Posted by WTO Watch Qld on October 17, 2001 at 15:15:43:
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
'The WTO negotiations on Services should be used to achieve a contestable, competetive market in every services sector in every WTO member country.'
The Global Services Network in their Statement on WTO services negotiations, November, 1999, p1.
GATE (Global Alliance for Transnational Education) is dedicated to fostering access to quality higher education resources on a global basis, focussing on transnational education.
From the mission statement of GATE (an alliance of private, for profit education suppliers)
1) COMING EVENTS
2) 'CALLS TO ACTION
3) FOCUS ON GATS and Education
a) GATS and public services
b) GATS and Education
c) Australia's GATS commitments in education.
d) Other resources on GATS and education
e) Position of the major parties ?
d) Redefining Public Education
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1) COMING EVENTS
The Alliance to Expose GATS meets every second Thursday (18th October) at 12.30 pm at 74 Astor Tce, Spring Hill.
More info gumbus@powerup.com.au
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From Thursday, 11 October, the email address for jubilee's CHOGM campaign will no longer be operating, and the Brisbane office closes as of Friday. For future info, especially the drum on when the Brisbane campaign resurfaces for the 'real' CHOGM, contact either national office on
03 98 777 256 or jubilee@tear.org.au ; or Dave Andrews on 07 3844 1043 or dandrews@thehub.com.au .
Greg
Jubilee Australia Campaign.
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PUBLIC MEETING to oppose the Narangba nuclear
irradiation facility and food irradiation.
Thursday 25th October at 7.30pm - Narangba Community
Hall (corner of Burpengary and Mackie Roads,
Narangba). We need heaps and heaps of people to
attend this public meeting - the nuclear irradiation
facility has been given the go-head by Fed Env.
Minister (Robert Hill) - and we need to show a strong
opposition. Speakers will include Dr Helen Caldicott.
Further information contact Fran Jell on (07)3888
5287.
We CAN stop this yet!
Anna Barnes
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NEWS - OXFAM COMMUNITY AID ABROAD QLD
LETTER WRITING LUNCH HOUR - join up
Join me next week in a polliwatch lunch hour Wednesday and Friday where we
spend a hour writing to our local member regarding a 'burning issue' we
want to bring up with them. I will be organising it all via email so let me
know if you would like to join in.
Kitty
kitty carra
community campaigns coordinator in qld
community aid abroad - oxfam in australia
mailto:kittyc@caa.org.au
07 3857 6888ph
07 3857 2173 fax
102 macdonald road
windsor 4030 ...... www.caa.org.au
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Friends of the Earth invites you to a Vegan Organic "Feast of the Senses"
> For this years Feast we have sourced all the food directly from Farmers
> bringing you the freshest organic produce available. Not only this but we
> will be treated with guest speakers from the Farming community who will
be presenting perspectives on Agriculture and Farming in Australia.
> The Friends of the Earth - Just Food Campaign Group will be launching We write to urge you to take a few moments to sign an important online petition concerning global food policy. The Global Hunger Alliance is an international coalition of environmental, agricultural reform, and social justice organizations united in shared opposition to the expansion of industrial animal agriculture and in favor of more ethical, effective, and sustainable solutions to the emergency of world hunger. We urge our members and supporters to do their part by signing an online petition which expresses the same principles we have endorsed as an organization. You can find the petition at this address: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/gha1/petition.html If you feel that you or your organization can endorse the statement or you would like more information about the Global Hunger Alliance, please contact Alliance Coordinator Pattrice Jones at info@globalhunger.net or visit the Alliance website at http://www.globalhunger.net -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Markets are now being created by enabling entities other than the state to provide services. Privatisation of ownership – outrightly selling-off water suppliers, for instance – is an obvious means. Other means are more hidden and gradual: privatisation of service provision (by requiring contracting out, leasing or competitive tendering); privatisation of finance (charging users of the service, private capital, private health insurance) and the introduction of internal markets (dividing purchasers from providers of services). As far as GATS is concerned, if a government contracts out any part of its public services, such as cleaning or catering, or if private (either for-profit or voluntary) companies supply services also provided by the government (for instance, if private schools exist alongside state ones, or if there is a mixture of public and private funding), then those services could be judged by a WTO dispute panel as not being a government service and thus subject to GATS rather than exempt from it, that is, subject to competition from operators from abroad. As a result of existing deregulation and privatisation, national – and increasingly transnational – companies have sprung up and made inroads into a wide range of public services in many countries, particularly utilities (water, energy, telecommunications, transport), refuse collection, prisons, housing, social services, and support services (cleaning, catering, information technology). Via GATS, they could gain access to many more. In the countries of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), public expenditure on health services and education accounts for more than 13 per cent of gross domestic product. Much of this spending now goes to public or voluntary bodies but could end up being channelled to for-profit groups. Nearly 50 per cent of UK tax revenue now goes to profit-making companies. d) THE REDEFINITION OF PUBLIC EDUCATION By Associate Professor Alan Reid The Federal Government’s budget announcement that private school funding will rise by 9.4% while public schools will receive an increase of only 4.6% not unexpectedly has angered those associated with the public system. Such anger is of little concern to a government which appears to be intent only on redefining