The Wire

The US-Australia Free Trade Agreement may have been formally signed, but it’s far from a done deal. It still needs to be passed by the US Congress and the Australian Parliament before it takes effect. Meanwhile, debate over the merits of the deal is still raging. Last week a study commissioned by the Australian Government found that the agreement would be worth much more to Australia’s economy than previously estimated. But leading Australian economists Ross Garnaut and Bill Carmichael are calling for a public inquiry into the deal, claiming the assumptions in the Government-sponsored study are “ridiculously optimistic”. But what about the effects on the cost of prescription drugs and Australian media content? Christine Baker spoke to Peter Drahos, Professor at the Australian National University and co-author of the Australia study into the effects of the Free Trade Agreement onto the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), and Steve Haynes, director of Medicines Australia, an organization representing pharmaceutical companies, and Patricia Ranald, policy manager at the Public Interest Advocacy centre and covenor of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network.

Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network
Parliament of Australia Joint Committee Parliamentary Inquiry into the US-Australia FTA
The FTA and the PBS (AFTINET)