Todays call by the Oppositions Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Laurie Brereton, for the immediate referral of the proposed Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) to the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties is another example of Labors stumbling and hypocrisy.
It was the former Labor Government which entered into the negotiations for the MAI in 1995 a fact that Mr Brereton seems to have conveniently forgotten.
And it was the ALP which engaged in secret treaty making without consulting the Australian people or the Parliament. It was Labor that snuck through ILO Convention 158 prior to the 1993 election without debate or even a press release. This was then used by Mr Brereton to introduce his Industrial Relations Reform Act which was humiliatingly repealed and replaced in May 1994.
Labor is not only being hypocritical about the MAI it is totally confused about its own position in relation to the treaty.
Mr Brereton also appears to have forgotten that there was extensive consideration of MAI issues at a Senate Economics Legislation Committee hearing on 25 February 1998. Mr Brereton seems to have forgotten that at the same hearing the ALPs Shadow Minister for Trade, Senator Peter Cook, said on the record "As trades spokesman, I say on the MAI that I am in favour of anything that pushes the cause of trade liberalisation and liberalising our investment flows further."
As usual on any significant policy issue, the ALP is hopelessly confused.
The Governments position on the MAI is very clear.
We will not sign the proposed treaty unless it is demonstrably in Australias national interest to do so.
Unlike the former Labor Government, the Coalition does not believe in secret treaty making. This is why we introduced a rigorous treaty making process in 1996, which will ensure that binding action is not taken on any treaty until it has been subjected to proper public and parliamentary scrutiny, including examination by the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties.
Mr Breretons claim that the negotiations on the MAI have been conducted in secret are also totally wrong both the OECD and the Treasury Department have placed the draft text on the Internet, I have answered questions in Parliament and Government Ministers have spoken publicly through the media about the treaty on numerous occasions.
Contact: Penny Farnsworth (02) 6277 7360, (0419) 482 497