8 April 2001

Contents:

1.  Government announces public consultations on the WTO, meeting with NGOs on May 4 and new Advisory Panel on the WTO

This is in part a response to community pressure and submissions to the Parliamentary Inquiry on Australia's relationship with the WTO. It should also be seen in the context of the coming Federal elections.

Public Consultations - Request for Public Comment by 1 July 2001.

On 3 April the Minister for Trade, the Hon Mark Vaile MP, announced a process of public consultation to assist the Government in formulating Australia's approach to forthcoming multilateral trade negotiations in the World Trade Organisation.

The Fourth WTO Ministerial Conference will be held in Doha, Qatar from 9-13 November 2001. WTO Ministers will examine the desirability of initiating a new round of multilateral trade negotiations. By prior agreement, negotiations on several WTO agreements, in the areas of agriculture, services and intellectual property are currently underway. In addition, the preparatory process will also examine the desirability of negotiations or further study on other topics. The range of topics is open-ended but, by way of example, there have been calls for work on trade and investment; trade and competition policy; trade and environment; transparency in government procurement; electronic commerce; industrial market access and WTO institutional issues.

Accordingly, DFAT invites public comment on WTO related issues, including the:

• Agenda for future multilateral trade negotiations, including the subject matter, content and timetable for negotiations, or other further work in the WTO;
• Desirability for Australia's interests of including in the WTO's negotiating agenda new issues such as those identified in the paragraph above;
• Broader range of issues which Australia might propose for inclusion in the WTO agenda for further work; and
• Operation and the effect on Australia's national interest of existing WTO Agreements.

The Government now invites written submission from all interested parties, including members of the public, business groups, non-government organisations and companies. These submissions will help the Government in developing proposals and positions on issues which could be covered in future multilateral trade negotiations.

Submissions should be sent by mail fax or email by July 1 to:

Trade Policy Section
Trade Negotiations Division
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
R G Casey Building
BARTON ACT 0221

Facsimile 02 / 6261 3514

E-mail address:  trade.consult@dfat.gov.au ( Microsoft Word compatible format).

NGO Roundtables

The department of foreign Affairs and Trade plans to hold the first of a series of roundtables with community and NGOs on 4 May and industry organisations on 10 May in Canberra, with other meetings to follow. AFTINET will circulate further details as they become available.

On 3 April the Minister for Trade, Mark Vaile announced the establishment of a new formal consultative body to the Government on multilateral trade policy, the WTO Advisory Panel. The panel will draw representatives from industry and community NGOs, academia and the media and be tasked to provide advice to the Minister across Australia's WTO agenda. The panel's key objectives will be to:

• Provide expert views to the Government on WTO related issues of concern to the community;
• Work with business and the NGO community to build appropriate trade policies and shape the direction of Australia's activities in relation to the WTO;
• Access new ideas and approaches to addressing trade policy issues surrounding Australia's involvement with the WTO.

The Panel's membership will be announced mid-year.

This is separate from the government’s general Trade Policy Advisory Committee which includes only business and government representatives. It will be interesting to see who ends up on the panel.

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2. US- Australia Free Trade Agreement: letter to the Minister

Trade Minister Vaile went to Washington last week to begin talks on a U.S. Australia Free Trade Agreement. Like the Singapore, FTA, reported in previous bulletins, these talks have begun without public debate or community consultation.

The talks promise to be one sided: like an elephant negotiating with a mouse. Australian negotiators want greater access to the massive U.S. economy, which is Australia’s second largest market after Japan, in return for entry for U.S. goods to Australia's comparatively tiny market of 19 million people, the 15th largest destination for U.S. exports. The U.S. has little need for such an agreement as it already has a surplus of A$13.6 billion ($6.6 billion) on two way trade of A$32.8 billion in 1999/2000.

U.S. Agricultural subsidies and other restrictions on Australia’s agricultural exports would be a major target. But US farmers are a strong political lobby and the U.S. is not expected to concede these.

And what would the U.S. want in return? When asked by the Sydney Morning Herald on April 4, Trade minister Vaile said that Australia’s local content rules in film and television, quarantine laws and foreign investment rules were all seen as targets by the US. He said Australia would not ask for any prior exclusions at the start of the talks.

The Screen Producers’ Association, Film Commission and Media unions have strongly defended local content rules and pointed to wide community support and previous bipartisan political support for them. The local content rules are a vital pillar of Australia’s cultural identity which ensure that Australian stories are told on film and television. These rules ensure a local skills base which enables quality films and television programs to be made here.

How can we contemplate reducing quarantine rules in the wake of the Mad Cow and Foot and Mouth disease scares? Australia has investment restrictions only on a few strategic industries like the media, banking ,telecommunications and airlines. If these were to go, all of these industries would be vulnerable to U.S. takeovers.

Some commentators have also raised the possibility of trade offs on defence policy, with the U.S. wanting more active support from Australia for its National Missile Defence system, a system which has been condemned by most countries of the world for undermining historical gains in nuclear disarmament.

All of these would be unacceptable in terms of Australian culture, public interest, health and safety and strategic interests. The Minister has conceded that the negotIiations are likely to be extremely difficult and there is no certainty of an outcome. The negotiations are expected to take at least two years.

Like the Singapore Free Trade Agreement, the talks partly serve as a symbol of continued trade liberalisation while new issues are stalled in the WTO.

Please consider sending the following letter to the Minister expressing your concerns.

"The Hon. Mark Vaile MP
Minister for Trade
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2601

Dear Mr Vaile,

I write to express grave concern that you have begun talks on a US-Australia Free Trade Agreement with little public debate or community consultation.

I am concerned that such a bilateral trade negotiation places Australia in a very weak bargaining position given the relative sizes of the US and Australian economies.

I am alarmed at your comments reported in the Sydney Morning Herald of April 4 that Australia’s local content rules in film and television, quarantine rules , and foreign investment rules are all seen as US targets in the negotiations, and that Australia would not ask for any prior exclusions at the start of the talks.

The local content rules are a vital pillar of Australia’s cultural identity which ensures that Australian stories are told on film and television. These rules ensure a local skills base which enables quality films and television programs to be made here.

How can we contemplate reducing quarantine rules in the wake of the Mad Cow and Foot and Mouth disease scares? Australia has investment restrictions only on a few strategic industries like the media, banking ,telecommunications and airlines. If these were to go, all of these industries would be vulnerable to US takeover.

All of these trade offs would be unacceptable in terms of Australian culture, health and safety, public interest and economic independence.

Given your own estimation of the difficulty of such negotiations and the uncertainty of an outcome, I urge you to suspend further negotiations pending full community consultations.

Yours sincerely,

(Name and Address)"

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4.  Sign the Petition for drug companies to drop their case against South Africa by April 15

Previous AFTINET Bulletins have carried stories on the way in which drug companies are suing their intellectual property rights to restrict access to affordable medicines for the AIDS epidemic. Here is an urgent appeal.