter 4............................................................................................................ 39 Consultation and transparency ............................................................................. 39 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 39 Models of transparency ........................................................................................ 40 Lack of transparency in the Australian context .................................................... 42 Proposals for reform ............................................................................................. 48 Committee view .................................................................................................... 52 States and territories ............................................................................................. 54 Committee view .................................................................................................... 56 Chapter 5............................................................................................................ 57 Agenda setting and post-implementation issues .................................................. 57 Lack of a trade strategy ........................................................................................ 57 Committee view .................................................................................................... 62 National Interest Analyses and other tabled documents ...................................... 64 Post-implementation analysis and review ............................................................ 67 Committee view .................................................................................................... 68 Chapter 6............................................................................................................ 71 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 71 Transparency ........................................................................................................ 72 Consultation .......................................................................................................... 73 Access for members of parliament ....................................................................... 74 A role for parliamentary committees .................................................................... 75 Independent analysis and monitoring ................................................................... 75 Dissenting report by Coalition Senators ......................................................... 77 Dissenting report by the Australian Greens ................................................... 79 vi Introduction .......................................................................................................... 79 Comments on specific recommendations ............................................................. 80 Appendix 1 ......................................................................................................... 83 Public submissions .................................................................................................. 83 Appendix 2 ......................................................................................................... 87 Tabled documents, answers to questions on notice and additional information .................................................................................................................................. 87 Tabled documents ................................................................................................. 87 Additional information ......................................................................................... 87 Answers to questions on notice ............................................................................ 88 Appendix 3 ......................................................................................................... 89 Public hearings and witnesses ............................................................................... 89 vii viii Foreword As this report on Australia's treaty-making process was being finalised the China- Australia Free Trade Agreement—a major trade deal some ten years in the making and negotiated in secret—was signed, tabled in the Australian Parliament and referred to the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCOT) for inquiry and report within 20 joint-sitting days, consistent with the process that has been in place for two decades. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is also entering its final stages of negotiation with parliamentarians told recently they can access the draft text, but only after signing confidentiality agreements. The committee's inquiry has been timely if for no other reason that it throws into sharp relief compelling evidence from industry bodies, the union movement, academic experts and other stakeholders that the treaty-making process is in need of reform. During the committee's hearing the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), which is responsible for negotiating, consulting and finalising free trade agreements,
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