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The Australia-US Free Trade Agreement in the Media

January - March 2004

March 30, 2004, Asia Pulse, "Australian Senate Again Stymies Telstra Privatisation Bill"

Plans to sell off the government's majority stake in Telstra appear doomed again, with Labor and the minor parties vowing to block its sale. Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown claimed the free trade deal with the United States was the motivator behind the renewed push to sell Telstra. Read the full text here.

March 29, 2004, AAP, "Farmer confidence falls across nation"

The bulk of farmers are unconvinced the federal government's Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States will benefit them, according to the latest quarterly Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey. Just over one third (34 per cent) of farmers said the FTA would have a positive effect on the rural sector, while 31 per cent believe it would have a negative to little effect. Read the full text here.

27 March 2004, News Weekly, "Australia-US trade deal a monumental folly" by Colin Teese

Folly involves the pursuit of a policy position which is against the self-interest of the state in question. Colin Teese, a Deputy Secretary of the Department of Trade and GATT negotiator for Australia, argues that the FTA is a monumental folly. Read the full text here.

27 March 2004, News Weekly, "The PM, farmers, the FTA and the election", by Pat Byrne

The Federal Government doesn't appear to have recognised the systemic collapse taking place across several rural commodity industries, partly the result of National Competition Policy (NCP), and appears set to sacrifice several other industries in the pursuit of the free trade agreement with the US. Read the full text here.

March 26, 2004, ABC News, "Howard's US trip more than symbolic: Downer"

The Foreign Minister says it is not clear whether a free trade deal between Australia and the United States will go ahead, even though the Prime Minister is planning to travel to Washington in May to sign the agreement. Alexander Downer says the signing is the main point of the trip, even though the deal could still be blocked by the US Congress or the Australian Senate. Read the full text here.

March 26, 2004, ABC News, "Howard 'ignoring Parliament' with FTA trip"

Greens Senator Bob Brown says that if Prime Minister John Howard plans to visit the United States to sign a free trade agreement in May, the trip is premature. Read the full text here.

March 25, 2004, ABC News, "Howard plans US free trade trip"

The Prime Minister is planning a trip to Washington in May to sign the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Australia and the United States. The ABC understands planning is in progress for John Howard to fly to Washington after the budget is delivered in May. The trip is primarily to sign off on the FTA with the US President. Read the full text here.

23 March, 2003, ABC Rurual News, "FTA criticised by US industry panels"

There's been broad criticism of the Australia-US free trade deal from industry advisory panels in America. The advisory panels praise limits on new US market access for Australian beef and dairy, but complain to US trade ambassador Bob Zoellick the deal is "not comprehensive", imposes no new disciplines on Australia's export monopolies, and does not deal "effectively" with Australia's quarantine measures. Read the full text here.

March 22, 2004, AAP, "Workers unsure of FTA benefits"

More local workers think the new free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States will harm Australian employment than help it, a new survey has found. The quarterly Job Futures/Saulwick Employee Sentiment survey conducted recently found 26 per cent of workers thought the FTA would harm employment, while only 19 per cent thought it would help. Read the full text here.

March 19, 2004, The Drawing Board: An Australian Review of Public Affairs, "Pharmaceutical benefits and free trade: trouble ahead for subsidised medicines in Australia?", By Ken Harvey

We have reason to worry about the FTA. The principles of the agreement focus entirely on the rights of manufacturers of innovative pharmaceutical products, neglecting the rights of consumers to gain access to affordable drugs. The agreement leaves out the key principle that trade agreements should be interpreted and implemented to protect public health and promote universal access to medicines. Read the full text here.

18 March 2004, Hobart Mercury, "US unions condemn trade deal" By Roy Eccleston

AMERICAN unions have attacked the proposed US-Australia free trade agreement as unacceptable and likely to cost US jobs in official reports to Congress, which will decide whether the deal goes ahead. An alleged lack of protection for child workers, restrictions on workers' rights to choose their union and limits on workers' ability to bargain collectively also were cited as examples of Australia's "imbalanced, inadequate" labour laws. Read the full text here.

March 17, 2004, ABC Rural News, "Government denies changes to quarantine over FTA" 

The Federal Government has come out firing over comments by America's most powerful farm lobby group, which says it will support the free trade deal with Australia as long as quarantine issues are resolved. The American Farm Bureau says it will support the free trade deal, but it expects more progress in the future when it comes to quarantine restrictions on US pork, poultry, fruit and vegetables. Read the full text here.

March 17, 2004, The Age, "Report ordered on US trade deal" By Philip Hopkins

The Federal Government has commissioned new economic modelling to assess the economic effect of the US free trade agreement on Australia. The work is being done by the Centre for International Economics in Canberra, a consulting group that did a similar report several years ago. Read the full text here.

13 March 2004, ABC Rural News, "Productivity Commission concerned over trade deals"

The Productivity Commission has raised concerns that trade deals such as Australia's agreement with the United States could hurt the economy. In its annual report tabled in Federal Parliament, the commission says bilateral trade agreements may lead to increased costs and trade diversion. Read the full text here.

March 12, 2004, Sydney Morning Herald, "Open source advocates wary of FTA", By Sam Varghese

Australian open source developers and advocates are wary of the free trade agreement (FTA) struck with the US, saying it would lead to the acceptance of American-style patent and intellectual property laws which, in turn, would cripple the local software industry. Read the full text here.

March 11, 2004, The Sydney Morning Herald, "Australian drug costs will rise with FTA deal: US official", By John Garnaut

The US trade deal is the first step in a campaign to raise global pharmaceutical prices, a US Senate finance committee heard yesterday. Contradicting the Prime Minister, John Howard, America's top trade official told the committee that the cost of Australian drugs would be changed under the agreement. Read the full text here.

March 11, 2004, ABC News, "Drug prices to rise under US trade deal: ALP"

The Federal Opposition says there is now more evidence that Australian drug prices will rise under the free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States. The US's chief negotiator on the deal, Bob Zoellick, has reportedly told a US Senate committee the price of drugs in Australia will change as development costs are shared more evenly. Read the full text here.

March 10, 2004, ABC TV, Lateline, "Aust, US trade deal scrutinised

The Australian, US free trade agreement has finally made its way into Congress with the White House's most senior trade representative talking up its virtues to a Senate committee today. Unfortunately for backers of the FTA, the committee is looking at the legislative morass that is sinking the chances of the US signing any trade deals this year as protecting US jobs becomes a key issue in the presidential race. Read the full text here.

March 10, 2004, ABC Rural News, "Bush administration begins to sell Australian FTA"

The Bush administration has made its first pitch to the US Congress to sell the free trade deal with Australia. "US Trade Ambassador Bob Zoellick told the Senate Finance Committee the deal means $2 billion in added US exports, and while most of the benefits go to manufacturing, Zoellick was careful to play up the benefits to the politically sensitive. Read the full text here.

March 10, 2004, ABC Radio National Perspective, "'The Australian Interest' Challenge to the Australian Government", By Linda Weiss and Elizabeth Thurbon

The recent release of the legal text of the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has raised more questions than it has answered about the deal’s likely impact on the Australian economy. Read the full transcript here.

