The AIIA and its members have been invited to provide input on the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement to the relevant parliamentary committees.

On 15 September 2016, the Senate referred the following matter to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee for inquiry and report, with particular reference to the impact of the agreement on:

• Australia’s economy and trade;
• Australia’s domestic labour market;
• Australian investment;
• Australia’s social, cultural and environmental policies;
• the effect of Investor-State Dispute Settlement;
• rights for copyright holders;
• rights for consumers; and
• any other related matters.

The Joint Standing Committee on Treaties is also conducting an inquiry into the proposed Agreement. Further information about that inquiry, as well as the text of the treaty and related resources, may be found on that committee’s webpage.

There is no requirement to address the full terms of reference, you may choose to comment only on the terms of reference that are of relevance to you. The closing date for submissions in 28 October 2016.

Information and notes to assist in preparing submissions are available here.

The committee would prefer to receive submissions in electronic form online, or sent by email to fadt.sen@aph.gov.au as an attached Adobe PDF or MS Word format document. The email must include full postal address and contact details.

At some stage during the inquiry, the committee normally makes submissions public. Please indicate if you want your submission kept confidential.