The ACTU supports fair trade as a vehicle for economic growth, job creation, tackling inequality and raising living standards. The most important objective of trade policy should be to deliver benefits to workers, the community and the economy by increasing opportunities for local businesses, creating quality local jobs, and protecting public services. The benefits of trade must be shared among our community, and promote equitable development abroad. We have longstanding concerns, however, about the previous Government’s agenda on trade which places the needs of business above all else – where businesses and investors enjoy significant rights with few responsibilities – jeopardising local jobs, undermining working conditions, and compromising the ability of current and future Australian Governments to regulate in the public interest.
The need for a more open and democratic process for trade agreements is more important than ever now because they are no longer simply tariff deals: they increasingly deal with an expanding range of other regulatory issues which would normally be debated and legislated through the democratic parliamentary process, and which have deep impacts on workers’ lives.
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