UPDATE – APRIL 2005 PART ONE

 

The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States is a very unfair agreement.

 

Senator Stephen Conroy Labor Shadow Minister for Trade must share as much of the blame as the Howard – Anderson Coalition in that the Labor Government crossed the floor to support the Federal Government’s Free Trade Agreement with the United States prior to the result of a Senate’s inquiry into the FTA.

 

Thousands of concerned Australians contacted the Labor opposition Leader Mark Latham’s Electoral Office and the Labor Senators Australia wide to inform them that the concessions conceded by Federal Trade Minister Mark Vaile and his Bureaucrats could be found on our website: voiceofthepeople.8m.com – Link>>>Update June 2004.

 

Armed with this knowledge the Labor Senators who were our last line of defence crossed the floor and voted with the Government to pass the FTA.

 

Further evidence of Labor’s betrayal can be found on our website, Link – Trading Australia Away.

 

This is a transcript of a debate on the aforementioned topic that was held on Thursday November 13, at Marrickville Town Hall between Shadow Minister for Trade Senator Stephen Conroy and National Secretary of the Manufacturers Workers Union, Doug Cameron.

 

Meet The Press With Paul Bongiorno

 

Interview with CEO Australian industry group Heather Ridout (Extracts) by Sydney Morning Herald’s Peter Hartcher July 25, 2004.

 

Peter Hartcher:

You will be offering reassurances about jobs?

 

Heather Ridout:

You can’t offer reassurances on jobs in a Global Economy.  I mean really the US is only one millionth of the problem.  The Chinese issue, the unrelenting pressure on prices is a much bigger issue for Australian industry than the threat of US competition in our markets.  But you have to say, the technical issues on this agreement will well worked through with the industry and we feel very confident that Australian industry can actually negotiate this market.

 

Peter Hartcher:

Even the most sympathetic economic modeling of the effects of this agreement done by the Centre for International Economics commissioned by the Federal Government, their modeling would have Australian exports increasing under this deal by $3 billion over the next decade of so.  But imports from the US increasing by $6 billion a factor of two to one.  Does this not imply that Australian manufacturing is going to be swamped, that your industries – that your companies are going to be struggling and that Doug Cameron may be right.

 

Heather Ridout:

When an ant has to sit on an elephant there’s always an unequal benefit in absolute terms.  Look, I think our members understand that US Market is the biggest for manufacturing for Australians.  It’s our biggest market.  Our biggest marker for services.  Our biggest investor here.  It’s our second largest trading partner, overall.  To get into that market is a real gain and also areas like wine, autos, we’ve got rid of some tariff spikes in those areas and very importantly, the US procurement market, which has been closed to Australian companies.  A $200 billion market becomes an opportunity for US.

 

We sincerely hope that Heather Ridout holds an honorary position as the CEO of the Australian Industry Group: for her lack of understanding re; the FTA and the concessions the Howard Coalition conceded to the US.  We recommend you have a careful perusal on our website re; Trade Facts a press release from the Executive Office of the United States President for domestic consumption on February 8, 2004.  This allowed the American public to understand that the lopsided Free Trade Agreement with Australia was overwhelmingly in favour of the US.  Link >>>>Update June, 2004.

 

The aforementioned link boasts that Australia will accord substantial market access across its entire services regime to the US including Education and Training (paragraph 4, line 4, titled Access to Services and Investment.  We have no doubt that the Howard – Anderson Liberal – National Coalition have opted to eradicate mandatory university union fees in an effort to divide and conquer the students so that they can, the Government, fulfil their Free Trade obligations and that is to allow American Multi – Nationals to buy all of Australia’s Universities, lock stock and barrel.

 

We recommend all concerned Australians should make contact with their Federal member calling for a public independent inquiry into;

 

  1. What is the truth re; the Free Trade Agreement
  2. That the inquiry look into whether Customs has been trained with attitude and aptitude to overseer the FTA
  3. That the inquiry investigate the watering down of our high quarantine standards by the private company Bio-Security Australia who have reversed long time bans in allowing Philipino bananas who carry the macho and freckles disease – Californian table grapes which have pearces disease and are sprayed with methyl bromide the world’s most dangerous toxins.  Not satisfied with this, Bio-Security Australia is recommending we import apples and pears from countries who have fire blight.
  4. The reason why and who was responsible for the bashing, not once but twice of National Secretary of the Manufacturers Workers Union Doug Cameron.  Doug was the only Union rep to argue against the Free Trade Agreement and we are entitled as Doug is to know was he bashed to shut him up, and by whom.

 

Free Trade with China!

 

Labor opposed a Free Trade deal with the US but is positive about a pact with China.  On Tuesday March 15, 2005 Party Trade Spokesman Simon Crean yesterday told Caucus it should adopt a “positive disposition” to an Australia – China FTA, which was unanimously accepted.

