Australia/US - Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA)

At present we are still waiting on the result of negotiations of a possible Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Australia and the US.

This page has been set up to provide links and information on this topic. As always, we are asking for any input that people may have on this topic. If you would like to have your opinion posted on this page, please send it to: oceania [at] druidnetwork [dot] org">
oceania [at] druidnetwork [dot] org.

Image from DFAT's website

Some more recent sources (provided by Murray Barton):

A disturbing discussion on Radio National (Feb, 2004)

A protest letter from Project Gutenberg of Australia who will have to take down parts of their archives to comply with U.S. copywrite law. (Letter)

A statement from Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) on some aspects of copywrite and the proposed FTA.

Possible costs of an FTA with the US

Some of the more concerning and widely reported possible (probable) results of an FTA with the US include:

1. New rights for corporations to sue the Australian Government over environmental and health laws which reduce corporate profits (known as "Investor-state provisions") - an article on this topic can be found in the Sydney Morning Herald.

2. Environmental Impacts include the rolling back of both our quarantine laws and our GM food labelling laws.

On this topic see:

A recent report by the Melbourne based think-tank OzProspect

The Australia-US Free Trade Agreement: An Environmental Impact Assessment (PDF)

Also see Greens Senator Kerry Nettle's webpage which has information on all of the various aspects of this proposed agreement. Of special interest here is a fact sheet provided by Greenpeace that sheds some light on the US' position with regard to GM food (PDF) and this FTA.
A free trade pact will hurt our environment, an article in The Age.
The Australian Conservation Foundation's position

3. An undermining of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) so as to allow US pharmaceutical companies to make greater profits here.

On this topic you can again see Kerry Nettle's webpage.
There is also an article from the Australian Financial Review at Global Trade Watch's website.

4. A reduction in the Australian content on TV and radio.

On this topic see the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance website.

Source: These four points and most of the associated links have been taken from Global Trade Watch's and Kerry Nettle's webpages.

The Reports

Not surprisingly, most of the Australian reports conducted on the possible FTA have focused on its associated economic benefits/costs.

An exception in Ozprospect's The Australia-US Free Trade Agreement: An Environmental Impact Assessment (PDF).

Some of the other more commonly cited reports include:

APEC's An Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement - Issues and Implications (available here from DFAT's website)
CIE's Economic impacts of an Australia United States Free Trade Area (available here from DFAT's website)

There is also a report by ACIL which offers a far less positive economic prediction about an FTA with the US. This report is, however, very difficult to find online - and not surprisingly is also (as far as I can tell) not available at DFAT's website, although they have seen fit to provide access to a critical rebuttal of the report from the CIE. On the whole, a very balanced coverage from DFAT! (For some media links to information on the ACIL report see Aid Watch's website).

Opportunities for Involvement

If you would like to get involved in objecting to the FTA, there is plenty of information available at both Global Trade Watch's and Kerry Nettle's webpages.

In this space we will also post any information that we come across on future actions and protests. If you hear anything that isn't posted here, please let us know.

Also, if you have an alternative (or supporting) point of view, we would love to hear it (oceania [at] druidnetwork [dot] org).

Printer-friendly version