Leading arbitration lawyer says there are critical loopholes in the Trans-Pacific Partnership’s investment chapter that leave Australia wide open

Up until now, Australia has never agreed to provide American investors with access to Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), whereas Canada has. In total Canada has faced 35 challenges. Australia has been subjected to only one case.

Law firms are among the many Australian businesses likely to benefit from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries have agreed on language that will allow members to exclude tobacco control measures from the scope of investor-state dispute settlement.

Under the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), multinational corporations will be able to sue the Australian Government in secret corporate courts over laws that protect our health, environment and workers’ rights.

Changes to Australian food labelling laws provide consumers with an increased understanding of the origin of their food. The challenge Australia faces is to ensure compliance with foreign investment trade agreements.

Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb says he won’t sign off on investor-state dispute settlement in the Trans-Pacific Partnership "until we’re satisfied that there’s a carve out for public policy on health and the environment,"

The Australian government misrepresents the claims of critics and fails to address substantial criticisms of the Trans Pacific Partnership, says civil society network AFTINET.

While the legal text of the China-Australia FTA (ChAFTA) was signed last week, the investment legal framework will be reviewed within the next three years with a view to commencing negotiations for a comprehensive Investment Chapter to be included in ChAFTA.

Remarkably, the Australian government has given Chinese companies a general right to buy resources and other assets in Australia – so-called market access – without getting the same right for Australian companies in China.