Professor Tania Voon of the University of Melbourne gave a breakfast seminar on Thursday 24 March 2016 to around 30 members and friends of the Queensland Chapter. Professor Voon provided many interesting insights into the process surrounding the negotiation of the TPP treaty (including differences in the extent to which states allowed non-government actors to participate in the development of their negotiating positions), and discussed implications for the TPP across a number of commercial sectors, and the ratification process (including the prospects of the TPP coming into force). A significant part of the seminar and many of the questions afterwards were devoted to Investor State Dispute Settlement under the TPP, including litigation relating to tobacco products, changes in Australia’s attitude towards ISDS, and comparisons between the TPP and Australia’s existing bilateral and multilateral ISDS regimes.