 

A scoping study on a proposed Australia-China FTA will be finished by the end of March.  If it proceeds, it will be one of five FTA’s with negotiations launched yesterday for a sixth with the United Arab Emirates.

 

While Labor is open-minded about entering into Free Trade negotiations with China, it has a set of objectives it wants the Government to adopt.

 

Mr Crean does not want any sector to be carved out of negotiations, as sugar was in the Australia – US FTA.  He said.

 

“Labor will support FTA’s the Government pursues if they genuinely free up trade and are consistent with our multilateral trade objectives.”

 

We have no doubt when you read the transcript of Senator Conroy’s debate with Doug Cameron; Link >>>> Trading Australia Away and you add the aforementioned article to the damning evidence that the Labor party has betrayed their fellow Australians more so their hard working financial branch members and in fact the manner in which they failed to protect us from the devastating FTA, we have no problem with identifying the Howard Coalition and the Beazley Labor opposition as twin soul-mates.

 

Let’s Sell Telstra – And Invest It On The Punt

 

In the Herald Monday March 14, an article by John Garnaeut, use Telstra Sale to fund shares buy up – Minchin.

 

The Government should sell its Telstra shares to buy a portfolio of other income earning investments the Financial Minister Nick Minchin, has said.  Senator Minchin appeared to propose that much of the Government’s estimated $30 to $35 billion from selling its half share in Telstra should be poured into its future fund, an investment vehicle to be controlled by private sector managers. 

 

He said Government money should not be spent on infrastructure, despite several recent reports arguing that inadequate railways, ports, utilities and other facilities have hampered exports and are acting as a handbrake on the economy.  This statement from a man who is part of a Government who says Australians must be judged by their rate of productivity.  Would Senator Minchin take note that what he wants to sell Telstra for, we can earn in less than 8 years and still retain ownership of almost 52% of Telstra.

 

I would remind Senator Minchin his colleague the Treasurer Peter Costello a few years ago gambled $5 billion of Australian Tax payer’s money on the foreign currency exchange and lost the lot.

 

Malcolm Supports a Transaction Tax

 

Malcolm Turnbull’s call for major tax cuts for everyone but more so the big earners leave no doubt in my mind that a transaction tax would be a suitable replacement for the goods and services tax.  GST was introduced to stamp out the black economy but according to the Sunday Telegraph’s January 30, 2005 special investigation cash deals beat taxes index <<< Update March 2005 – article 5.

 

Billions now spent on secret black economy by Sarah Blake.  In fact the University of Technology’s Doctor Christopher Bajada estimates that in 2003 the black economy was calculated at 14% of gross domestic product an avoidance of $28 billion.

 

Surely Mr Turnbull and Treasurer Costello realise that a 1 ½ % Transaction tax will benefit all Australians including labourers, nurses, teachers, farmer’s small business owners and truckies and at the same time will double the Federal Government’s Annual Budget.  But more importantly it would not be possible for the big end of town to avoid paying their fair share of tax, and this would wipe out any bracket creep by Treasurer Costello’s so called Tax Cut.

 

Dr. Frank Conningham who is one of the few in Australia having ever achieved 3 Doctorates 2 of which he gained simultaneously at Cornell and Stanford Universities in the USA, for Physics, mathematics and science.

Link – Update – January 2005

 

Slave Labor – Alive And Well

 

It’s amazing that from time to time the federal authorities’ raid building sites, the hospitality and sex industries catching out illegal immigrants some who haven’t overstayed their visas but have arrived in our country by illegal methods.  Although many have been deported or placed in detention centres the federal authorities have failed to prosecute those industries responsible for hiring illegal immigrants and paying them slave wages, as well as evading taxes by paying their workers cash in hand.  Why has the Australian Taxation Office been negligent in carrying out their duties?

 

 

Cross Media Censorship Is “Alive” And Well

 

The majority of the print media re: letters to the editor appear to publish the letters they’re concerned about more so than, what concerns their readers may have.  For the six weeks preceding the 2004 Federal Election not one talk back radio show with the exception of 2SM’s midnight to dawn host Tad Pierson and Breakfast host 5am – 9am Grant Goldman addressed the Free Trade Agreement.

 

Political journalists from both the print and TV medium remained silent about the FTA.  WHY?

 

The following Universities’ Students Association, Council or Guild re: The Howard coalition conceded to the United States includes the sale of our education and training to foreign multi-nationals. We also alerted them to the fact that the federal governments move to abolish mandatory union fees for students is part of a plan to divide and conquer student members so that they weaken any protests on the sale of Australian Universities.

 

In alphabetical order are the universities we contacted,

Australian National        (ACT)

Charles Sturt                     (Bathurst)

Launceston                        (Tasmania)

Newcastle

New England                     (Northern NSW )

Macquarie

Melbourne

Monash

Queensland

South Australia

UTS Sydney

Western Australia

West Sydney

Wollongong

 

We alluded to this subject; Link>>>>update December, 2004