Fears tobacco giants will use TPP to sue Australia over plain packaging as secrecy shrouds legal costs in Philip Morris case
Political party says the newly signed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, which contains similar clauses to the Hong Kong deal, could prompt more costly challenges in The Hague
The Australian government is fighting to keep secret the amount it paid to fight a legal battle with the tobacco industry over its plain packaging laws.
Philip Morris, a tobacco multinational, used a clause in a Hong Kong-Australia trade deal to sue the Australian government over its Gillard-era plain packaging laws.
It eventually lost the case, but the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) political party has since attempted to find out how much Australia paid to fight the case in The Hague.
NXT is concerned the newly signed Trans-Pacific Partnership – which contains similar clauses to the Hong Kong deal – could prompt similar actions against the Australian government.
Nick Xenophon, while still in the Senate in 2016, lodged a freedom of information request to determine the full amount Australia paid in legal costs. It has been reported to be as high as US$50 million.
The federal government has resisted releasing the information, but was ordered to disclose it by the information commissioner this year.