10 March 2004, ZDNet Australia, "Electronic Frontiers board member attacks trade deal", By Abby Dinham

An Electronics Frontiers Australia (EFA) board member had critically assessed the AUSFTA released on 1 March, concluding that the document presents "absolutely no benefit to Australia in the IP sections". EFA board member, Dale Clapperton, says the proposed agreement will impinge on the rights of ISPs and Internet users in favour of the American copyright holders. Read the full text here.

March 9, 2004, ABC News, "Aust nominates FTA analyst"

The Federal Government has chosen the Centre for International Economics (CIE) as the firm to assess the financial benefits of Australia's free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States. But Democrats' trade spokesman Aden Ridgeway says he expects the Government will be told what it wants to hear. "What they've done is developed a process that gives a job to the boys and gives them more favourable comment," Senator Ridgeway said. Read the full text here.

March 9, 2004, The Age, "The detail of the FTA is teeming with devils", By Ross Buckley

John Howard went into this expecting mates' rates. Now we know he didn't get them. Read the full text here.

March 9, 2004, ABC Rural News, "Chicken processor fears quarantine compromise"

One of the country's largest chicken meat processors is worried Australia's quarantine standards will be compromised by the free trade agreement with the United States.
Chairman of Barrter Enterprises, Peter Barrter, says the establishment of a joint quarantine working group might put trade issues ahead of biosecurity. Read the full text here.

March 8, 2004, ABC News, "Drug prices 'certain to rise' under FTA"

The Federal Government has been accused of misleading Australians about the effect of the free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). Doctor's Reform Society spokesman Dr Robert Marr met with the FTA chief negotiator on Monday. Dr Marr says the cost of prescription medicines will almost certainly rise. Read the full text here.

March 5, 2004, Australian IT, "FTA forces ISP 'takedown' regime", By Stuart Kennedy

UNDER the Free Trade Agreement, Australia has agreed to the US "takedown notice" regime where copyright owners can force an internet service provider (ISP) to remove material such as music, video or text files by serving written notice. The move follows promises made in the first FTA announcement last month that Australia would "harmonise" its intellectual property laws with those of the US. Read the full text here.

March 5, 2004, ABC News, "Food producers reject US FTA"

A farmer and meat exporter from Victoria's Upper Murray has described the free trade deal with the United States as a disaster. Kevin Bowtell believes beef, sugar and grain producers will all lose out because of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA). "We've opened the doors to America and how we're going to be able to save from being subjected to the dumping of subsidised stock I don't know, and Australian farmers as far as I can see get nothing out of it." Read the full text here.

March 5, 2004, The Age, "Trade details spell big hurdles", By Josh Gordon & David Wroe

The free trade deal with the United States is heading for a major parliamentary showdown, with Labor and the minor parties claiming the fine print would undermine Australia's subsidised drug scheme and result in an even worse deal for farmers. Read the full text here.

March 5, 2004, The Age, "Drugs costs could break deal: ALP", By David Wroe

The long-awaited wording of the free trade agreement has failed to dispel fears that Australians face higher drug prices and a blow-out in the cost of the taxpayer-funded Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Announcing the "devil is in the detail", Labor trade spokesman Stephen Conroy said the threat to the PBS remained the "deal-breaker" that could mean the Opposition blocks the agreement in the Senate. Read the full text here.

March 5, 2004, The Age, "Film,TV industry reeling", By Gabriella Coslovich

The worst fears of the Australian film and television industry were confirmed in the fine print of the free trade agreement yesterday. As suspected, the local content regulations applying to new media such as pay TV and multi-channelling, are set so low the industry fears for the future of Australian products in these areas. Read the full text here.

March 5, 2004, The Age, US can impose tariff on beef forever" By Josh Gordon

America will be allowed to put tariffs on Australian beef and horticultural exports to protect against low prices, the 1000-page free trade agreement with the United States has revealed. Read the full text here.

March 5, 2004, The Age, "Australian ship builders unwelcome in US waters" By Ian Porter

The free trade agreement with the US will not open the American market to Australian ship building - an industry that leads the world and is super-competitive. Read the full text here.

March 5, 2004, The Age, "Australia's protectionist wall falls, but there's no dancing in the streets" By Malcolm Maiden

If you were wondering whether dismantling trade barriers is worth the effort, take a deep breath and read the schedule of Australian customs duties affected by the proposed trade deal with the US. Read the full text here.

March 4, 2004, AAP, "Vaile backs away from FTA claims"

Trade Minister Mark Vaile today appeared to downplay the direct economic benefit of a free trade deal with the United States. Mr Vaile said the deal would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Australia, with most of that depending on the willingness of the nation's business to take up the opportunities offered by the deal. It was far short of the deal the government, including Mr Vaile, said would be worth up to $4 billion to the Australian economy. Read the full text here.

March 4, 2004, AAP, "Greens to oppose FTA in Senate"

The Australian Greens today vowed to vigorously oppose the free trade deal with the United States and urged Labor to block the deal in the Senate. Greens Senator Bob Brown said the 1,000-page document, which was released today, should worry any Australian citizen. Read the full text here.

March 4, 2004, AAP, "Claims FTA will harm local TV content"

The Australia-United States free trade agreement (FTA) was negative for TV and screen producers and directors, the Screen Directors Association (SDA) said today. SDA executive director Richard Harris said the release of the FTA confirmed what the producers already knew and that was an overall negative result for them. Read the full text here.

March 4, 2004, AAP, "Drug companies can challenge PBS rules: advocate"

United States pharmaceutical companies would be able to challenge decisions made by the body which determines whether medicines get on to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), a consumer advocate said today. These companies would also have the right to directly advertise their products to Australians under terms of the free trade agreement, Dr Patricia Ranald of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre at the University of NSW said. Read the full text here.

March 4, 2004, AAP, "Trade deal under microscope"

Labor is set to demand separate economic modelling of the benefits of the free trade deal with the United States. Opposition trade spokesman Stephen Conroy said today a Senate committee that is to examine the agreement will call for its own economic analysis. Read the full text here.

4 March 2004, AAP, "Opposition fears farmers dudded in free trade deal"

Labor today called for a Productivity Commission analysis of the free trade deal with the United States amid fears farmers have been dudded. The 1,000-page document was released publicly today after being delayed. Read the full text here.

4 March 2004, The Australian, "Trade deal worse than was touted" By Christine Wallace, Robert Lusetich and Roy Eccleston

The free trade deal between Australia and the US gives Australian farmers fewer benefits than publicly claimed, according to a secret public service document. A paper summarising the farm side of the FTA, obtained by The Australian, shows US farmers can call on price safeguards for a far wider range of goods than realised to limit Australian exports should market conditions turn against them. Read the full text here.

4 March 2004, ABC Radio National, AM, "Australia-US FTA details officially released", By Stephen Long

It's been touted as being a once in a generation chance for Australians, and now for those who want to read all about it, Australia's free trade deal with the United States is there for everyone to see. The detail of which industry from which country gets access to what is contained in the 1,100-page document. Read the full text here.

4 March 2004, ABC Radio National, AM, "Film industry worried about local content provisions in FTA", By Nick Grimm

One area of concern has been local content on new media, some of detail released this morning is worrying to the Screen Directors Association. Read the full text here.

