Bill Shorten wants to do a deal on TPP concessions

Bill Shorten has indicated his party could support the Trans-Pacific Partnership if they were to win certain concessions.

Bill Shorten has indicated his party could support the Trans-Pacific Partnership if Labor can win concessions from the government on the trade deal.

The Opposition Leader declined to reveal whether Labor would oppose ratification of the revised deal, calling for independent analysis of the new Comprehensive and Progressive Agree­ment for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

He indicated Labor had supported trade deals after winning “significant concessions”.

“I don’t mind what the government call me, I’ll always fight for Aussie jobs,” Mr Shorten said.

“Having said that, in recent times, under my leadership, we supported the Korean free-trade agreement, we supported the Japan free-trade agreement, and after we won significant concessions, we supported the China free-trade agreement.”

Scott Morrison yesterday dismissed Labor’s call for new modelling, saying the party’s refusal to back the deal was a sign of poor economic ­instincts. “Labor would think you’d need economic modelling to decide whether to put your pants on one leg at a time, and that’s because they just hate having instincts on this. They just don’t get it,” the Treasurer told Sky News.

Labor has said if it wins office, it would try to remove Investor State Dispute Settlement clauses from every trade agreement, which allowed companies to sue countries for alleged discrim­inatory practices.

Once the deal is signed, ­expected in March, it would be difficult for the text to be altered. It would need to be ratified by at least six partici­pating countries’ parliaments to come into force, most likely by the legislatures passing accompanying laws.

If Labor blocks the legislation, the government would need to rely on the crossbench, where many are also calling for a Productivity Commission review or removal of ISDS clauses.

Labor, under pressure from the ACTU to oppose the deal, supported the China free-trade deal after forcing changes to some accompanying legislation.

Former Labor trade minister Craig Emerson supported Mr Shorten’s position. “I’m amazed and disappointed at how quickly politics has taken over where the government is insisting on the passage of the agreement that others haven’t seen,” he said. “We were constructively ­involved in the TPP negotiations because we support trade liberalisation but we did not support ISDS provisions (or) some of the demands the US was making on intellectual property and phar­maceuticals.’’

The Trump administration pulled out of the deal last year. After the announcement the 11 countries would go ahead with the deal, Donald Trump has weathered criticism.

Arizona Republican senator Jeff Flake tweeted: “Canada and 10 other countries agree to new TPP trade deal. We’re being left ­behind.”

Former US Treasury secretary Lawrence Summers tweeted: “Everyone in TPP group, ­except USA, will now get privileged access to Japanese market. Hard to imagine a worse deal.”