At a meeting in Brisbane on Friday 28 June, the Alliance to Expose GATS (AEG) called for a Senate Inquiry into the implications of the GATS for Australia. Unions, community groups and non-profit organisations were represented at the meeting.
Dr Tracy Schrader, a representative for the Doctors Reform Society (DRS) who attended the meeting, said today that "The Doctors Reform Society urgently calls on the government to guarantee protection of Australia's public services including healthcare. The DRS believes that the GATS threatens public health care, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and Medicare. The Canadian government has confirmed that Canada's health, public education and social services systems and culture will not be on the negotiating table. The Australian government should do the same."
"Governments are required to negotiate away their regulatory authority by 'progressive liberalisation' through specific commitments within GATS rounds. "Proposed commitments need to be made publicly available and open to debate" said Dr Schrader.
"Australian service sectors are already automatically committed to the full range of general obligations of the GATS. Ambiguity in Article 1.3 (c) opens public services including healthcare to the provisions of the GATS. The DRS again calls on the government to press for clarification of Article I.3 to make it absolutely clear that public services are exempt."
Dr Schrader said "Australia's GATS commitments regarding health have neither been clearly defined nor adequately debated. It is alarming that Australian governments have not considered the specific commitment to 'liberalise' dental services to be a healthcare commitment. Dental services are found in the GATS in the 'Business' section under 'Professional Services' rather than within 'Health Related and Social Services' and this has allowed governments to claim they have not yet signed off important health services. This is an example of how commitments can slip in the back door with consequences not addressed."
Dr Schrader said "Australia may have already signed away the chance of ever extending Medicare to cover dental services. Dental care is a serious health issue. This is a scandal that the Australian government and Department of Foreign Affairs want to keep quiet!"
Dr Schrader said "Recently leaked documents from the European Commission (EC) on GATS negotiations further illustrate the secrecy and lack of public accountability of negotiations. These confidential documents contain sweeping requests in sensitive sectors. Sectors covered in requests to Australia include postal services, telecommunication, research and development, road and rail transport, energy and water services. The EC demand to open water services to private competitors would threaten most state government policies of public ownership and price regulation of water services. The DRS is alarmed that the EC's requests include bids to liberalise the distribution of tobacco in developing countries such as Mexico, Korea, and China and to remove restrictions on alcohol distribution."
Dr Schrader said "The DRS supports the call for a Senate inquiry. Transparency, accountability and public involvement in negotiations and commitments is essential. We call on the government to make public all relevant information on negotiations, including details of specific commitments both sought by and sought from Australia. The Federal government must submit all policies on GATS to full parliamentary debate and vote before commitments are made. The New Zealand and Canadian governments have made significant steps towards making GATS requests public. It is time the Australian government did the same."
30 June 2002
Dr Tracy Schrader
Doctors Reform Society
Richard Sanders
for the AEG
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