4 March 2004, ABC Radio National, AM, "FTA: Opposition concerned about farmers, media, pharmaceuticals", By Matt Brown

When the Free Trade Agreement was first announced last month, the Federal Opposition warned that based on the information that was then available it would scuttle the deal. So with the release of the detail, has the Opposition changed its mind? Read the full text here.

4 March 2004, ABC Radio National, AM, "Free Trade Agreement process isn't over for Mark Vaile", By Matt Brown

The Trade Minister Mark Vaile spent weeks of exhausting negotiations hammering out the free trade deal, and at times it looked like it would be scuttled. He must now explain the mountain of detail in this agreement and defend the Government's case that the deal will be an economic boon for Australia. Read the full text here.

4 March 2004, ABC Radio National, The World Today, "Free Trade Deal details made public", By Stephen Long

The long awaited full text of the free trade agreement was finally released overnight. And as they say, the devil is in the detail. Key interest groups such as farmers, public health advocates and the entertainment industry, have had some of their fears confirmed. But the text has assuaged other concerns, as well as raising some new questions. Read the full text here.

4 March 2004, ABC Radio National, The World Today, "FTA critic says intellectual property provisions favour US companies", By Hamish Robertson

The free trade agreement could drive up costs for schools and universities, kill off our budding pharmaceutical and bio-tech sector, and see young people fined and jailed for downloading music from the net. That's the view of a leading Australian expert on intellectual property law, Professor Peter Drahos from the Australian National University. Read the full text here.

4 March 2004, ABC Radio National, The World Today, "FTA: Stephen Deady addresses the tariff safeguard on beef" By Hamish Robertson

Australia's Chief FTA negotiator Stephen Deady has begun the job of promoting the success of the agreement, but only after admitting that he lobbied heavily against the US plan to adopt a so-called 'safeguard' mechanism on beef that would trigger possible tariffs after the 18 year phase in period. Read the full text here.

4 March 2004, ABC Radio National, The World Today, "Agricultural producers unhappy about FTA 'trigger mechanisms'" By Nick Grimm

Despite comments by Stephen Deady, Australia's chief FTA negotiator, agricultural producers are still very unhappy about the so-called trigger mechanisms that are contained in the detail of the Free Trade Agreement. As we've been hearing, beef, dairy and horticultural producers will have their exports hit by American duties if competitions causes prices for those goods to fall in the United States. Read the full text here.

4 March 2004, ABC Radio National, The World Today, "Warren Truss says FTA means gains for farmers " By Alexandra Kirk

The Federal Agriculture Minister Warren Truss is insisting the Free Trade Agreement does open up potentially significant gains for Australian farmers without any losses. Mr Truss told Alexandra Kirk in Canberra that the horticultural and beef industries will do well out of the deal. Read the full text here.

March 2, 2004, Sydney Morning Herald, "Free trade deal tested as Labor threatens blockade" By John Garnaut and Matt Wade

Labor has set up a parliamentary showdown with the Federal Government over the passage of the US trade deal, setting an onerous three-part test the deal must pass or risk being blocked in the Senate. On the eve of the release of the full 900-page text of the agreement, the shadow trade minister, Stephen Conroy, said yesterday that Labor would block the deal if it added any costs to consumers or taxpayers in relation to the pharmaceutical benefits scheme. Read the full text here.

March 02, 2004, "Buy American! After this FTA not much will be made in Australia." By Doug Cameron

There has been much commentary about the likely positive or negative impact of the proposed Australian US Free Trade Agreement. This agreement was negotiated in secret, and even since its announcement very little real detail has been made available to the public. On the available evidence, the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union has real concerns that this agreement will be bad for our industry, bad for manufacturing workers and bad for Australia overall. Read the full text here.

March 2, 2004, ABC Radio National AM, "Free trade deal negotiators in conflict"

It's been revealed that as the exhausting negotiations concluded in Washington, officials warned the Government of the damage the treaty would do to Australia's trade credentials, and disagreements emerged within the Australian negotiating team itself. Read the full text here.

February 29, 2004, ABC Radio News, "Democrats want quarantine inquiry"

The Australian Democrats are calling for a broad inquiry into the integrity of Australia's quarantine system. Last week Biosecurity Australia made the decision to allow Filipino bananas, New Zealand apples and American pig meat to be imported into the Australian market. The Democrats Agriculture Spokesman, John Cherry, says the free trade agreement with the US has led to trade officials being involved in quarantine decisions, which were previously only made by scientists. Read the full text here.

February 20, 2004, The Age, "Latham shifts to neutral on free trade agreement", By Tim Colebatch

Opposition Leader Mark Latham is subtly shifting towards a neutral position on the free trade agreement with the United States, as the first poll on the issue found the Australian public is evenly divided. Mr Latham, who said last week that Labor would oppose the deal if it had to vote then, said yesterday it was not possible to make a final decision until the full agreement and annexes has been made public, modelled and assessed. Read the full text here.

19 February 2004, Courier-Mail, "Latham hints at trade backflip", By Shane Wright and Malcolm Cole

LABOR may abandon its opposition to the free trade deal with the US after party leader Mark Latham yesterday argued an inquiry could find it is in the national interest. "If at the end of the day it's in Australia's national interest then of course the way is open (to support the deal)," he said at the National Press Club in Canberra. Read the full text here.

17 February 2004, The Age, "This trade deal could have been better. But Howard blinked", By Tim Colebatch

The more we learn about this agreement the less good it looks for Australia. The free trade agreement with the US nearly collapsed during the final negotiations in Washington. Trade Minister Mark Vaile and his officials were several times at the point of walking out and flying home over the miserly US offer on agriculture. In the end, it was John Howard who decided to accept the offer rather than risk getting nothing. Read the full text here.

February 17, 2004, Online Opinion, "Is the opportunity cost of our FTA with the US better trade with Asia?" By Greg Barns

Australia has found it difficult since the demise in 1996 of the vigorously pro-Asian integration Prime Minister, Paul Keating, to penetrate Asian dialogue. The FTA with the US will not help that important cause and this is likely to be to Australia’s long-term economic detriment. Read the full text here.

February 17, 2004, Online Opinion, "So, what difference will the Free Trade Agreement actually make to our lives?", By Jane Drake-Brockman

The Free Trade Agreement with the United States will change, at least at the margins, the direction of the next generation's lives. Culturally and economically. Read the full text here.

16 February 2004, The Australian, "No way to sweeten the pill for sugar", By Robert Gottliebsen

In the sugar industry, Australia may have to either follow Brazil and Thailand and adapt to the real world, or simply get out of the business. The current sugar situation shows that the policies of the past 20 years are simply not working. The US free trade agreement impasse showed that the global sugar subsidy system is more entrenched than any other rural cartel. Read the full text here.

15 February 2004, The Age, "Consumers to pay price for sugar exclusion in FTA", By Shane Wright

Consumers will pay the price for the federal government's failure to get sugar access for Australian farmers into the corrupted United States market. Trade Minister Mark Vaile today conceded it would be taxpayers who ended up covering the cost of a sugar industry rescue package the government is mounting to help growers. And he left open the chance of increasing the three cents a kilogram levy already in place to cover a previous sugar rescue package. Read the full text here.

