I hope so... I know its no justification for the war in Iraq, but in essence, the FTA is one of the reason we went.

So Muggaz, I can safely say you are from Australia, with a name like Muggaz, unless I am right off the mark is a dead giveaway.

And yes I am sure the FTA is a gift for our support

From what I have seen so far the deal is a win more for Australia, despite the issues of Sugar and Dairy

Oh, its a massive Win for Australia... whilst Sugar is one of our larger industries, its the beef industry we want to export - and we have assured free trade in that respect from 2020.

My kids will have the oppurtunities that a successful economy brings...

Latham and his cronies will say it was bad till the cows come home... but if they brought it in, they would be ever so happy with themselves... they are the opposition, its their job to disagree.

Too true, I would add that while there is no win for sugar, it needs to be noted that they will not be worse off either, I bet that one gets missed in the media.

Of course Mr Latham will critise thie agreement, however if it rpoves to be popluar, then he will be the big looser, while the rest of us will have a win.

As my family is mainly involved in beef I would have to say so far I am very happy.

Where you from in Aus if you dont mind me asking?


do you know the details on the TV shows and that kind of rubbish? in regards to local content etc?

an anyone fom the US tell me how this is going to get through Congress in an election year, especially with Australia retaining the right to heavily subsidise pharmaceuticals in the local market?

sorry muggaz, the answer to your question is that the australian government has retained the right to force local tv networks to show a minimum % of australian made/produced shows. this will probably also include those ridiculous US-sourced tv advertisements with the dubbed australian actors

Hahaha... sweet... as long as i dont get inundated with another show about an American family and their comical (big fukn question mark) antics.

One point on the pharmaceuticals, we do not subsidise just Australian made products, the subsidies are part of our health care system, which means, if we import product from the US, and it is prescribed by a persons doctor, and it is on the list of subsidised products, then the subsidy applies, it has not impact on US imports, further more if Mr Howard was to drop a major part of our government healt policy to satisfy the US he would loose the election, I hope you understand this. However just so you do understand, I take Losec, this drug is made in Australia and the US, if I take the Generic product from Australia it costs me $22.50, if I choose the US made Losec, I still pay $22.50, even though it costs more. So if anything the so called pharmaceutical subsidy is in fact a win for the US manufacturers.

I am from Queensland Muggaz, and yes ozmars is correct in saying that there is still a percent of Australian content which has to be shown by Local Networks, I for one have no problem with this as the percentage is only 10% for memory, and when you consider this, the door is open for the US to compete on the other 90%, one does need to remember that Australia is by no means the size of the US population or Economy wise, so for people in the US being concerned about content issues is really unwarrented as our industry is so small we are only capable of producing a small amount of local content, however if people have a problem with our pharmaceutical and media restrictions, I would say that similar trade offs have been made by Australia on Sugar and Dairy products.

Muggaz, I would assum that you are from Melbourn, judging by Queenscliff being where you holiday. I notice it has been a bit on the hot side down there.

I would say the FTA is going to have a hard time getting through both Congress and Parliment. Considering we are both in election mode, however I would expect that he US congress will be where this gets bogged down.

Yeah... I am from Melbourne

To be honest, i dont see this getting through congress at all. The Americans just dont have enough to gain, and alot to lose from a market like Australia's.

Just to keep the Americans scratching their heads, Mark Latham (Australian Opposition Leader) has come out this afternoon and said australian farmers have been "dudded" (cheated?). apparently some of the subsidies will take 18 years to phase out.

free trade is free trade, i think this is pseudo free trade.

Latham will say that as long as the other party initiated it...

If Australia got $300 Billion in revenue from Boomerang sales from a policy the Howard government implemented, Australia would still be 'dudded'

Its good to see he is consistent with the Labor mantra of using all their time to criticise rather than formulate.

can't agree at all with you muggaz.

the liberals have poured nothing but scorn over every policy the ALP has launched this year.

The Liberal Party has not had an original idea since someone cropped those photos of the 'kids overboard'.