The Australian Democrats support fair trade that is in the national interest.
The Free Trade Agreement the Government has negotiated with the USA does not fit
this description. The Howard Government has accepted a substandard deal that
will do more harm to Australia's future than good.
More Than Just Economics
Our ‘national interest’ is about more than the economic bottom line. It includes
our social and labour standards, the preservation and improvement of our environment
and our national cultural identity. These factors must also be taken into account
in any trade decisions. We must remain free to regulate in the national interest
in future.
Wide-ranging trade agreements such as this FTA will have an impact on every facet
of our economic, social, cultural and environmental future and must be assessed
in these terms.
Specifics of the Deal
The FTA has very serious shortcomings from an Australian perspective. Pressure
from the US agricultural lobby has resulted in the complete exclusion of the sugar
industry from the deal and only limited improvements in market access for other
agricultural sectors such as beef and dairy.
In this FTA, the Government has agreed to:
• Let US companies challenge the listing of drugs under our Pharmaceutical Benefits
Scheme (PBS);
• Lock current levels of Australian content in media, and have no Australian
content in new forms of media;
• Accept US intellectual property laws that will restrict creativity in this
country and protect the competitive monopoly of huge corporations;
• Force Internet Service Providers to hand over the private details of their
customers, and prevent open source software development;
• Restrict the ability of governments at all levels to provide essential public
services such as water supply and waste disposal;
• Allow the US to interfere in our quarantine decision-making process, where
'trade' issues will be considered as important as protecting the environment;
• Allow unlabelled genetically modified products to enter Australia; and
• Remove the requirement for review of most US investment in Australia.
Role of Parliament
The Democrats are participating in the Select Committee Inquiry that has been
established by the Senate to thoroughly investigate the terms of the FTA. This
Inquiry is conducting extensive hearings across the country, consulting with stakeholders
and interested parties.
Unlike the US Congress, the Australian Parliament does not get an opportunity
to vote 'yes' or 'no' to this Agreement in its entirety. Under our Constitution,
the Executive Government can enter into treaties such as the FTA without the approval
of the Parliament.
The Government will, however, need to introduce some legislation to implement
key aspects of this FTA. Once the Agreement is ratified, we will be locked into
the commitments that have been made for an indefinite period. Attempts by future
Australian Parliaments to regulate in our national interest may face legal challenge
from the US Government.
Democrats Position
The Democrats have closely monitored the progress of this FTA, and have been
consistently critical of both the secretive nature of the negotiation process
and the terms of the deal.
After carefully considering the detail of the Agreement, the Democrats have decided
that on balance, this FTA does more harm than good to our national interest.
For this reason, we will not support this legislation when it arrives in Parliament.