14 February 2004 , The Australian, "Getting the best medicine?", By Clara Pirani

With the ink not yet dry on the long-awaited free trade agreement with the US, the war of words over the controversial Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme began in earnest this week. Depending on who you talked to, the agreement will protect the integrity of the scheme or will, as critics warn , force Australians to pay more for essential prescription drugs. Read the full text here.

February 14, 2004, The Age, "Howard turns up rhetoric on trade deal", By Tim Colebatch

As Mr Howard turned up the rhetoric on the free trade deal with the US - describing it as "the most important trade agreement that Australia has signed in more than a generation" - a leading campaigner against the deal revealed that the Government had signed a pledge to the US Government to privatise Telstra as part of the agreement. Read the full text here.

14 February 2004, Sydney Morning Herald, "One-sided deals impede multilateral trade", By Ross Gittins

Good news for the opponents of globalisation: it's looking like the half-century-long trend of falling barriers to international trade may be grinding to a halt. And this week's preferential trade deal with the United States may add to the traction. Much of the huge increase in trade between countries since World War II is attributable to the reduction in tariffs barriers brought about by eight successive rounds of multilateral trade negotiations under the auspices of what is now the World Trade Organisation. Read the full text here.

13 February 2004, The Age, "Fate of trade deal in Senate's hands", By Tim Colebatch

The fate of Australia's free trade agreement with the United States is now in the hands of Labor and the minor parties, after Trade Minister Mark Vaile warned yesterday it could collapse if the Senate blocks legislation needed to implement parts of the deal. While Australia's Parliament is not required to approve the agreement - unlike the US Congress - some key parts will require legislative approval, including sweeping changes to intellectual property rules, foreign investment criteria and tariffs. Read the full text here.

13 February 2004, The Australian, "FTA: we should've walked", By Michael Costello

You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em. Know when to walk away. And know when to run. It is a pity John Howard was not smart enough to take kenny Rogers's advice when it came to the free trade agreement with the US. Like so many negotiators before him, the pressure to do a deal - any deal - became just too much. He could not bring himself to walk away. And so we end up with a dud agreement. Read the full text here.

February 13, 2004, The Age, "Let's rid the free trade debate of anti-Americanism", By Tony Parkinson.

For Australia, the FTA carries the presumption that, whether in wine, cars or financial services, our entrepreneurs, large and small, have the energy and imagination to compete in the world's biggest and most dynamic market. Read the full text here.

February 12, 2004, The Age, "Government edgy on $4bn FTA claim", By Josh Gordon and Tim Colebatch

The Federal Government appears to have backed away from claims that the free trade deal with the United States will reap $4 billion worth of benefits. Prime Minister John Howard and senior ministers have over the past few days asserted that the deal would bring an immediate benefit of $4 billion. But yesterday Treasurer Peter Costello refused to put a number on it. Read the full text here.

February 12, 2004, The Age, "Questions grow over FTA"

All Australians will have to shoulder the burden of saving the sugar industry, the government warned on Wednesday as questions arose about the true benefits of a free trade deal with the United States. Experts who estimated the free trade deal would boost the Australian economy by $4 billion a year have backed away from the claim, with suggestions it may now actually hurt the rural sector. Read the full text here.

February 12, 2004, The Age,"Will trade be Latham's Tampa?", By Gregory Hywood.

The smart move for Latham on the FTA would have been to defer judgement - send it to the Senate for investigation, express concern for those who may have missed out, emphasise the need to get across the detail. Instead, Latham came out blazing. "Based on what we know at this stage, this deal doesn't appear to be in the national interest," he said. "If we were asked to vote on it today, we would be opposing it." This is a decision Latham will regret. Read the full text here.

11 February 2004, Sydney Morning Herald, "Preferential trade is closer to mark", By Ross Gittins

The first thing to understand about the free trade agreement with the United States is that, despite the name, it's got nothing to do with free trade. In consequence, the second thing is that, despite the grandiose claims being made, it doesn't amount to much. Assuming the deal goes ahead, you'll need a microscope to see the difference it makes to our economy - as the Howard Government's own studies show. Read the full text here.

11 February 2004, The Australian, "PBS review tribunal to go behind closed doors", By Misha Schubert

A new review process handing powerful drug companies a third chance to lobby for their products to be listed on the nation's taxpayer-subsidised medicines scheme could be allowed to operate in secret. Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott has refused to rule out letting the new review tribunal run its hearings behind closed doors - rather than in open court, as occurs now. The extra appeals mechanism was included in the new trade agreement between Australia and the US. Read the full text here.

11 February 2004, The Australian, "US industry slams the omissions", By Roy Eccleston

Sugar' exclusion from the free trade deal has prompted widespread anger and dismay across US industries. The exclusion of Australian sugar growers infuriated other US farmers, manufacturers and some members of Congress, who claimed it would hurt America in future as other countries sought to exclude their sensitive industries from trade deals. Read the full text here.

11 February 2004, The Australian, "PM forced into sugar rescue", By Steve Lewis

Australia's struggling sugar industry will be offered another multi-million dollar bail-out, as the Howard Government moves to avoid a rural backlash following its landmark trade pact with the US that excludes a deal on sugar. The Government has also stepped up its attack on Labor's position on the trade deal, describing it as "anti-American" in a preview of the looming election tussle. Read the full text here.

11 February 2004, Sydney Morning Herald, "Labor's assault on trade deal branded US-bashing", By Tom Allard and Matt Wade

The Federal Government yesterday moved to exploit the political divide over its free trade deal with the US, attacking Labor's economic credentials and labelling it anti-American for criticising the agreement. But the Opposition refused to budge from its in-principle rejection of the deal, vowing to campaign heavily in rural seats to win the support of disgruntled farmers and saying the Government's claim of an economic windfall lacked substance. Read the full text here.

11 February 2004, The Australian, "Welcome mat for US campuses", By Dorothy Illing

A free trade in higher education could see US universities setting up campuses in Australia receiving the same benefits as local institutions, while competing for staff, students and research funding. Their students might even be able to access the new student loan scheme, FEE-HELP, under the deal which prohibits preferential treatment for local institutions. Dual recognition of qualifications, access for US operators wanting to set up in Australia, standards and intellectual property are among the issues being pondered while the sector awaits more detail. Read the full text here.

11 February 2004, Australian Financial Review, "PM, Latham trade insults over US deal", By Laura Tingle

The federal government yesterday stepped up its attempts to portray Labor's opposition to the US free-trade agreement as anti-American, as it came under increased pressure to quantify the benefits of the deal. The government will push for swift parliamentary approval of the FTA, even though the full details will not be released for weeks and two competing committees will first examine the terms. Read the full text here.

11 February  2004, ABC Radio National, Perspective, "The Government Must Be Crazy", by Elizabeth Thurbon and Linda Weiss

The proposed Free Trade deal with the US tabled this week is cause for great alarm for many parts of the Australian community. Keep in mind that despite the government’s rhetoric, our current trade relationship with the US is not profitable for this country. While some individual Australian exporters certainly profit from their sales to the US, as a country we don’t, because we buy so much more than we sell. Read the full text here.

