August 31, 2010 1:32PM # Free Trade Consensus Remains Intact in Australia By [Sallie James](https://www.cato.org/people/sallie-james) --- SHARE As many of you may know, Australia had a federal election on August 21 that yielded an at-time-of-blogging inconclusive result. As a consequence, the Liberal-National coalition (currently in opposition) and the Australian Labor Party are both wooing the Green and Independent members in the hope of securing their support. A Canberra-based friend sent me a link to an article in today’s (or, strictly speaking given the time difference, yesterday’s) *Australian* about the [trade-related aspects of the current negotiations to form a minority government](http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/green-populism-no-way-to-gain-office/story-e6frg9p6-1225912081703). I’ll admit, the story had me worried. I’ve [bragged before about Australia’s bipartisan political consensus on free trade](https://www.cato.org/some-center-left-governments-are-prepared-to-promote-trade/), and it looked as though that was under threat. According to the article, Labor — the party responsible for much of the unilateral trade liberalization undertaken in the 1980s — was considering “re-erecting tariff walls”: > Yes, modern Labor has degenerated to the point where the Treasurer allows the prospect of protectionist horse-trading to be part of the equation for forming Australia’s next government. And so Australia’s political deadlock threatens to encourage the rise of a new industry protectionism driven by the anti-capitalist Greens in cahoots with left-wing trade unions and rural populism… A few hours later, a [new, happier story was filed on the *Australian*’s website](http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/pm-julia-gillard-rejects-bob-katter-call-for-tariffs/story-fn59niix-1225912548283): > …Ms Gillard used her press club speech to offer continuity and certainty, but made clear she would not seek \[Independent\] Mr Katter’s vote by pandering to his passionate rejection of free trade, which he believes has ravaged sectors such as the sugar industry in his north Queensland seat of Kennedy. > > > “You’re talking to the leader of the political party that literally went to hell and back to modernise the Australian economy, including reducing tariff barriers,” Ms Gillard said. > > > “That is our heritage, that is our belief, that is in us. > > > “We would not have the modern resilient Australian economy we have now if Labor had not built it. I’ll ignore that last preposterous statement about a political party building an economy, and instead focus on the main thrust of Ms. Gillard’s comments, which should come as a relief to free-traders everywhere, especially in Australia. ##### Related Tags [Trade Policy](https://www.cato.org/trade-policy), [Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies](https://www.cato.org/herbert-stiefel-center-trade-policy-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).