Speak your mind on FTA
Next month John Howard will board a plane bound for the US. While stateside, the PM will meet with George Bush for the signing of the anti-people Australia US Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which the Australian Government hopes to have up and running by next year. The FTA is not just a trade agreement. It affects every area of our lives from health, education, water, electricity, media and entertainment, banking, insurance, investment, the PBS, health and safety, trade union rights, wages and working conditions, the environment, jobs, government spending, customs, quarantine regulations and much, much more. Time is short to defeat the agreement. There are two Federal Parliamentary Inquiries underway. One is by the Senate Select Committee on the USFTA which is dominated by the ALP and minor parties. This Committee will examine impacts of the agreement on Australia's economic, trade, investment and social and environment policies, including, but not limited to, agriculture, health, education and the media. The other is by the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties. It is dominated by the government and aims to have its report ready by June 23, 2004 — after the government has signed off on the FTA! It is extremely important that as many people and organisations as possible make submissions to these committees. Submissions can be as short as you want. They can be broad or deal with an issue of particular concern to you. The following are some points you might want to include in your submission. (Guardians published on February 11 & 18 contain more details.) The proposed FTA with the US: * outlaws industrial action that in any way restricts the operation of US corporations or hinders their profit-making — cabotage would go; * despite assurances to the contrary, the cost of medicines would rise under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme as US corporations play a greater role in the decision making process and patent extensions come into force; * limits the regulation of Australian content in new forms of media; * quarantine and food labelling laws can be challenged by the US government and their implementation by US corporations; * prohibits cross-subsidisation in public enterprises — will lead to higher postal and telephone charges for rural and regional Australia; * adopts US copyright laws which will cost consumers more; * affects ALL of Australia's laws and policies on investment and services at all levels of government; * contains a "side-letter" outlining the government's commitment to sell the rest of Telstra; * in agriculture, Australia opens its doors wide to US imports while the US retains its heavy subsidies to its own sector and will (if ever) take up to 18 years to open up fully to some of Australia's key exports; * it could lead to the loss of many jobs, especially in the manufacturing sector; * threatens environmental safeguards that could be deemed a "disguised restriction on trade in services"; * undermines our sovereignty through such means as competition policy, deregulation, lifting of most restrictions on US investment in Australia and putting US and Australian corporations on an equal footing, even when it comes to government purchases and subsidies; * the dispute settlement process enables the US Government to claim that an Australian law or policy is in breach of the agreement; * it makes the Australian Government accountable to US corporations giving them rights to information and to be consulted that the Australian people do not have; * economic integration consolidates Australia's subservient relationship to the US, tying Australia in tightly to the US agenda of global domination — already well advanced in the military and political spheres. Senate Select Committee on the USFTA — Closing date for submissions is April 30, 2004 Submissions should be sent by email to: FTA@aph.gov.au or by mail to: the Senate Select Committee on the USFTA Suite S1.30.1, Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600 Phone: Mr Brenton Holmes (61+2) 6277 3527 or Ms Tanya Stacpoole (61+2) 6277 3163 Joint Standing Committee on Treaties — Closing Date for Submissions is April 13, 2004. Emailed submissions to: jsct@aph.gov.au or sent by post to: The Secretary Joint Standing Committee on Treaties R1-109, Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600 The secretariat can be contacted by telephone: (02) 6277 4002 or fax on (02) 6277 2219.