[LINK] Make the AUSFTA an electronic agreement

[Tom Worthington]

At 3/4/2004 05:53 PM, Roger Clarke wrote:
>Tom Worthington <Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au>:
>>This is to propose the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement be 
>>published in one standard, easy to read, stable electronic document format ...
>
>Shame on you Tom - you're looking at form, when what matters is substance. ...

To deal with the substance of the draft FTA it is necessary to be able to 
read it. Having an efficient electronic version which can be searched and 
analyzed should help.

>None of us should waste time on frivolities, and should instead get out 
>into the streets ...

It is not frivolous to see what is proposed before objecting to it. Before 
taking to the barricades I suggest identifying what is wrong in the draft 
and proposing the minimum changes to make it acceptable. Apart from general 
philosophical opposition to FTAs, changing a few dozen words should satisfy 
most objections.

As an example of what might be done, Australia has already made FTAs with 
other countries. Assuming those agreements are acceptable, their text 
(which is on Auslii) could be compared with the US draft and the 
differences highlighted. Changes to the US draft could then be proposed to 
make it more like the other agreements.



Tom Worthington FACS tom.worthington at tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150
Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309
http://www.tomw.net.au PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617