High Court of Australia, Tobacco Case

This is an edited version of decision by the Australian Supreme Court concerning tobacco companies' objections to Australia's new packaging legislation. The tobacco companies lost their challenge in Australia's domestic courts. But they have tried to make an end-run around those courts by also challenging the legislation in international arbitration. After you have read this case, consider the article that follows about the international arbitration proceedings. Are such proceedings a threat to Australia's "sovereignty"? Do they pose a problem from a democratic accountability perspective -- that is, should we be concerned about private, unelected arbitrators in another country deciding the validity of Australian legislation? Or is this something that Australia willingly accepted in the hopes of gaining benefits from the investment treaties in question?