The following article was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the
Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, December 10th, 2003.
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Howard, Vaile in all-out push for "free trade" agreement with US
The Howard Government is redoubling its efforts to get an Australia US
Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed, sealed and delivered as quickly as
possible. Negotiations between the two governments resumed last week
with Trade Minister Mark Vaile doing his best to promote a pact during
his lengthy US visit.
by Bob Briton
The PM and his Cabinet hope to present a secretly negotiated deal as a
fait accompli to parliament and use it to steamroller the necessary
legislation through both Houses.
The numerous eloquent contributions to the debate over local content at
the Australian Film Industry (AFI) awards landed heavy blows against the
government's sell-out position.
The Prime Minister responded using ambiguous language. He said that
Australia would not undo longstanding policies such as the local rules
on existing media. He would, however, be prepared to be "fairly
flexible" about new media forms. In other words, local content rules may
lapse when digital TV services take over.
Howard knows there is little support for the abolition of media
ownership rules, the import of genetically modified food without
labelling, or for water privatisation, just to take a few examples of
likely outcomes.
The Government feels vulnerable over the weakness of its commitment to
the highly popular Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme - a target of the
powerful US pharmaceuticals industry.
Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA; a pro-regulation lobby
group in the US, told the ABC that we should hold on to our wallets if
the PBS is watered down as a result of negotiations. "This is going to
be a slippery slope and if the drug industry gets some concessions this
year, they'll come back next year for the next set of concessions."
Howard chooses his words carefully. "I want to make it clear that we are
not going to trade that wonderful facility away in the free-trade
negotiations, we're not. The PBS in its essential character is just not
on the list and is not up for grabs or not up for negotiation."
[Emphasis added]
The PM makes much of the need to offer concessions in return for
permission for Australian agricultural produce to compete on US markets.
We should take note of what happens when smaller nations negotiate "free
trade" agreements with what the Howard Government delights in calling
the biggest and most dynamic economy in the world.
Chile signed an FTA with the US that takes effect in January. To get the
US to set aside 15 barriers to trade, Chile had to drop 52. Among other
impacts, cheap US wheat is set to wipe out local production. Chilean
Christian Democrat Senator Jorge Lavandero now protests, "this is not
free trade, this is a political imposition. We are practically giving up
our sovereignty."
The sacrifices made in the name of agriculture could prove worthless.
NSW Greens Senator Kerry Nettle pointed out the flaw in the government's
line to The Guardian in a recent interview: "Travelling in rural
communities I've heard farmers say that what stops them being able to
export their produce into the US are the agricultural subsidies that the
US Government pays to its farmers. Agricultural subsidies cannot be on
the table in a bilateral trade negotiation. They can only be negotiated
on in multi-lateral negotiations."
The US is in no mood for such multi-lateral talks and has already
rejected requests for an end to the subsidies in its negotiations for an
FTA with Brazil. This did not stop the US demanding changes affecting
investment, intellectual property rights, government procurement
guidelines and other aspects of Brazil's independence.
The movement opposed to the changes being floated to local media
content, the PBS, our quarantine regulations and a host of other vital
safeguards must keep up their resistance to the FTA threat to our
national sovereignty. We must not let the government trade significant
gains made by the people over decades in a few weeks of this final round
of "free trade" negotiations.
Write now to PM Howard, Mark Vaile and your Senators calling for a halt
to negotiations and the public release of Australia's and the US's
negotiating stances.
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