another howard failure, page-2

Geez you talk rubbish Finnet. Until 2003 there was only 1 free trade agreement with New Zealand. Howard's era introduced FTAs with US, Singapore and Thailand. Rudd introduced FTAs with Chile and ASEAN. Gillard is negotiating FTAs with China, Malaysia, Korea, Indonesia and a couple of co-operations.

The effects of free trade agreements are not easily measurable. There are negatives and there are positives. These negatives and positives can depend on the particular industry and the dynamics and can change rapidly as economic conditions change. You cannot summarise FTAs in black and white.

The theoretical cost of FTAs, according to these reports, are a fraction of what the government plans on wasting on the NBN. Please keep it all relative.