STOP MAI |
Authorised
by the STOP-MAI Campaign Coalition (WA) Affiliated
with the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network (AFTInet) |
| STOP MAI |
Authorised
by the STOP-MAI Campaign Coalition (WA) Affiliated
with the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network (AFTInet) |
'MAI is vulnerable to challenge by States'
Letters have been sent by the Stop MAI Coalition to each of Australia's 750 federal and state parliamentarians, aimed for delivery on Monday (14/9).
In them, author David Keane of Perth presents a devastating argument against the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), which is certain to raise eyebrows. For, based on his detailed investigative report entitled MAI--Constitutional Validity in the High Court, David Keane outlines a compelling prospect that--
- The MAI would be judged invalid under the Australian Constitution on four separate and distinct grounds, and would not be binding on the States;
- If signed by Australia, the treaty would inevitably lead over the next 5 years to extensive legal battles both in the High Court and in international corporate tribunals set up under the MAI. The protagonists would be State governments, the Commonwealth Government and multinational corporations;
- The costs to taxpayers arising from these legal battles would be astronomical and capable of plunging Australia into unprecedented levels of national debt;
- With intolerable economic pressures such as non-representation of States in MAI negotiations, no money for infrastructure, and being asked to sell off utilities to balance budgets, the States have an attractive option to unite, reject Commonwealth patronage and enforce their own creative taxation formula.
David Keane proceeds to present a blueprint by which, he claims, any single State Parliament could break down the tradition of economic patronage from Canberra and inspire a new national economic direction for the 21st century.
Page two of this release is a Stop MAI covering letter. The full text can be faxed on request or is at http://www.multiline.com.au/~georgist/hcmai.htm
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[Personalised to all Federal and State Parliamentarians]
10 September, 1998
Treaty could finish off States' remaining financial independence
Few Australians yet appreciate the profound threat to Commonwealth-State relations posed by the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) which is being negotiated, mainly behind closed doors, by teams from each of the OECD countries in the hope of signing the MAI as a treaty in mid-October.
Mr David Keane has put hundreds of hours into a careful analysis of the implications of such a treaty, and has concluded that any State would have strong grounds for a challenge in the High Court to Australian participation in the MAI.
He argues that the States have been at a severe disadvantage since power to raise income tax revenue passed from the States to the Commonwealth during World War II, and will remain so until they demand and win back economic equity.
The MAI, however, would provide a "foreign affairs power" which would allow (indeed force) the Commonwealth to override most of the States' remaining prerogatives -- for example State measures to promote local industry which would be classed as discrimination against foreign investors, or State environmental standards which could be banned as "expropriating" expected profits of trans-national corporations.
It is especially urgent for State parliamentarians, and Federal parliamentarians concerned about the federal system of government, to become alert to the implications of the MAI before it is too late.
We would strongly recommend that you take time to read the accompanying executive summary of Mr Keane's analysis, and consider reading his full and well-referenced document at: http://www.multiline.com.au/~georgist/hcmai.htm
Dr Dion Giles, 53 Wood Street, Fremantle WA 6160
Dr John Hermann, PO Box 505, Modbury 5092, South Australia
Alan Griffiths, 142 Gold St, Bruswick, 3056 Victoria
Frances Milne, 14 Gallimore Ave, Balmain 2041, New South Wales
Richard Sanders, BSc (AES) Hons, Research fellow, School of Science, Griffith University, Nathan 4111, Queensland
ends #keane01
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