A few weeks ago we were critical of the lack of coverage in the New Zealand media about the first ever case New Zealand has taken against Australia at the WTO - apples. We were therefore pleased to see today that there were two publications looking at the issue. The Dominion Post (inspired maybe by last night's Australia Day Reception Tim?) wrote a good Editorial on the topic. There is also an analysis of the issues in The Independent (page 4). The Independent suggests that a successful result from the WTO could potentially be worth $50 million plus a year.
The article in The Independent is quite interesting, particularly the comments made by Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton
In the meantime the way remained open for Australia to come back to New Zealand with a mutually satisfactory resolution to the issue, said Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton.
"The ball is now in Australia's court to come up with a proposal. We would assess any proposal made by Australia on its merits."
Is Jim hinting that behind the scenes Australia is seeking an out of court settlement? Certainly we don't think Australia will want to be seen to have lost the case in the WTO as this might encourage further challenges to its strict import regime (which developing countries in particular argue is more about trade protection than disease prevention). We will watch this space very closely.
