ISDS Case Map
Australia
Within 24 hours of a federal election being called, Communications and IT minister Helen Coonan has swapped her contentious campaign to offshore government IT services for a warm and fuzzy embrace of home-grown open source software to woo the penguin vote.
Access to the US market will be valuable, but Aussie consumers will lose, not gain, from the copyright provisions.
US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick's warning to Australia that an amended free-trade agreement might conflict with the letter and spirit of the original agreement was prompted by bullying from the American pharmaceuticals industry, according to a US trade adviser.
The Free Trade Agreement between Australia and the United States - AUSFTA - may be all the rage for us, but for Americans (that is, those citizens residing in the American hemisphere as a whole, not just the USA) they have been getting used to all sorts of free trade agreements.
Australia's ratification of a free trade agreement with the United States has sparked warnings that it represents a major win for the U.S. drug industry in blocking generic manufacturers and undermining the country's internationally acclaimed system for lowering pharmaceutical prices.
Last week in Sydney, a valuable conference co-sponsored by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade revealed one Government priority that is hardly its best-kept secret. Now that the US free trade agreement has been pocketed, the Government is determined to negotiate a free trade agreement with China, and will pay what it takes to get it.
A free trade deal between Australia and China would generate controversy because of its possible impact on Australian manufacturers, Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said.
We understand that the FTA implementing legislation and amendments pose important issues in Australia, just as they did in the United States.
The Coalition and Labor combined to pass the legislation after two weeks of debate in Senate, but the deal could still come unstuck if the US decides Australia's supporting legislation including Labor's amendments are not consistent with the agreement.
The funny thing about the free trade agreement with the United States is that Australians and Americans see it as being about completely different things. Australia's businesspeople see it as about eliminating the barriers to exports and imports between the two countries, which they regard as a good thing.
