House of Representatives Committees

| Joint Standing Committee on Treaties

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Preliminary pages

Membership of the Committee

 

Chair

Mr Kelvin Thomson MP

 

Deputy Chair

Senator Bridget McKenzie
(from 12/9/12)

 

 

Senator Simon Birmingham
(until 12/9/12)

 

Members

Mr Jamie Briggs MP (until 9/10/12)

Senator David Fawcett

 

Mr Laurie Ferguson MP
(until 20/9/12)

Senator Scott Ludlam

 

Mr John Forrest MP

Senator the Hon Lisa Singh

 

Ms Sharon Grierson MP

Senator Dean Smith

 

Mr Harry Jenkins MP

Senator Matthew Thistlethwaite

 

Ms Kirsten Livermore MP

Senator the Hon Lin Thorp

 

The Hon Robert McClelland MP (from 20/9/12)

 

 

Ms Melissa Parke MP

 

 

Mrs Jane Prentice MP (from 9/10/12)

 

 

The Hon Dr Sharman Stone MP

 


Committee Secretariat

Secretary

Russell Chafer

Inquiry Secretaries

Kevin Bodel

 

Dr Andrew Gaczol

Administrative Officers

Heidi Luschtinetz

 

Dorota Cooley

Resolution of Appointment

The Resolution of Appointment of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties allows it to inquire into and report on:

  1. matters arising from treaties and related National Interest Analyses and proposed treaty actions and related Explanatory Statements presented or deemed to be presented to the Parliament;
  2. any question relating to a treaty or other international instrument, whether or not negotiated to completion, referred to the committee by:
    1. either House of the Parliament, or
    2. a Minister; and
  3. such other matters as may be referred to the committee by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and on such conditions as the Minister may prescribe.

List of recommendations

4 Conclusion
Recommendation 1

That prior to commencing negotiations for a new agreement, the Government table in Parliament a document setting out its priorities and objectives including independent analysis of the anticipated costs and benefits of the agreement.  Such analysis should be reflected in the National Interest Analysis accompanying the treaty text.

Recommendation 2

That after 24 months of the treaty coming into effect, an independent review of MAFTA be conducted to assess actual outcomes of the treaty against the claimed benefits and potential negative consequences noted in this report.  The review should consider the economic, regional, social, cultural, regulatory, labour and environmental impacts.  Such a review should serve as a model for future free trade agreements.

Recommendation 3

The Committee supports the Malaysia-Australia Free Trade Agreement done at Kuala Lumpur on 22 May 2012 and recommends that binding treaty action be taken.

 

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