Havachat: Free, fair or foolish? The Australian-US FTA - Day 5

Fortunately, an increasing number of individuals, community groups and political parties question the theoretical econometric modelling and the political ideology that underpins free trade. This is democracy at work.

Assertions that "we are in for an easy time" and there is "no threat" to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, Australian film production, quarantine laws etc is an insult to the intelligence of the Australian public who have seen the Minister, Mark Vaile publicly declare that "everything is on the table".

I do not believe that key social and cultural aspects of Australia's society should be placed on the bargaining table as a commodity to be traded.

I do not believe that we can achieve the fairytale outcome painted by some of your contributions to this debate.

As the United States moves aggressively to cement its international economic and military dominance, Australia must act with caution, commonsense and wisdom.

The deliberate devaluation of the United States dollar against most other world economies will produce an increasingly difficult trading environment for our companies. If this is combined with further cuts to tariffs and industry support then we will see less overseas investment and jobs in our manufacturing industry.

We must exercise our freedom to maintain our independent culture, social policies and industry development capacity.

We must recognise that free trade has many limitations and challenges and a move to a “Fair Trade" environment is in Australia's interests.

We must not foolishly rush to a USFTA without public debate and involvement, a removal of the secrecy surrounding the negotiations and the determination to maintain our social and economic independence.

Doug.

Sent: Monday, May 29, 2003 20:59
To: Doug Cameron
Subject: Summary

Doug,

As we conclude, we return to where we started. Your misgivings about free trade and an FTA with the US are philosophical: you fear domination by American culture and dislike free-market systems. My focus is on the benefits to Australia. These are great. They can secure Australia’s economic future in the global economy.