Open source group rubbishes ICT minister's claims over FTA Yet another area dealing with intellectual property - software in this case - pointing out that the AUSFTA has some nasty knots in it that do not favour Australia.
There are many reasons why we should have a trade agreement with the US, but the more I find out about it, and the more I read opinions like this, the more I feel that the people who negotiated it on Australia's behalf were bamboozled into something that is not in the best interests of my country.
Come to think of it, by letting the US negotiators get away with imposing this on us is probably not in the best interests of the US either. Too much of it is limiting of the future; small mindedness writ large, afraid that someone else might do better than the current status quo.
There are many threads creating this Gordian Knot, and the more I find out about it, the more I can see that it is going to be a problem in the future - especially as bullying and standover tactics that now seem to be the political levers of the immediately near future.