‘THE HON DR CRAIG EMERSON MP MINISTER FOR TRADE ‘Mr Harvey Purse 2.9 MAR 2011 Australian Fair Trade & Investment Network Level 3, Suite 3B, 10 Kippax Sireet SURRY HILLS NSW 2010 Dear Mr Purse ‘Thank you for your letters of 27 January 2011 and 15 February 2011 dealing your interesis in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agxoement (TPP) negotiations end attaching the Joint eter ftom evil society organizations ‘Your letter covers a range of important issues in the TPP negotiations and I particularly ‘welcome your input as part of the Governments ongoing consultation process, | note the emphasis your letter places on transparency in free trade agreement negotiations. Inmy December 2010 speech tothe Lowy Institute I made clear that ranspareny is one of the five Labor principles underpinning the Gillard’ Governments approach to trade policy. The Government is committed to continveusly improving its engagement with stakeholders. Such inp is invaluable in ensuring that our negot breadth of interests in play and deliver outcomes which ar tay in Australia’s national While there is always room for fresh ideas and improvement, I disagre with your assertion that TPP negotiations are being pursued in an undemocratic manner. The Government has {aken every opportunity to engage with stakeholders regardless of whether they are corporat, civil scciety or private individuals. As witha other fee mde agreement ‘negotiations, we have called for written submissions and held meetings with stakeholders before commencing negotiations ‘We have also held regular frank meetings andor teleconferences in state and tenitory capitals to provide updates on progress of negotiations and to seek inpat All written submissions are published onthe Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website (wat gov.av) unless the author has declined permission to do so. Regular updates on ‘the TPP negotiations ae also posted on the Department's website after the conclusion of ‘every negotiating round. 1am encouraged by the high level of stakeholder engagement ‘whieh is already occuring in these negotiations and am hopeful that this will “Tephone (02) 277 Tea arlament House, Candee ACT 2600 Fosinle (2) 6273 128‘Your suggestion that draft negotiating text and position papers should be made public is Lnderstandable but problematic. Fest, this would only be possible if ll partes agreed. “Many negotiating partes would consider releasing text a a breach of confidence. Second, negotiating text eally has no status uni itis agred by all parties. Lam not convinced that ‘exposing contested tex, potentially including ambit claims, would ati informed public debate on theives ‘That sad, Ihave instructed the negotiators to be as accessible and transparent the ‘negotistion process permits. Ihave instructed negetiators to provide candid and detailed information on negotiations and draft txts, to ensure stakeholders, nelding AFTINET, ‘are wel placed and sufficiently informed, fo enable them to make revised submissions snd representations on issues af concer as the negotiations develop. ‘The Government wil continue to tke every available opportunity to consul with stakeholders and is always open to receiving written submissions and meeting with interested pares. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade plans to conduct a further series of mestings and teleconferences in state and testory capitals in May 2011 and will, ‘ein contact with registred stakeholders to provide details. I would encourage you to continue to participate inthis consultative process and to continue communicating with me and negotiators about the TPP negotiations ‘Thank you for bringing your concems to my attention and I rst his information is of Yours sincerely Craig (~ Craig Emerson