Genuine free trade of the type promoted by the WTO can create jobs and prosperity, but the bilateral and plurilateral trade deals that have come to dominate in recent years are of much more questionable benefit. They tend to exclude politically sensitive areas like agriculture and to favour the dominant partner’s interests, such as the intellectual property provisions common in deals the USA negotiates.

The car industry has been a long time dying. To blame its demise on the South Korean or trans-pacific agreements is absurd.

I completely agree that “We should not put the power of corporations and profits ahead of the people.” That is exactly what protectionism does. The “special interests” lobbying for economic privileges at the expense of the rest of us are much more likely to argue for protectionism than against it. The car industry is an excellent example. The taxpayers and motorists of Australia have been subsidising US and Japanese multinationals for far too long.

"How do we make free trade fair"

Make it free. Two guys and a pen, crossing out all the bullsh!t in current "free trade agreements" (definitely oxymoronic). Work out a penalty for any subsidy on ether side (to make a more level playing field) and the make sure they are reviewed if an industry body on either side says someone is trying to pull a "swifty"

Then add a carbon consumption tax to help mitigate CO2e and helping get rid of the free rider problem of an emissions tax.

Definitely don't return to protectionism

Peter, this should have been filed under "anti-economics".

It's easy to demolish your entire confused anti-social parasitic belief system in one sentence:

Show by what rational criterion you distinguish between free trade and the alleged fair price in any given case.

End of argument. You lose. You're talking nonsense.

What happened is that the ALP raped SPC and Toyota to death with the full support of the Greens. During the last Labor government, Bill Shorten was openly boasting about how he had managed to get (extort) above-market wages and conditions for SPC workers.

Clever hey?

And just before Toyota folded, they applied to the Labor judge for - cop this - permission to talk to their own employees, to let them know the company is going to go broke, and would they prefer to not have some of their extorted above-market conditions like two-and-a-half time "penalty" rates for Sundays, or lose their jobs?

Result: permission denied. So now the whole car manufacturing industry is gone.

Happy now, you socialist morons?

Definitely don't return to protectionism
Valley Guy,
How would you suggest we address the protectionism that is the public service i.e. incompetent bureaucrats being totally unaccountable ?

I'd love to see the public debate, but beside you calling for the debate, (for which I'm very grateful), I'm not sure what your are offering here Peter. Exactly what does a global fair trade system look like? There is plenty of room for the Greens to come up with something very interesting in this area, but nothing forthcoming as yet.

Elements of both the right and left are traditionally supporters of protected markets, with legitimate reasons. Don't just bring back the policy debate, bring back the political struggle. Take it to them!

I am a supporter of protectionism. How does that taste on your lips? Protect the nation, protect the regions, protect the villages and neighbourhoods, but don't go to far or your costs will outweigh your benefits. Yes to economic diversity, greater local and regional interdependence and autonomy. yes to moderate protectionism, applied to the neighbourhood scale. Yes to a relocalisation of the economy. Now please get on with an actual policy Peter and the Greens. Not just "we want fair". Show us the detail!

EQ: 'How anyone can doubt the value of Australia's adoption of free trade principles and economic reform starting with the Hawke Government in 1983 defies belief.'

Well, here is one defiant disbeliever proudly putting up their hand.

The free trade process had nothing whatever to do with economic value or common sense. It was all about international peer group pressure. Countries simply had to join the globalization/free trade club or be ostracized from international trade and financial markets, and in some extreme cases - sanctioned, bombed and/or invaded.

All that global free trade accomplished was to strip countries of their ability to produce or do anything that was 'uncompetitive' on a global market (which is just code for global corporate profit). Countries were stripped of their right to self-sufficiency, to regulate their financial and banking systems, and to benefit from their own local markets and talent. They merely became whistle stops for corporations zooming around the globe chasing cheap labour.

Free trade did not save Australia or any other country from recessions - they're still coming thick and fast and with increasing ruthlessness. Rather, it's placed our economy at the mercy of an inherently corrupt international banking and corporate system. So far, we've escaped the economic meltdowns experienced in the US, EU and other countries - not because of the so-called mining boom, but because we still held onto some good old-fashioned regulation of our banking sector, thus saving us 100s of billions in bailout spending.