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) |
AUSTRALIA JOINS WORLD PROTEST AGAINST MAI AS TREASURY PUSHES ON WITH ‘STEALTH TREATY’
Recent discussions between Australian, NZ and Canadian Treasury officials, and the impending mid-October lifting of a six-month moratorium on discussions on the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) have prompted a warning from the Stop MAI Coalition that the MAI is about to rear its ugly head again.
Campaigners in all States have set a timetable of protest to co-ordinate with worldwide anti-MAI action throughout September and October, focusing on the scheduled resumption of OECD negotiations in Paris.
In Western Australia, activities will include:
- Intensive lobbying of Federal and State politicians to examine the legal and constitutional ramifications of loss of sovereignty and democracy;
- A declaration of amnesty to encourage politicians to declare their personal view on the MAI without regard to the major parties’ precommitment to it;
- A Sept 8 public meeting at Rockingham in the electoral hot-spot of Brand;
- Invitations to all churches, unions and other citizens’ groups to formalize involvement and further strengthen the Stop MAI movement;
"Australian Treasury officials have been in recent contact with Canadian and New Zealand counterparts about the MAI. US contacts tell us that MAI negotiators from the US, European Union and Canada have been meeting at a bilateral level to discuss issues including exceptions, and resolution of the many disagreements which have threatened to derail MAI negotiations," spokesperson Jean Jenkins said.
The MAI met massive opposition throughout the world from NGOs, unions, peoples’ organisations, and many subnational governments after it was revealed OECD governments had been negotiating the agreement in secret since 1995.
"A major concern about the MAI is the right for foreign investors to sue the government of a country when it feels that it has been disadvantaged in an actual or planned investment. The ‘expropriation’ and ‘investor dispute settlement’ provisions of the MAI are based on those of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which allow for such cases to be conducted in secret.
"In July, US petrochemical company Ethyl Corp pocketed C$13 million from the Canadian government for lost business over a briefly banned fuel additive, MMT, agreeing to drop a legal case against Ottawa which claimed that the federal government had broken its NAFTA obligations in imposing the ban. Now another US corporation, S.D Myers, is suing Ottawa for prohibiting the cross-border shipment of PCBs, demanding compensation for lost profits.
"Under the MAI, such standover tactics by powerful companies will snowball and spread to Australia and throughout the 29 OECD countries. Big business can use the MAI to bully governments into only passing laws which favour them. Worse still - the secrecy of the process would prevent ordinary citizens from knowing which laws are being challenged and why," Jean Jenkins said.
The resumption of MAI negotiations in October is expected to lead to a further meeting in April, 1999, with the aim of concluding the MAI before the World Trade Organisation (WTO) launches its next trade liberalisation round.
At the April 28th OECD ministerial meeting, ministers decided on a six-month ‘period of assessment and further consultation between the negotiating parties and with interested parts of their societies’. They promised ‘a transparent negotiating process and to active public discussion on the issues’.
"The Howard Government has failed to honour the commitment – and the Labor Opposition has been complicitly silent on that fact," Jean Jenkins said.
"In the artificial climate of a federal election, we now have to promote understanding that the far-reaching MAI is a much more important issue than who will be the Prime Minister of Australia for the next three years," she added.
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PHONE CONTACTS: Brian Jenkins +61 8 9528 1864; Dion Giles 0411 745 538