Fed: Single-desk market under threat - O'Connor

AAP General News (Australia)
02-10-2004
Fed: Single-desk market under threat - O'Connor

CANBERRA, Feb 10 AAP - Australian agriculture had been hit with a double-whammy through
the new trade deal with the United States - with sugar left out and a threat to single-desk
marketing, Labor said today.

Sugar farmers have expressed outrage at the free trade agreement, which largely protects
the price of Australian medicines but leaves sugar cane out in the cold.

Opposition agriculture spokesman Gavan O'Connor said the deal was not comprehensive
and therefore was not a free trade agreement.

"Of course the sugar industry has been hardly hit by being left off the table in these
negotiations," Mr O'Connor told reporters.

"But it's a double-whammy for the sugar industry because, not only have they been left
off the table in these negotiations, but the single-desk arrangements are under threat
as a result of this agreement."

He said a close study of what Australia and the US had had to say on the deal exposed
Australian government duplicity with regard to the sugar industry.

"You might recall that Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson said that it would be unAustralian
if the sugar industry was left out of these negotiations," Mr O'Connor said.

"If you study the fine print of this agreement, the government is certainly deceiving
the sugar industry in this agreement.

"It is said that the single-desk arrangements for sugar, rice, wheat and barley have
been preserved.

"But if you have a look at what the US has had to say, they've said that they will
negotiate with Australia in the WTO (World Trade Organisation) to develop export competition
disciplines that eliminate restrictions on the right of entities to export.

"Those entities are the single desk bodies that are run by significant industries in Australia."

AAP dep/sb/jv/jlw/

KEYWORD: TRADE US OCONNOR

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