February 10, 2004, The Australian, "Exports set to be long-term winner, By David Uren

AUSTRALIA'S exports to the US will grow faster than imports, John Howard declared after announcing the opening up of the $50 billion goods, services and investment trade between the two nations. The Prime Minister, and many experts, stressed the benefits of the trade agreement would be seen over the long term, rebuffing criticisms that Australia had accepted an inferior deal. Read the full text here.

February 10, 2004, The Australian, "Clayton's agreement to produce $160m for farmers", By Asa Wahlquist,

THE free trade agreement could generate an extra $160 million for Australian farmers in its first year despite the federal Government's failure to secure better access to US markets for beef and sugar growers. President of the National Farmers Federation Peter Corish estimates the agreement will be worth between $130 million and $160 million to farmers in its first year and more than $500 million annually within 15 years. Read the full text here.

February 10, 2004, The Australian, "Utes a handy pick-up for local car-makers", By Neil McDonald

HOLDEN's iconic Australian ute could become one of the big winners under the FTA. The zero tariff regime may pave the way for left-hand-drive utilities to be sold in the US within two or three years. Read the full text here.

February 10, 2004, The Australian, "Tuna industry to make 'money for nothing'" By Rebecca DiGirolamo

THE unprecedented removal of 48 trade tariffs has opened up the $12 billion US market to Australian seafood exporters, instantly boosting local companies hit hard by the rising dollar and the SARS outbreak. The Howard Government's FTA with the United States will at once abolish duty taxes ranging from 5 per cent to 35 per cent on Australian seafood exports. Read the full text here.

February 10, 2004, The Australian, "Cost of subsidised drugs will rise: critics" By Misha Schubert

TAXPAYERS face a bigger bill for subsidised medicines, consumer advocates and health economists claimed yesterday. While the Government insisted an FTA with the US would not push up the price of drugs for consumers, experts feared it could threaten the long-term viability of Australia's subsidised medicine scheme. Read the full text here.

February 10, 2004, The Australian, "Compromise sells us short: premiers," By Michael Bachelard

PETER Beattie was the exception among the Labor premiers yesterday by having something postive to say about the free trade deal, predicting it would boost many parts of the economy, but he labelled the omission of sugar as "a shocker". The others expressed deep disappointment with the deal, saying they had supported it strongly in theory, but in practice it delivered little. Read the full text here.

February 10, 2004, The Australian, "Outcome a turn-off for film and television", By Lynden Barber

THE local film and television industry will be worse off, according to the peak producers body. Despite the Howard Government's claims to have protected the sector, "the Australian audio-visual industries are worse off than we were on Sunday", Screen Producers Association of Australia chief executive Geoff Brown said. "It seems that we are the only sector that has conceded anything; we are even worse off than the cane producers." Read the full text here.

10 February 2004, The Australian,"FTA worsens our woeful trade outlook", By Ross Garnaut

Australia's dreadful trade problems have just become worse. The signing of a poor Free Trade Agreement with the US will make it more difficult to correct the longest period of declining exports for more than a century. Official Australia has not yet faced up to the severity of the present trade problem. Exports have declined in each of the past three years after 15 years of sustained strong growth. Never in the 20th century did exports decline for three years in a row - not even in the Great Depression of the 1930s or in either of the world wars. Read the full text here.

February 10, 2004, The Age, "The clinching of our future", By Alan Oxley

The importance of the free trade agreement with the United States is in what it means for Australia's future, not its past. Read the full text here.

February 10, 2004, The Age, "The day we became the envy of the world", By Gerard Henderson.

The trade deal could have been better, but we would have been mad to knock it back. Read the full text here.

10 February 2004, Sydney Morning Herald, "Heads we win, tails you lose", By Alan Kohler

Trade Minister Mark Vaile and the US trade representative, Robert Zoellick, are a pair of PR gyroscopes, furiously spinning in opposite directions. It's as if they are talking about entirely different deals, and the effect is that the spinning wheels cancel each other out. Read the full text here.

10 February 2004, "The Age, "Film, TV fear the worst for the future", By Gabriella Coslovich

Despite the Federal Government's assurances that it has retained the right to protect the Australian film and television industry from the onslaught of US product under the new trade deal, local screen producers and directors are not convinced. "We are very disappointed," said the national director of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, Simon Whipp. "On the information we have so far, Australian audiences of the future will not enjoy anywhere near the same access to Australian programs as today's Australian public does," he said, referring to pay TV, digital TV and new media. Read the full text here.

10 February 2004, Sydney Morning Herald, "US gets upper hand in trade deal", By Tom Allard and Marian Wilkinson

The Federal Government faces a battle to persuade Parliament and regional voters to support its free trade agreement with the US after it signed a deal that benefits America more than Australia. Bowing to US demands to keep its massive barriers to sugar exports out of the agreement, and accepting only small and slow cuts to beef and dairy tariffs, the Prime Minister said that he agreed to yesterday's deal because he believed it would still benefit the economy. Read the full text here.

10 February 2004, The Age Editorial, "Promises without sugar coating"

John Howard has his trade deal, but it comes at a high price for many Coalition supporters. It was a finely timed announcement. The news that a free-trade deal with the US had been clinched during a phone call from Prime Minister John Howard to President George Bush broke yesterday morning, on the eve of today's resumption of Federal Parliament but after the Beattie Government had secured another massive majority in the Queensland election. Read the full text here.

10 February 2004, The Age "Committees likely to deliver rival reports", By Brendan Nicholson

Two parliamentary committees are likely to produce rival reports on the free trade agreement. Labor plans to send the agreement to be scrutinised by a Senate select committee dominated by Opposition and minor party MPs, while the Government says the routine examination by the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties will be enough. The treaties committee, which examines all international agreements, is dominated by Government MPs. Read the full text here.

February 10, 2004, The Age, "US sugar growers celebrate trade deal"

American sugar growers celebrated today after sugar was excluded from the free trade agreement negotiated by the United States and Australia that would have opened up the US market to Australian imports. "We applaud the administration's treatment of sugar in the Australia agreement," US Sugar Industry Group chair Carolyn Cheney said. Read the full text here.

February 10, 2004, The Age, "Vaile's bittersweet moment of success", By Marian Wilkinson

Sugar was simply not on the table. Indeed, Zoellick says now, he told Howard and Vaile this before the January talks began. He also said so publicly. Read the full text here.

February 10, 2004, The Age, "The selling out of Australia", By Ann Capling

The free trade deal compromises important Australian industries for scant gain, but there was no way the Australian trade negotiators were going to fly home from Washington empty-handed. The Howard Government's commitment to farmers that there would be no free trade agreement without significant improvements in market access to the US was always in the realm of non-core promises. Read the full text here.

February 10, 2004, The Age, "Barriers go in historic trade pact", By Tim Colebatch, Marian Wilkinson

The Australian economy is set to enter a new era, with manufacturers, mining and service companies gaining free entry into the giant United States market - while some highly competitive farm sectors remain shut out. Read the full text here.

February 10, 2004, "Brussels chuckles as Howard blinks", By Tim Colebatch

In the end, George Bush held his ground, and John Howard blinked. And so we have a free trade agreement in which the most extreme barriers to free trade between Australia and the US remain intact. Read the full text here.

