Trans-Pacific Partnership Negotiations - Don't Trade Away Australian Stories

14 February, 2011

In March 2010, Australia entered negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement – another multi-lateral free trade agreement that will include: Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the United States. The parties are hoping to lock down an agreement this year that could supersede existing agreements and then offer membership to other Pacific nations on a non-negotiable basis. Â

Please read Trading Culture by Jock Given here for an expert analysis of the pitfalls this new agreement poses for the audiovisual industry. The Australian government has entered talks without itself having a clear policy on local cultural content in the converged environment of digital downloads – which will surely become the primary gateway to audiovisual content over the next decade. Â

The AWG is asking all members to sign the following petition to Minister for Trade Craig Emerson before he issues a mandate to the TPP negotiating team regarding audiovisual content.

Don’t Trade Away Australian Stories!

Craig Emerson, Minister for Trade

Dear Minister,

The undersigned are members of the Australian Writers Guild – performance writers who write Australian stories for television, film, online content, theatre and radio. We rallied to preserve Australian local content during the AUSFTA negotiations – resulting in the important cultural carve outs in that agreement for free to air and some cable broadcasts. Â

The cultural protections included in AUSFTA are increasingly under threat by the convergence of audiovisual platforms with digital content that can be viewed on television, online and via mobile telephones. Australia has no policy regarding local content in the multiplatform arena – yet we have entered negotiations with trading partners – particularly the US – who want to do away with all cultural content reservations.

We urge you, when issuing your mandate to the DFAT negotiating team to:

•   Preserve Australia’s ability to regulate local content in the emerging multiplatform environment by insisting on a ‘positive list’ agreement that specifically lists industries to be covered by the terms of trade, setting multiplatform audiovisual outside the negotiations;

•   If a ‘negative list’ agreement emerges, draft a reservation that protects Australia’s right to regulate local content in the multiplatform arena - through regulation, investment, indirect subsidies and/or levies, with reference to the governments Convergence Review.

There is no local audiovisual industry in the world, with the possible exception of Bollywood, that can survive free trade with the US industry. Australia needs to preserve our local cultural content in the multiplatform arena when and if it enters new free trade agreements.

Thank you for your attention to our concerns

TO ADD YOUR NAME TO THIS PETITION EMAIL YOUR NAME AND MEMBER NUMBER TO AWG INDUSTRIAL