March on May Day
Stop Star wars! No Free Trade Agreement!

The Australian Government has already committed Australia to 
being involved in the United States' aggressive "missile 
defence", or to use a more accurate name, Star Wars program. It 
did not hesitate to follow the US into illegal wars in Iraq and 
Afghanistan and is spending on average a staggering $55 million a 
day on its military budget.

Nor did the government hesitate in sending Australian forces to 
Iraq on the basis of lies, or on signing up for an "endless war 
on terror". Nor will it be shy in coming forward in relation to 
the US's plans for war in our region — in particular in a war 
against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) 
or the People's Republic of China.

It is spending billions of dollars on specialised warships, long 
range anti-missile capabilities and upgrading of radar facilities 
to assist the US in its offensive military program which aims to 
put weapons in to space and control the earth from the heavens.

Do we need such weapons? Do we need US bases in Australia? Will 
they make us safer?

The answer is NO, NO and NO.

The US's plans are provocative and destabilising. They will only 
lead to more wars.

At the same time as throwing billions of dollars to military 
suppliers and going to war for the US, the Howard Government 
cries poor, saying there is not enough money to adequately fund 
public schools, universities, child care, and universal bulk 
billing for Medicare.

"We need more for hospitals and schools instead of $6 billion for 
three air-warfare destroyers, $1 billion for 12 pilotless 
surveillance aircraft, $20 billion for new surveillance and 
combat aircraft, $1 billion for 12 transport helicopters and $600 
million for tanks", Communist Party of Australia President, 
Hannah Middleton, told The Guardian.

"The diversion of only two weeks' military spending — about $600 
million — to public hospitals would overcome most of the 
critical hospital shortages", Dr Middleton said.

Dr Middleton spoke strongly against US plans for a new base or 
bases in Australia. "US bases undermine Australia's security and 
add even more to the already out of control Australian military 
budget."

As well as tying Australia to the political and military 
ambitions of the US, the Howard Government is about to hand over 
the Australian economy and resources to US transnational 
corporations, and with it Australia's sovereignty. This is 
through the recently negotiated Australia-US Free Trade 
Agreement.

Free trade agreements are one of the means by which the US is 
attempting to gain global domination in the economic sphere. It 
has also used such agencies as the World Bank, International 
Monetary Fund and World Trade Organisation (WTO) to open up 
economies for its transnational corporations to move in and 
takeover.

Growing resistance by the people of the world to these economic 
rationalist policies and their devastating effect on economies, 
people and the environment has made it more and more difficult 
for the US to get its way. Their plans have suffered serious 
setbacks at the WTO in its attempts to extend the organisation's 
charter well beyond that of trade into such areas as foreign 
investment, competition policy and government regulations over 
health and safety matters.

As these institutions fail, or appear in danger of failing, to 
deliver, the US administration is turning to free trade 
agreements and the use of brute force to pursue its aims and to 
strengthen its strategic military position for future operations.

Over the past 10 years the US has signed number of "free trade 
agreements" with other countries such as the North American Free 
Trade Agreement (NAFTA — with Canada & Mexico); the Central 
America FTA (just reached with Costa Rica, El Salvador, 
Guatemala, Honduras& Dominican Republic); others with Jordan, 
Chile, and Singapore.

There are also a number of other agreements under negotiation. 
The most important of these is the proposed Free Trade Area of 
the Americas (FTAA) which would take in all 35countries on the 
American continent with the exception of Cuba. This agreement is 
running into considerable problems due to fierce opposition from 
the people of those countries and also, not unrelated, the 
election of more progressive governments in some of them.

These agreements are much more than their name suggests; they go 
way beyond trade issues. The FTA just agreed to by the Howard 
Government would affect everyone in Australia, in virtually every 
aspect of their lives. It would have profound economic, social, 
cultural, environmental, labour and political consequences, and 
not for the better.

US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, was quite open about the 
aims of free trade agreements. "Our objective with the FTAA is to 
assure for American corporations control of a territory that runs 
from the North Pole to the Antarctica, free access without any 
hindrance or difficulty for our products, services, technology 
and capital through the hemisphere."

The FTA with Australia is no different: here the aim is for US 
corporations to control Australia and have free access without 
any hindrance or difficulty for their products, services, 
technology and capital throughout Australia.

An examination of its content confirms that the US corporations 
got most of what they wanted. Australian Trade Minister Mark 
Vaile describes the agreement as "integrating" Australia's 
economy with the US's. "Wholesale take over" is a more accurate 
description.

Ten years ago when Bill Clinton was US President, David 
Rockefeller, CEO of Chase Manhattan Bank, responded to a question 
about what had changed since the days of the Kennedy presidency: 
"Back then we were sitting on the sidelines observing what was 
going on, now we're in the driver's seat writing the documents."

When the FTA was negotiated, the big corporations and government 
officials did the negotiating and drafting — in secrecy. The 
public and even Parliament were kept in the dark as to the 
outcomes of these top secret negotiations until well after 
agreement had been initiated.

Trade in agriculture and other commodities is only a small part 
of the agreement.

It is an agreement on investment, putting US corporations on the 
same or even stronger footing as Australian one. It covers the 
financial sector, giving banks, insurance companies and 
stockbrokers equivalent or superior rights than Australian ones 
in some areas, with virtually no controls on their operations in 
and out of Australia or within the country.

It is set to weaken Australia's important quarantine regulations. 
It is about competition policy and deregulation; it encourages 
privatisation. The cost of medicines will rise astronomically. 
The FTA places in jeopardy the future control and management of 
essential services such as water and electricity, almost beyond 
the reach of government.

US corporations will have the power to challenge Australian 
government decisions and have imposed huge monetary fines on 
local, state and federal governments that might be doing no more 
than trying to protect health, educational standards or the 
environment. See page 12 for more details.

And it will cost jobs!

May Day is an opportunity for workers and other peace-loving and 
democratic people to express their opposition to the 
militarisation of Australia and the FTA as well as many other 
destructive government policies.

The FTA is a direct attack on Australia's sovereignty. It must be 
stopped. The Prime Minister plans to sign off on it in Washington 
in May — before two parliamentary committees on the FTA report 
back on their findings!

Australia must pull out from the Star Wars program, close the US 
base at Pine Gap and end its military alliance with the US.

The Howard Government must be thrown out in the coming federal 
election. The people of Australia need a government which 
represents the people and their interests, one that is prepared 
to stand up to US corporations and pursue a path of peace and 
friendship with other peoples.