10 February 2004, Australian Financial Review, "Australia, US seal free trade pact", By Tony Walker and wires

Australia and the United States signed a trade agreement overnight that officials say will eliminate duties from more than 99 per cent of US manufacturing exports to Australia. US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick described the deal, which requires congressional approval, as "the most significant immediate cut in industrial tariffs ever achieved in a US free trade agreement". Read the full text here.

February 9, 2004, The Age, "Teetering trade deal rescued by telephone call"

The free trade agreement with the US was only finalised after Prime Minister John Howard spoke directly to US President George W. Bush, US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said today. Until then, the deal was stuck on the insurmountable problem of achieving greater access for Australian sugar to the US market. Read the full text here.

February 9, 2004, The Age, "Sugar producers in shock"

Australian sugar producers received a "hell of a shock" to find themselves left out of the free trade agreement with the US on Monday, an industry leader says. Canegrowers general manager Ian Ballantyne said the exclusion of Australian sugar would mean industry would miss out on about $100 million. Read the full text here.

February 9, 2004, The Age, "Farmers sweet and sour on trade deal"

Australia's peak farming body has labelled the free trade agreement as disappointing, benefiting some industries while failing to deliver for others. National Farmers' Federation trade committee chair Allan Burgess, who was involved in the negotiations, said the body had hoped to achieve free trade for all agriculture. Read the full text here.

9 February 2004, FarmOnline, "US disappoints NFF in free-trade agreement"

The US-Australia free-trade agreement benefits several Australian agricultural industries, but the US has failed to deliver on free trade in agriculture, NFF president Peter Corish said today. Mr Corish explained that market access gains had been achieved for Australia's dairy, beef, horticulture, sheepmeat and wool sectors. Read the full text here.

February 9, 2004, The Age, "Warning of planned PBS changes"

The Australia-US trade pact had avoided the worst-case scenario for the nation's subsidised drug scheme but could still have damaging consequences for patients, the Australian Consumers' Association (ACA) said. ACA senior health policy officer Martyn Goddard said the wording of the free trade agreement (FTA) meant patients should still have concerns about what it meant for the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). Read the full text here.

February 9, 2004, The Age, "Labor attacks 'disappointing' deal"

The free trade deal between Australia and the United States had dudded the nation's farmers, federal Opposition Leader Mark Latham said today. Mr Latham said the ALP was extremely disappointed with the deal, as it had excluded sugar and pushed out free trade for the beef sector until almost 2020. "This deal doesn't appear to be in Australia's national interest," he told reporters. Read the full text here.

9 February 2004, Sydney Morning Herald, "Deal good for Australia, without the sweetener: Vaile"

The free trade agreement with the United States delivered benefits for the broad Australian economy even if it did not win access for Australian sugar, Trade Minister Mark Vaile said today. Mr Vaile said the free trade deal finalised in Washington overnight was only the third such agreement reached between developed countries. Read the full text here.

February 9, 2004, The Age, "What the deal means"

Highlights of the US-Australia free trade agreement announced in Washington after two weeks of top-level talks. Read the full text here.

February 9, 2004, The Age, "US, Aust sign free trade pact"

Australia and the United States today ended weeks of tough talks by concluding a free trade deal that was finally struck after a telephone call between Prime Minister John Howard and President George W Bush. While the US refused to accept free access for Australian sugar, Trade Minister Mark Vaile said it would deliver benefits for the broad Australian economy. Read the full text here.

7 February 2004, The Australian, "Trade deal awaits PM's call on sugar", By Dennis Shanahan

The Howard Government is closer to signing a free trade agreement with the US - one that does not yet open the American market to more Australian sugar but does offer big gains for local manufacturers, investors and professional services. Sources say the Government is still "predisposed" to sign the free trade deal because "a lot" has been won for most sectors, although the US is holding out on sugar. Read the full text here.

7 February 2004, The Age, "PM hints at retreat in US trade talks", By Tim Colebatch, Louise Dodson and Marian Wilkinson

Prime Minister John Howard has signalled that his Government could back down from earlier pledges and sign a free trade agreement with the United States without significant market openings in agriculture. As protracted negotiations in Washington entered their final 24 hours, Mr Howard hinted in an interview with The Age that Australia might accept an inadequate US offer of slightly more access for farm goods rather than suspend the negotiations until next year. Read the full text here.

5 February 2004, FarmOnline, "US more willing to negotiate on ag issues: NFF" By Ben Houston

Australia's hoped-for free-trade agreement (FTA) with the US remains in the balance but America has been showing a willingness to negotiate in critical agricultural areas previously deemed off-limits. With some sort of decision expected out of Washington D.C. any time now, National Farmers Federation (NFF) president Peter Corish, speaking from the American capital, said progress had been made in all areas. Read the full text here.

5 February 2004, The Age, "Trade deal with US 'not lost yet'" By Tim Colebatch and Marian Wilkinson

Trade Minister Mark Vaile is making a last-ditch bid to rescue Australia's floundering free trade negotiations with the United States by wrapping up deals on other issues to maximise pressure for a deal on agriculture. Amid growing pessimism about the chances of an agreement, Mr Vaile now plans to put all of Australia's negotiating cards on the table. Read the full text here.

4 February, 2004, Department of the Parliamentary Library, "Australia–US Free Trade Agreement: overview of potential legal issues"

While much of the AUSFTA negotiations involve ‘market access’ issues – direct and explicit trade barriers such as tariffs and quotas – domestic laws that discriminate against the other party’s goods and services or are otherwise considered unfavourable to the other party’s producers are also on the negotiating agenda. Jacob Varghese provides a brief overview of some potential areas of Australian law that may be affected. Read the full text here.

4 February 2004, FarmOnline, "WA farmers oppose Aust-US FTA"

More than 50 percent of Western Australian farmers surveyed by leading farm lobby group WAFarmers are opposed to Australia signing a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the United States. "The majority of farmers are outright opposed to a FTA while a large proportion still want more information to help them make up their minds," said WAFarmers president Colin Nicholl. Read the full text here.

4 February, 2004, Sydney Morning Herald, "Trade talk sweetens with sugar on table", By Tom Allard, and Marian Wilkinson

A free-trade deal with the United States is expected to be completed by the end of the week after the US agreed to put access to its heavily protected sugar market back on the negotiating table. Read the full text here.

3 February 2004, The Age, "FTA on the point of collapse: govt"

The first signs Australia now believes it will fail to agree on a free trade deal with the United States emerged. Trade Minister Mark Vaile warned American negotiators that although Australia wanted the deal, he could not stay in Washington forever working on its finer details. It came amid growing signs from US negotiators that they will not budge on protection of its farm sector in what is becoming an extremely tight election year. Read the full text here.

February 1, 2004, The Age, "No one is winning in the trade tussle over sugar", By Caroline Overington

Fifty Australian trade specialists are in Washington DC trying to get the US to commit to a comprehensive free trade agreement. Until about four months ago, the agreement seemed to be within reach, but now the mood is gloomy. The problem is that the US does not want to open its markets to Australians farmers, and you can understand why. Australian farmers are competitive, and US farmers - especially sugar growers - are not. Read the full text here.

