Introduction: The Boycott That Could Break Them
Picture this: Australians decide they’ve had enough of a multinational that trashes our environment, exploits workers, or peddles addictive garbage. So we launch the simplest and most democratic act of resistance there is – a boycott.
But what if that company turned around and said: You can’t do that. Your government owes us billions for lost profits.
It sounds absurd. It sounds un-Australian. But thanks to bad actors like John Howard and Tony Abbott, that nightmare scenario nearly became reality under the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and other so-called “free trade” deals.
What they didn’t tell us was that these agreements included Investor–State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) clauses – legal landmines giving corporations the right to sue governments if citizens or parliaments dared interfere with their profit streams.
This wasn’t “free trade.” It was corporate sovereignty by stealth. And Howard and Abbott were the ones who opened the gates.
Howard’s First Deal with the Devil
John Howard liked to sell himself as the steady hand, the man who looked out for “ordinary Australians.” But when it came to trade policy, he was happy to hand extraordinary power to foreign corporations.
In the early 2000s, Howard’s government signed trade agreements with Singapore and Thailand that embedded ISDS provisions.
He presented them as boring “technical details” – the kind politicians assume no one will notice – but in reality, they were Trojan horses that allowed multinationals to drag Australia into secretive corporate courts.
Once inside, three private arbitrators – not judges, not juries, not parliaments – could order Australia to pay out billions in “compensation” simply for passing laws in the public interest.
Howard’s defenders call this “opening Australia to global markets.” In truth, he was opening Australia’s sovereignty to capture by global corporations.
The pattern was clear: Howard demanded belt-tightening from Australians while cutting golden cheques to his friends in the boardroom.
Abbott the Enabler
If Howard opened the door, Tony Abbott tried to kick it off its hinges.
Abbott’s record on sovereignty is a disaster list: tearing down the carbon price, undermining climate action, and aligning Australia with Trump-style culture wars. But his push for the TPP may have been his most dangerous legacy.
The TPP, which Abbott’s government was desperate to sign, included wide-ranging ISDS clauses that would have allowed U.S. multinationals to sue Australia if boycotts, consumer protections, or environmental laws dented their profits.
This wasn’t hypothetical. It had already happened: Philip Morris, furious about Australia’s plain cigarette packaging laws, tried to sue the government under ISDS via a Hong Kong subsidiary. The case collapsed on a technicality, but only after years of costly litigation.
Australia won that battle, but the war was still on. Abbott and his trade ministers were only too happy to put us right back in the firing line.
Even the Productivity Commission, hardly a bastion of radicalism, warned against ISDS that there are no convincing economic arguments for ISDS provisions in agreements.
Abbott ignored it. Because Abbott wasn’t working for Australians. He was working for the same multinational mates who’d benefit from a veto over our democracy.
What ISDS Really Means
Let’s cut through the jargon. ISDS is not about fair play.
It’s a rigged system designed to let corporations hold entire nations hostage. Here’s how it works:
Governments pass a law – say, banning toxic chemicals or mandating fair wages.
A foreign company claims this cuts into their “expected profits.”
They bypass our courts and go straight to a private tribunal made up of corporate lawyers.
That tribunal can order taxpayers to hand over millions or billions – with no right of appeal.
And ordinary citizens? We don’t get to sue corporations in return. There’s no “People–State Dispute Settlement.” It’s one-way traffic, designed by and for multinationals.
This is what Howard signed us up to. This is what Abbott tried to lock in with the TPP.
Why Boycotts Still Work
Here’s the good news: boycotts are still one of the most powerful tools in the hands of ordinary Australians.
Even if a company tried to weaponise ISDS against us, the blowback would be enormous:
Public outrage would make the boycott bigger, not smaller.
Brand damage would ripple across international markets.
Political costs would skyrocket, forcing governments to rethink their trade entanglements.
The Philip Morris case proved this. The company thought it could scare Australia into backing down. Instead, it became a global pariah – and plain packaging spread around the world.
Abbott’s “jobs and growth” sales pitch for the TPP collapsed under scrutiny because Australians saw the truth: it was jobs for corporate lawyers and growth in corporate power.
The Pattern of Bad Actors
It’s no coincidence that Howard and Abbott were the architects of this sell-out. They represent a political tradition where multinational profits come first, Australians come last.
Howard made it “respectable” to sign away sovereignty under the cover of free trade.
Abbott doubled down, happy to gamble with our democracy in exchange for corporate favour.
Both were willing to let unelected, offshore tribunals tell Australians what we could and couldn’t do in our own country. That’s not leadership – that’s servitude.
The Sleeping Giant: Consumer Power
Australians may not think about ISDS every day, but we understand this: we are the consumers. We are the ones who decide what we buy, what we boycott, and who we trust.
And when people act together, corporations shake.
It worked when Australians refused to back down on cigarette packaging.
It worked when consumers turned their backs on companies that treated workers or the environment like dirt.
It worked when grassroots groups like Sleeping Giants Oz and Mad F—ing Witches pressured advertisers to dump hate media.
If a corporation ever tried to sue Australians for exercising that power, it would only strengthen our resolve.
Howard and Abbott may have sold out our sovereignty. But they forgot the most important truth of all: the people still hold the wallet.
Conclusion: Call Out the Sell-Outs
Howard and Abbott’s legacies are not of protecting Australians, but of leaving us exposed – to predatory corporations, dodgy tribunals, and anti-democratic trade rules.
The ISDS system is rotten to the core. The fact that it was nearly enshrined in the TPP shows just how close we came to losing control of our own democracy.
But boycotts, consumer activism, and public pressure remain the ultimate check. Corporations can hire lawyers. They can wine and dine politicians. But they can’t force Australians to keep buying their rubbish.
The next time someone like Howard or Abbott tells us that selling out sovereignty is “in the national interest,” we know the truth. It’s in the corporate interest. And it’s up to Australians to say no.
Because the sleeping giant isn’t the corporations. It’s us.
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“I should have told everyone” is a thought too late now, but old classmate Jack Howard was always a deficient, irritable, resentful stirrer, unhappy at being modest in most ways but unrealistically ambitious. He did anything to be someone and to get somewhere, no morals, ethics, regrets, hesitation. Utterly, uncaringly rotten.
The sleepers here are the opposition of the day and the media, both have failed both past and present, to keep the people aware of these political slights of hand.
We still don’t know the details of AUKUS; what will it cost us and for what?
Thank you for mentioning Mad Fucking Witches; our group seldom gets recognition in the media for the work we do trying to hold certain people and corporations to account.
Leefe? You KNOW the MFW’s. I know it from elsewhere.
Aukus.
On telly about Adelaide ship building…as if AUKUS was already a done deal. Stop PUSHING, Marles!!
I love the MFWs and Sleeping Giants Oz!
ABC’s John Lyons spoke to Pentagon insiders about the Virginia Class submarines of which we are expecting three (or four depending on where you get your news) by 2032 either new or refurbished – dates are rubbery.
The comment was made that the US can only build 1.3 submarines a year that’s thirteen in the next ten years all of which are needed for domestic US defence purposes.
There is no capacity for supply to Australia !
Paul:
I’ve been a member of the group for a good few years (before the Alan Jones campaign), but only one of many thousands. There’s a tremendous amount of work that goes into the campaigns and we get sod all recognition. I might post a link to this article there so everyone knows that some media sources are prepared to acknowledge us.
For as long as I can remember, Liberals have always sold off the farm, that has never changed, and will never change.