Nationals Leader Matt Canavan has called for an audit of the international treaties Australia is a party to.
Senator Canavan, in a speech to the Federal Nationals’ Conference, said it was about time an audit was undertaken to investigate whether or not each treaty puts Australians first.
“The Australian public deserves to know; do the thousands of international agreements that we have signed up to serve the national interest and protect the sovereignty of Australian people?” Senator Canavan said.
“Any agreement that Australia is a party to must serve the interests of Australians, not foreigners.”
There are more than 4,000 treaties listed on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Treaties Database, but no one really knows how many we are a party to.
Some were signed by the King of England on behalf of his British Dominions, and others were with countries that no longer exist.
In 1995 a Senate committee recommended the government conduct an audit of treaties, partly because ‘there is still uncertainty as to the exact number of treaties to which Australia is currently a party.”
Senator Canavan said it’s time for an audit.
“Too often, international agreements have become weaponised to take away the basic rights of farmers and everyday Australians. The increasing abuse of the external affairs powers is weakening our Federation.
“Last year the Labor party did a deal with the Greens to change our environmental laws. Those changes used the international treaties’ powers to expand these laws, to cover anything a farmer does within 50 metres of a watercourse in the Great Barrier Reef catchment area.
“For many farmers this means the Federal Government has effectively taken over control of their entire farm, when it should be the states that have control of basic land planning issues.”
The audit will be governed by two overriding principles.
One, is the agreement in our national interest and does it not unduly restrain our national sovereignty? And two, is the agreement being weaponised to weaken our Federation and take away the rights of states, farmers, and local communities?
“The only people that should decide what happens in this country are the Australian people,” Senator Canavan said.
