fta, latham and the unions....

This should be interesting how Latham handles the unions and the almost certain dissent this will cause.


Senate inquiry backs trade deal
August 2, 2004

A SENATE inquiry will recommend that the ALP support the proposed Free Trade Agreement between Australia and the United States.

Labor senators said today that there remained areas of concern with the FTA, but it was overwhelmingly in Australia's interest.

"It is recommended that the Senate pass the appropriate legislation that will give effect to the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement," Labor senators said in a statement.

A Senate committee has spent the past five months investigating the deal that was agreed upon by the US and Australian governments in February.

The Labor senators said the agreement dudded sugar farmers and had not delivered on the mutual recognition of academic qualifications.










They accused the Government of trying to rush the agreement through without proper scrutiny of the detail.

"The Government has attempted to harass the Parliament and the Australian people into accepting an agreement that has enormous implications for our national interest," they said.

"It seems there will be an overall economic benefit, but Australia's national interest must always be considered in more than just economic terms."

The Labor senators recommended that before any more free trade agreements were entered into, the Government should table a document setting out its priorities and comprehensive information about the expected impact.

The statement would then be referred to a parliamentary committee to report within 90 days and negotiations would not begin until Parliament had endorsed the committee's recommendations and agreed to go ahead within the deal.

AAP