Editorial:

How to defeat the FTA

The proposed Free Trade Agreement with the United States is a 
sell-out of Australia's national interests to the US government 
and the agenda of both US and Australian corporations. Not a 
single aspect of the Australian economy and Australia's social 
and political life will remain untouched by the consequences of 
the FTA. The Communist Party, (CPA) in its analysis,
calls for the FTA to be exposed and defeated.

Once again Federal Government Ministers from the Prime Minister 
down are either making misleading statements, telling half-truths 
or spinning outright lies.

The terms of the agreement will affect education, health services 
including pharmaceutical products, the environment, quarantine 
protection, industrial laws and working conditions, agriculture, 
manufactures, financial services and investments, media and 
cultural matters and much more. There is a great potential to 
build a massive, broad and strong movement to defeat the FTA. As 
more and more people become aware of the likely consequences of 
the agreement on their lives they will be looking for ways to 
defeat it.

In the first stage, the community has to be informed of the 
detail of the FTA and how it will affect them. The Guardian and 
all CPA organisations will work hard to present as much 
information as possible.

Already there are many who are speaking out against the 
agreement. Not only has the CPA come out emphatically against it, 
so have the Greens and the Democrats. At present the Labor 
leaders are critical of aspects of the FTA, but they have yet to 
take a strong stand against it. It is imperative that they are 
persuaded to oppose and vote against the enabling legislation 
when it is presented to parliament.

To build the strongest and broadest community-wide opposition, 
political parties, many community organisations, trade unions, 
farmer organisations, students, media and cultural workers, peace 
activists, civil liberty groups, environmentalists, Indigenous 
people, and others can build a strong movement by becoming vocal 
and joining a common front. All have an interest in seeing the 
FTA thrown out. Campaigns on a statewide and national basis are 
called for and wherever possible international solidarity sought.

The CPA is preparing a leaflet for distribution and a booklet to 
give readers extensive information. We will launch a petition for 
signature collection and presentation to the Federal parliament. 
The statement of the CPA in this issue of The Guardian 
will be posted on CPA web sites. It can be copied from these 
sites, distributed at meetings, printed and emailed to your 
friends and networks, and any other means possible. If you can 
help with the distribution of leaflets or any other tasks please 
get in touch with your local Party organisation or the Party's 
head office.

The FTA was negotiated behind closed doors by representatives of 
the Federal Government together with representatives of big 
corporations. Needless to say, representatives of trade unions, 
social and welfare organisations, environmentalists, and so on 
were not invited to the negotiating table. They, like most MPs, 
have been kept in the dark.

Just as the MAI was defeated in 1998, it is possible to defeat 
the FTA in 2004.

The FTA between the US and Australia is modelled on the 1994 
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the US, 
Canada and Mexico. What did it do for Mexico? Between 1994 and 
2003 Mexico's minimum wage lost 20 percent of its purchasing 
power. Wages and benefits in the manufacturing sector dropped 9 
percent. The number of Mexican households living in poverty grew 
by 80 percent. Today, 70 percent of Mexico's population lives 
below the poverty line. Rural poverty is rampant. Sixty percent 
of Mexico's indigenous children suffer form severe malnutrition. 
The cost of environmental degradation is calculated at 10 percent 
of GDP per year.

There are similar results in other countries that adopted free 
trade agreements with the US. The US economy is much more 
powerful than that of Australia and will impose its will on the 
weak. In addition the Australian Government has repeatedly shown 
its subservience to US policies.

There can be little doubt, despite the differences between 
Australia and Mexico, that what happened to Mexico will also 
happen to Australia. STOP the FTA!