February 1, 2004, ABC News, "FTA still on the cards: Howard"

The Prime Minister says a Free Trade Agreement between Australia and the United States is still very much in the balance. Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile has been in Washington over the weekend in a last-ditch bid to bring a trade agreement to fruition. Read the full text here.

January 29, 2004, AAP, "Protest for/against Free Trade Agreement mount"

Protests were mounted in support and against an Australia-United States free trade agreement (FTA) today as negotiators edged closer to a final deal. In the Australian parliament, protesters dumped 10,000 letters from voters opposed to the FTA who fear the deal will undermine the nation's medical system and culture. Read the full text here.

January 28, 2004, SBS World News, "LABOR CALLS FOR INCREASED SCRUTINY OVER FREE TRADE AGREEMENT"

The Federal Labor leader Mark Latham says any Free Trade Agreement between Australia and the United States will be sent to an all-party senate select committee for investigation. But as negotiations continue in Washington, a deal is looking less likely. Read the full text here.

January 28, 2004, The Age, "No trade deal is better than a bad trade deal" (Editorial)

A free trade agreement that is only half free will be of little benefit, given that Australia also risks jeopardising trading partnerships with Asia in the process. From an Australian perspective, no free trade deal with the US is better than a bad trade deal. Read the full text here.

January 27, 2004, Sydney Morning Herald, "Why US drug firms want us to swallow their bitter trade pill", By David Henry and Evan Doran.

Australians are being pressured to cough up in order to protect an unhealthy cartel of Pharmaceutical companies. Our Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) is still on the negotiating table at talks for a free trade agreement. The talks are reported to be at risk of collapse. What proposals have been made by the US trade representative? Well, that's a secret, but the details have been seen by the US congressmen and they sound worried. Read the full text here.

January 27, 2004, The Age, "Labor threatens to scuttle FTA"

Labor would refer a free trade agreement negotiated between Australia and the United States to a Senate select committee for review, Opposition Leader Mark Latham said today. Mr Latham said the possibility of an FTA had significant implications for Australia's economy and trading interests. He said the features of any negotiated FTA must pass proper parliamentary scrutiny. Read the full text here.

January 27 2004, The Age, "Sugar snags trade deal" By Caroline Overington

Australia will not agree to a free trade agreement with the US that does not include sugar, Trade Minister Mark Vaile said yesterday. Mr Vaile, who was due to meet US trade representative Robert Zoellick in Washington this morning, told reporters yesterday that sugar "must be part of the deal". He is in Washington as part of a last-ditch effort to keep the proposed free trade agreement alive by extracting more concessions from the US. Read the full text here.

January 26, 2004, The Age, "US not sweet on sugar as talks flag" By Marian Wilkinson

The proposed Free Trade Agreement between Australia and the US could collapse this week unless Trade Minister Mark Vaile can win significant concessions from US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick in Washington today. Australian officials in Washington said that after seven days of talks they were battling to save the agreement and feared it would be shelved until after the US elections in November. Read the full text here.

January 26, 2004, The Age, "Free trade negotiations fail to make progress", By Malcolm Maiden

Barring a miraculous breakthrough, talks in America between Australia's Trade Minister Mark Vaile and US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick that begin tonight local time will result in the shelving of the proposed US-Australia free trade agreement. Read the full text here.

January 26, 2004, The Age, "Push to keep trade litigation floodgate closed" By David Elias

Australian and US trade negotiators have been searching for ways to create a dispute-handling process that will avoid the type of multibillion-dollar legal free-for-all seen in the North American free trade zone. The introduction of an investor-state dispute settlement mechanism is a key issue in the final stages of the Australia-US free trade agreement negotiations but it has taken a back seat to vexed questions about agricultural markets and pharmaceutical benefits. Read the full text here.

January 26, 2004, The Age, "Friendship no FTA guarantee: Howard"

Prime Minister John Howard conceded his friendship with US President George W Bush might not be enough to secure a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States. "It always was a tough ask and it still remains a difficult proposition," Mr Howard told reporters after an Australia Day ceremony in Canberra. "Because in the end in trade, friendships don't always amount to a lot." Read the full text here.

January 26, 2004, The Age, "Sugar farmers won't be FTA fodder: PM"

Prime Minister John Howard has reportedly quashed suggestions that Australian sugar farmers will be sold out as a trade-off to secure a free trade agreement with the US. The Australian newspaper said the Prime Minister's assurances followed suggestions from US President George W. Bush's most senior trade official that sugar could be sacrificed to secure the FTA, which would deliver billions of dollars in economic benefits to Australia. Read the full text here.

January 25, 2004, The Age "The leaders saddle up for a wild ride" By Michelle Grattan

An Australian-American free trade agreement reached this week would make things difficult for Labor. No deal though and Howard has to put the best spin on failure. Read the full text here.

January 25, 2004, The Age, "PBS adviser lobbying for US 'a disgrace'" By Lucy Beaumont

A former federal health department employee is advising the US drug industry as it lobbies for changes to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme under free trade negotiations, now reaching their critical final stages. The Federal Opposition has expressed outrage that Paul Cross, the senior adviser on PBS matters to former health minister Kay Patterson, is part of an American push to raise profits from US drug sales. Read the full text here.

January 24, 2004, The Age, "Sugar doubts could kill trade talks" By Mark Forbes

Australia's hoped-for free trade agreement could collapse, with United States officials stating that their vital sugar market will not be part of any deal. Trade Minister Mark Vaile, departing for Washington yesterday to oversee next week's make-or-break negotiations, said sugar must be part of the deal. Read the full text here.

January 23, 2004, The Age, “US takes tough line on sugar” By Doug Palmer And Richard Cowan

US trade officials have asked Australia to settle for a free trade pact that would not open the US market to any more sugar, potentially denying Australia a major trade prize. Read the full text here.

The federal government is facing growing concerns the Senate may scuttle major parts of a free trade deal with the United States. Labor and the Australian Greens have signalled they will block any proposals that undermine the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and force up the prices of medicines. It follows a letter from nine senior US Democrats to President George W Bush expressing concern about America's so far secret negotiating position on the PBS which they believe will push up medicine prices in Australia. Read the full text here.

January 20, 2004, The Guardian, “War on Cheap Drugs”, By David Fickling

To the lunatic fringe of the pharmaceuticals lobby, public pharmaceuticals programmes are a menace: patients under such programmes may be healthier and financially better off but (the argument goes), intangibly, they are less free.Top of the liberation hit-list at the moment is Australia, which is embarking on the final round of free trade negotiations with the US in Washington this week. Drugs companies contributed £10m to George Bush's election campaign in 2000 and are determined to get their money's worth out of any free trade agreement. Read the full text here.

January 20, 2004, The West Australian, “Farmers warned on FTA”, By Peter Trott

A DECADE of "free trade hell" has devastated family farming in Canada since it entered a free-trade agreement with the United States, according to a WA grain industry leader. WAFarmers grain spokesman Peter Wahlsten said it was a grim warning to Australia not to cave in to American demands for Australia's single-desk wheat market to be scrapped during negotiations of a US-Australia free trade agreement which are continuing in Washington. Read the full text here.

