Doug Cameron on Free Trade Agreement

The free traders are at it again! Tony Abbott has declared that the Coalition want to conclude "free trade" talks with China within 12 months and that Australia would sign up for "whatever we can get".

History has shown that the benefits of so-called "free trade" agreements are massively exaggerated by governments and their economic advisers and the negative consequences are minimised and/or ignored.

Modelling will be rolled out claiming massive economic benefits as a result of "dynamic gains".

As Prof John Quiggin has said, these gains are based on unrealistic assumptions and have no real supporting evidence.

It has always concerned me that good, well-paid jobs can be sacrificed on the altar of "free trade" with Australian workers having to compete with workers who are exploited, have no access to core labour standards and little access to health and safety provisions at work.

In addition many overseas countries provide tax breaks and incentives to multinational companies while providing an unfair advantage due to poor environmental legislation and standards.

In the case of the US in the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) they demand stronger patents on medicines which would delay cheaper generic medicines and mean higher prices for medicines, and less regulation of prices through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS)

Negotiations by the Abbott government for bilateral or multilateral agreements should meet the following standards:

• Text for proposed agreements should be publicly available so that informed public debate can take place on proposed agreements.
• Investor/state dispute procedures should be rejected if they have the capacity to enforce outcomes that diminish Australia's capacity to legislate for health, education, and infrastructure investment in the national interest.
• No extension of patents on medicines  and no changes to the PBS which would mean higher prices for medicines
• Australia's capacity to protect its environment should be maintained
• Independent social impact assessments should be made of any proposed free trade agreements.
• Economic claims of benefits should be subject to independent scrutiny.
• The issue of core labour standards and worker exploitation must be addressed in any agreement.
• The "benefits" of trade agreements must be clear and unequivocal and, in the national interest.
• Any proposed agreement must be subject to parliamentary inquiries and open debate in the House of Representatives and the Senate.