public education from the notion of it being a public good to it being a commodity in an education marketplace. But the anger about this latest trend in education funding should not be confined to those who teach in or who have children who attend public schools, since redefining public education in this way has significant implications for our democratic system. It is something in which all Australians have a stake. To appreciate this, last years budget announcement needs to be understood within the context of a broader strategy to disrupt the agreement about public and private schools which has operated for the past quarter of a century. Since its election in 1996, the Coalition has sought to blur the distinction between public and private schools in order to create an education market in which consumers (parents and students) can exercise choice about which schools to attend. The point of this is to shift people across into private schools. It has achieved this in a number of ways. The first strategy involved the abolition of Labour’s New Schools Policy which had strictly regulated the establishment of new private schools in favour of a policy of funding any non-government school which meet minimum state level requirements. That is, any new non-government school can now be established without analysis of the impact on neighbouring schools and with no minimum or maximum enrolment requirements. The impact was immediate with a mushrooming of tiny independent schools based on specific beliefs, such as fundamentalist Christian schools. The next move was to create the enrolment benchmark adjustment scheme (EBA) which shifts $1700 per student of Commonwealth funding from public to private schools, when the proportion of students at private schools increases. Given that DEETYA itself expects private schools growth rate to be about five times that of public schools over the next four years, the amount of funding lost to public schools will be significant, even when enrolments increase in the public system. There is no doubt that both these policies are having an impact. ABS figures for the 1998 census show a 1.9% increase in private school numbers fot that year, while the number of students in public schools rose by only 0.4% And now with its recent announcement, the governmnet is putting in place the next piece of the policy jigsaw. This time it is abolishing another Labour policy, the Educational Resources Index (ERI) which funded private schools on the basis of resource capacity, and which moved them to a lower category if their resources increased in value through, say, private fund raising efforts. In place of the ERI the government is proposing a system which allocates funds according to the socio-economic rating of the school. Under this new system, schools will have the freedom to raise additional money from their own sources without affecting their funding levels. Such a system can only lead to better resourced private schools where in general parents have a greater capacity to raise additional funds, and/or a lowering of private school fees, both of which will further fuel the shift from public to private schools. It is not just a coincidence that such policies are being put in place at a time when public schools across Australia have been coping with significant reductions in State government expenditure on education. Already the proportion of students in non-government schools is at an historic high of 30% and some estimates are that the combined effects of these policies will lift that figure to 35% in the not too distant future. The shift of students from the public to the private system has a number of effects, the most significant of which is the way it threatens to alter our accepted understandings about the nature of public education. Since it is this change which endangers our democratic system, it is one which most demands community attention and debate. To understand the nature of the change, we need to grasp how public and private education have been historically constructed. The vigorous state aid debates of the 1960’s and 1970’s culminated in a relatively bi-partisan approach to state aid which institutionalised Federal (and State) funding on a ‘needs’ basis. That is, since the 1970’s we have lived with a peculiarly Australian educational settlement where publicly funded private schools co-exist with public schools. An important aspect of this settlement has been that private schools are defined in relation to the public system. That is, they are understood as places for people who wish to opt out of public provision in order to meet specific consumer needs, such as religious or cultural needs. Given the fee structure of some but not all private schools, wealth has been a factor in deciding which students go to which schools. Defining the public/private school relationship in this way highlights a key difference. Broadly speaking, individual private schools represent a certain section of the population with specific characteristics, such as class, religion, culture or a combination of these. By contrast public schools comprise a diverse cross-section of the populations of their local communities. It is this key difference which is about to change. As the government facilitates the shift to private schooling and creates a single education market, so the diversity of public schools will diminish. This will happen as the private schools take in students from the public system who opt to share the characteristics of the schools they join, and as public schools begin to use the mechanism of the market to shore up their chances of survival by offering niche curricula designed to attract particular sorts of students. That is, rather than a schooling system which fosters diversity within schools, we will move to a system where the key characteristic is homogeneity, with particular schools catering to specific groups of students organised on the basis of wealth, culture, ethnicity or religion. It is this possibility which offers the gravest threat to our democratic system. Diversity within a public education system is crucial for an important democratic reason. A democracy requires a public---and publics don’t just happen—they are made. The institution of public schooling, more than any other in our society, is central to the making of democratic publics. Public schools don’t just exist to educate individuals. They actually turn a group of individuals with a host of differences into a civic entity we call a ‘public.’ This is because they represent a place where common ground is made and a sense of the common good is fashioned. The common places we call schools should be places characterised by plurality and diversity because it is here that we can teach that a respect for difference is precisely what binds our society together. Such lessons are not possible when our schooling system is organised to separate out rather than to mix young people from a variety of backgrounds. It is within these public spaces that students can serve an apprenticeship in democracy. The knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to function as effective and participating citizens are not things people are born with, they need to be taught systematically. Not the least is the capacity to recognise the reality and legitimacy of different perspectives and diverse points of view. That is, the capacity to live beyond the comfort zone of a narrow group is central to the exercise of democratic life. But it is surely more difficult for this capacity to be developed and practised in schools which are built around the marginalisation and or exclusion of particular lifestyles, cultures and points of view. It is ironic that at a time when government is urging schools to embrace a civics programme called ‘Discovering Democracy’, it is pursuing a policy direction which erodes the essential conditions for participation in civic life. Defining private schools in relation to public education constructs the latter as a public good alongside which private schools can operate because we believe in the democratic right of people to opt out of the public provision if that is their wish. It is a different thing altogether to make private education the defining norm of our education system. Through the slick rhetoric of choice, the Coalition is seeking to seduce us into accepting that since education is a commodity, it makes sense to encourage consumers to shop around for the right product. In this view the civic and democratic purposes of education are subservient to the benefits it confers on individuals. No doubt the response to this argument will be that an increase of funds to private schools will help to bring down fees and thus open private schools to a broader range of the population than ever before. Such an argument ignores at least two important facts. First a reduction in fees for high to medium charging schools is hardly likely to manufacture a rush of custom from the majority of the population whose capacity to pay even a tenth of existing fees is severely limited. The rhetoric of choice masks the reality that it is only the minority who have the requisite financial and cultural resources who are in a position to exercise that freedom. Second, in the education market being established by the government, it is hardly likely the private schools will open their gates to anyone who applies. After all, accompanying last years budget announcement was a statement by Dr. Kemp to the effect that Commonwealth funding to private schools will be dependant on schools meeting national targets in areas such as literacy, numeracy and science. In a results based environment like this, one can only assume that schools in a position to choose students will base their selection on academic merit, rather than on diversity of student mix. All of this is not an argument against the funding of private schools. What the Coalition has done is more than just a matter of figures, more than an argument about who gets what and when. It is about the redefinition of public education itself. This is hidden in the current policy and deserves to be debated urgently. After all, to ask questions about the sort of public education we want in the 21st century is to raise fundamental questions about the nature of Australian democracy. These are questions the Minister and the government have studiously avoided. Alan Reid is Associate Professor at the University of South Australia. =================================================================== Terrie Templeton WTO Watch Qld gumbus@powerup.com.au
> their publication on Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)* and what we
> believe may be the start of a very exciting movement.
>
> Entertainment will be provided throughout the night.
>
> Only 100 tickets are available for this great fundraising event, so it is
> important to purchase your ticket as soon as possible...
>
> When: Saturday, OCTOBER 27th 7PM - Midnight
> Where: St Andrews Hall, Cnr Gladstone & Vulture Street, South Brisbane
> Cost: $20/28 (Concession/Waged) for meal and entertainment.
> Only tickets paid for can be assured places.
>
> Currently tickets are available from:
> Friends of the Earth, Brisbane
> 294 Montague Road, West End
> Phone: 07 3846 5793
> E-mail: foebrisbane@uq.net.au
> *Community Supported Agriculture is a mutually supportive relationship
> between consumers, farmer/s and agricultural land. Whereby shares in a
> season of produce are subscribed to in advance and supporters are treated
> to fresh produce directly from the farm.
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2) CALLS TO ACTION
Got something to say about the election? The Australian nespaper has a Voters' Forum running. How about we all contact them with our concerns about the GATS? Maybe we can get the issue some publicity and kick off a debate.
Please mark 'Voters' Forum' on letters, faxes and emails.
Post:GPO Box 4162, Sydney, NSW,2001
Email:letters@theaustralian.com.au (no attachments)
Fax:(02)9288 2824
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The office of Gene Tech regulator has updated their website to make finding
the location of GM trials a little easier.
http://www.ogtr.gov.au/gmorecord/maps.htm
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Health before wealth - Demand the WTO change its patent rule
Every day 37,000 people die from preventable diseases such as HIV/AIDS,
malaria, and tuberculosis. Most of these deaths are in the developing world
where many life-saving drugs are unaffordable because they are patented
under rules set by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
There is now a strong movement of governments, charities, churches, activist
groups and health bodies urging the WTO to change these rules to allow
countries the right to make vital medicines more cheaply. However a few
rich WTO members - particularly the United States - are blocking these
moves, and pressurising developing countries to apply even more restrictive
rules at national level.
