[ad_1]
Tony Abbott, the former Australian Prime Minister, boasted that he signed deals with China because he was not “sidetracked by peripheral issues such as labor and environmental standards”, raising further questions about the UK government’s intention to use him as a trade envoy. .
Abbott will reportedly be appointed to the Board of Trade, which advises Boris Johnson and Commerce Secretary Liz Truss on future trade deals and will be a vital component of the UK’s future post-Brexit trade strategy.
Abbot’s earlier accounts of his role in Australia’s trade deals with China, Korea and Japan, signed during his two-year tenure, suggest that he would have little sympathy for the government’s stated intentions to uphold British standards on food, the medium. environment and workers’ rights.
In a column for the Spectator Australia In March 2017, Abbott said he had made three contributions as prime minister to achieving the deals: setting a deadline, ensuring focus from the top, and striving “to ensure that we do not get sidetracked by peripheral issues like labor and environmental standards.” . He added: “Our idea was to understand that free trade agreements are too important to be left to the officials.”
During the Brexit campaign and since becoming prime minister, Boris Johnson has insisted that workers’ rights and environmental standards will be upheld once Britain leaves the single market and the customs union.
However, the government has repeatedly avoided attempts to guarantee those rights through legislation. It removed a section of the EU retirement bill that referred to workers’ rights, claiming they would be covered by a new employment bill. A bill was introduced last year, but it has not yet passed for a second reading.
It has also avoided attempts to include a “no regression” clause to prevent the government from weakening environmental standards.
Rules on the use of antibiotics in British farm animals have already been weakened after hundreds of restricted drugs were left out of the regulations set to take effect in January. The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs says a new list will be published in 2021.
Next month, the House of Lords is expected to vote on amendments to the agriculture bill, which seek to enshrine in law the Conservatives’ manifesto commitment not to lower food or environmental standards as part of their post-war business strategy. Brexit.
Environmental groups worry that the news of Abbott’s appointment is part of a pattern. Shaun Spiers, Chairman of the Greener UK Coalition, said: “Tony Abbott would be a perfect choice to advise the government on how to undermine the environment, animal welfare and food standards. But if the government is really serious about not compromising these standards in trade negotiations, naming him is strange. “
David Lawrence of the Trade Justice Movement said: “Hiring Tony Abbott for one of the top positions in UK trade policy is a bewildering choice.
“The government claims it wants Britain to be a world leader in fighting the environmental crisis, but to achieve this, our trade policy, and trade appointments, must be radically revised.”
Australian and British politicians have reacted in disbelief to reports of the appointment, which has not been confirmed, although Truss said Abbott had done an “excellent job” in the trade in the past. Critics say Abbott had little to do with Australia’s trade deals.
He is skeptical about the climate crisis and in 2014, as prime minister, he attempted to clear 74,000 hectares of World Heritage protected forests in Tasmania. His party ousted him as leader after two years and he lost his parliamentary seat in Sydney in 2019 to an independent candidate who campaigned for the environment.