20 January , 2004, ABC Radio National, AM, “Australia warned US free trade agreement could increase drug prices”

The political football that is Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme has been bouncing across the Pacific, with the Federal Opposition this morning seizing on comments from US Democrats about how the scheme might be affected by a free trade agreement. Democrats have argued that the demands of US negotiators appear designed to increase drug prices in Australia, with similar implications for Americans. Read the full text here.

January 20, 2004, ABC News, “US Senators warn free trade may up Australian drug prices”

Nine influential US Democrats have written to President George W Bush "to express serious concerns" over key elements of the free trade agreement (FTA) which appear designed to increase drug prices in Australia. For its part, the Federal Government will not declare the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) out of bounds just yet. Read the full text here.

January 20, 2004, The Age, “Why free trade is difficult for both sides”, By Tim Colebatch

Three-and-a-half years after John Howard began his crusade for a free trade agreement with the United States, the moment of truth has come. By the end of next week, the negotiations will be over and we will learn whether or not it was worth it. Read the full text here.

20 January, 2004, ABC Radio National, Perspective, "Isn't It Time We Talked Honestly About the FTA?", By Elizabeth Thurbon and Linda Weiss

There are certainly opportunities to be seized under the FTA. But the question that must be asked is whether - in the absence of a coordinated government-business strategy – these opportunities are likely to be seized overwhelmingly by US firms. Isn't it time we talked honestly about the FTA? Read the full text here.

January 19, 2004, ABC Radio National, The World Today, “Mark Vaile hopeful of clinching US free trade deal”

Reports this morning had the Prime Minister, John Howard, saying the chances of a Free Trade Deal with the US were now 50-50, with concessions to agriculture, especially beef, diary and sugar as the key to any Free Trade Deal. Trade Minister Mark Vaile, though, remains optimistic. He says there's a better than even chance of Australia clinching a deal. This morning Mr Vaile spoke to reporters including The World Today's Jo Mazzocchi. Read the transcript here.

January 16, 2004, The Age, “US farm lobby could derail deal” By Tim Colebatch

The fate of Australia's long crusade for a free trade agreement with the United States now hinges on whether the Bush Administration is prepared to resist an increasingly strident campaign by US farm lobbies against a deal. The US National Milk Producers' Federation claimed overnight that 150,000 jobs would be lost if US markets were thrown open to Australian dairy exports. The US sugar industry is fighting any market openings whatever to Australian sugar. Read the full text here.

January 16, 2004 , Sun-Sentinel.com "Florida farm groups oppose free trade pacts" By Doreen Hemlock

Florida dairy and sugar producers on Thursday raised their voices against plans for U.S. free trade pacts, charging that separate accords with Australia and Central America would slash jobs in their respective industries. The farm groups charged that cheaper imports will displace U.S. products and suggested farm trade be handled through the larger World Trade Organization instead, so that complex issues of subsidies and other farm-trade distortions can be addressed among the WTO's almost 150 member nations. Read the full text here.

January 14, 2004. ABC News, “Dairy group says Australia won't flood US market”

One of Australia's key dairy groups says there is no way a free trade agreement with the United States would see US markets flooded with Australian dairy products. The US National Milk Producers Federation believes a trade deal would cost its industry 150,000 jobs and have the potential to replace 13 per cent of total US production. But Australian Dairy farmers president Allan Burgess says Australia will not risk losing other vital export markets, just to increase sales to the US. Read the full text here.

January 14, 2004, The Age, “US drug companies lobby to attack PBS”

The US drug industry regarded changing Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) in a free trade deal as an international precedent, policy researcher Clive Hamilton said today. "The drug companies have made it clear in private that they see the US-Australia free trade deal as a first step in attacking similar schemes around the world," Dr Hamilton, executive director of The Australia Institute, told ABC Radio. Read the full text here.

January 13, 2004, The Age, “War on Iraq was wrong: Latham”, By Annabel Crabb

ALP Leader Mark Latham has committed his party to opposing the US free trade deal if he believes the deal sacrificed too much in the way of Australian national interests. Read the full text here.

January 12, 2004, The Age "Voters unsure on free trade deal"

One in five voters is still unsure whether a free trade deal with the United States would be good for Australia, a new poll has found. Conducted by Hawker Britton, the poll of 1,000 people found the majority backing the proposed free trade agreement (FTA). Fifty-three per cent of those surveyed supported an FTA, 24 per cent opposed it and 19 per cent said they were unsure. Read the full text here.

January 7, 2004, The Australian, “Leaders to nurse FTA talks” By Malcolm Cole

JOHN Howard and George W. Bush will personally intervene in free trade talks between Australia and the US if this month's final round of talk fails to resolve outstanding issues. Negotiating teams from both countries will meet again in Washington on January 19, to continue the talks that failed to meet the Christmas deadline set by the two leaders. Read the full text here.

January 7, 2004, Australian Financial Review ”FTA talks with US senators helpful: Anderson”

Australia's free trade talks with the United States were on a much sounder footing after key US senators dropped their concerns over the selling arrangements for Australian wheat, Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson said on Wednesday. Mr Anderson said he met several influential US senators on Monday who told him they were no longer concerned about the way Australia uses wheat monopoly, AWB, to sell Australia's $5 billion a year wheat crop to the rest of the world. Read the full text here.

January 7, 2004, The Age, “PBS scheme stays, US told”, By Josh Gordon

Acting Prime Minister John Anderson has warned an influential US Congress delegation that the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme cannot be diminished as part of a free trade deal. Mr Anderson yesterday met eight Republican senators in Sydney, some of them farm representatives close to President George Bush, to discuss the plan to slash trade barriers between the Australia and the US. Read the full text here.

January 6, 2004, The Age, "Services fear rush deal on free trade" By Matt Wade

Service industries, which employ 80 per cent of the nation's workers, fear they could be damaged as the Federal Government presses to finalise a free trade deal with the US by the end of this month. The Australian Services Roundtable is concerned that the Government's priority to win US market access for Australian agricultural products may come at the expense of the labour-intensive service sector. Read the full text here.

January 6, 2004, Australian Financial Review, “Latham Faces Showdown On Free Trade”, By Mark Davis

Federal Labor faces a showdown over free trade as left-wing and union delegates to the ALP's national conference this month push to reverse the party's commitment to cutting tariffs and other trade barriers. The hardline "fair trade" policy drawn up by the left-wing Australian Manufacturing Workers Union is being pushed as an alternative to a pro-free trade platform proposed by Labor's federal front bench. It calls on Labor governments to freeze Australia's existing tariffs and in effect rules out bilateral free-trade deals such as the one being pursued by the Howard government with the United States. Read the full text here.

January 6, 2004, The Age, "Anderson puts price on FTA"

Acting Prime Minister John Anderson has put a price on a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States - better access for Australian beef, dairy and sugar farmers.Mr Anderson met with eight Republican senators on Tuesday to discuss the FTA which both countries hope to sign off later this month. Read the full text here.

January 5, 2004, Australian Financial Review “FTA Has A Rocky Road Ahead”, By Tony Walker

Free-trade negotiations between Australia and the United States are running into unexpectedly heavy weather on the issue of Australia's pricing system for pharmaceuticals, according to officials in Washington. With what is hoped will be a final round of talks beginning in mid-January, leading to a draft agreement by the end of the month, the pharmaceuticals issue has emerged as a sticking point. Read the full text here.

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