Oxfam, Third World Network and Health Gap Coalition are part of a global
alliance which is urging WTO members, in particular the US, to demonstrate
their commitment to put people's health before the profits of powerful drugs
companies.
Will you help us change the WTO rules?
Add your name to our petition which we will present to the WTO at its
forthcoming summit.
Go to:
http://oxfam.org.uk/e-campaigns/unclesam/uspetition.html?link=oxfamaus
Thanks.
Dr. Ken Harvey, MB BS, FRCPA, MASM
Councillor, Australian Consumers Association (http://www.choice.com.au
Director, Therapeutic Guidelines Ltd. (http://www.tg.com.au
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**Please adapt and forward to your organization's email list. Thank you!**
3) FOCUS ON GATS AND EDUCATION
a) GATS and Public Services
Is public education excluded from the GATS? The simple answer to this is 'no'. Article 1.3(b) states that 'services includes any service in any sector except services supplied in the exercise of government authority.' However, Article 1.3(c) says that a service supplied in the exercise of government authority means 'any service which is supplied neither on a commercial basis, nor in competition with one of more service suppliers.' Clearly according to this definition, education is not automatically excluded from the GATS.
b) GATS and Education
(ED: the following is from Cornerhouse Briefing paper No 23, July, 2001)
To establish a trade in services, as GATS aims to do, there has to be a market in services – services have to be bought and sold. Until recently, however, many countries have not had markets in health care, education, water and sewerage, or energy. All have, by and large, been provided by government or non-profit organisations. The state has set up schools and paid the teachers, built the hospitals and trained the nurses and doctors. (Here in Australia, the situation is further complicated by the fact that we have had for many years, private schools with public funding existing alonside publicly funded schools-ED)
c) Australia's GATS commitments in Education
The GATS is, at this stage, still a voluntary agreement. So, even though public education is not automatically exempt from the GATS, it will not be included in the GATS unless the government chooses to include it.
Australia has already agreed to deregulate the following areas of education under GATS. At the time these commitments were made, there was no community consultation. Australia has agreed to provide unrestricted market access for foreign suppliers to the following areas of education.
higher education services (covers provision of private tertiary education services, including at university level),
secondary education services (covering general as well as technical and vocational education at the secondary level in private institutions)
Other education services (covers English language tuition)
Market access for foreign education suppliers is available via
cross border supply (eg when education services are provided electronically or by post from foreign education institutions)
consumption abroad (eg when foreign students study here. Under the WTO's National Treatment rule, foreign students studying here may be able to claim the same income support as Australian students receive.)
commercial presence (eg an education supplier sets up an educational institution in Australia. The WTO's market access rules stipulate that foreign service suppliers must be able to transfer finance into the country to set up their business and to take profits out of the country.)
These education services will be subject to the WTO's National Treatment rule which says that governments must treat foreign service suppliers no less favourably than domestic service suppliers. Note that at least two private Australian universities receive government funding, which may mean that foreign suppliers setting up here can also claim an equal amount of government funding.
d) Some excellent articles on education and GATS are available on the National Tertairy Education Union's website. See www.nteu.org.au
e) So the all important issue regarding public education and the GATS is the issue of government policy. WTO Watch Qld has contacted both the Labour party and the Coalition about the GATS and public services (which include public health and public education)
Neither party has given a clear and unequivocal commitment that public education will NEVER be subject to the GATS and the privatisation and commercialisation that go with it.
The following is the negotiating position proposed by DFAT for the coming Ministerial meeting of the WTO in Qatar. (www.dfat.gov.au)
"The services sector is also of key importance, creating eight out of every ten jobs in Australia and accounting for more than two thirds of
our GDP and almost a quarter of total exports. Australia's key interests are for improved market access for our exports in areas like
telecommunications, finance and professional services. At the same time flexibility in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) enables
Australia to ensure that Australia's cultural policy objectives can be taken into account. We are able to determine an approach to essential
public services (such as health and education) consistent with domestic policy objectives. Australia has made no commitments in the
audio-visual sector and only limited commitments in education and health services.
(ED: Note the enormous potential for job losses when the foreign services suppliers come in and 're-structure' and 'down-size' the work force.)
So the million dollar question with regard to public health and GATS is
'What are the policy objectives of the parties?"
As you read the following article, bear in mind the words of the Global Services Network in their Statement on WTO services negotiations, November, 1999, p1.
'The WTO negotiations on Services should be used to achieve a contestable, competetive market in every services sector, in every WTO member country.'
It would seem that we are already heading that way.
This article was published in the QTU Professional Magazine March 2000