E-Petition

Queensland citizens draw the attention of the House to increasing
community concern about the General Agreement on Trade in Services
(GATS). Australia is currently involved in a new round of negotiations
on the GATS through the World Trade Organisation (WTO). We are concerned
that this negotiation process is not open nor is there sufficient
accountability to the Australian community for the decisions made in this
process. We are concerned that further trade liberalisation under GATS
will have a significant effect on the provision of public services in
Australia, on the ability of Governments (local, state and federal) to
regulate in the public interest and thus will undermine our democratic
processes.

We therefore ask the House to request the Minister for Trade to make no
further commitments under the GATS until (1) the Senate inquiry into the
GATS has made its report; (2) the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
has publicly released full details of all the requests made of Australia
and by Australia in the current round of GATS negotiations; (3) the WTO’s
Council for Trade in Services has carried out an ‘assessment of trade in
services in overall terms and on a sectoral basis with reference to the
objectives of the GATS’ as mandated in the GATS negotiating guidelines;
(4) the Commonwealth Government has commissioned multi-disciplinary
research into the socio-economic impact of trade liberalisation in
Australia since 1994, as recommended by the 2001 Joint Standing Committee
on Trade’s inquiry into Australia’s relationship with the WTO.