The tobacco companies won’t give up easily. Since they lost the last round in the High Court, they say they will continue the battle by other means. One would have thought that their loss in the High Court would have spelt the end of their fight to stop plain packaging of tobacco. Not so! It seems that they now will have a serious look at Australia’s trade agreements to see if they can be used to get the decision they seek.
Australia has signed myriads of treaties and conventions over the years and have spun a tangled web in this regard. This nation has gone berserk in putting its assent to all kinds of foreign agreements and with each one, we have become less and less independent and have shackled ourselves with foreign entanglements. The structure of international interdependency has been going on behind the backs of the citizens for a long time and now it might be that these many treaties will come back to bite our cunning leaders where it hurts the most.
Professing themselves to be wise, they have become fools. But who are the foolish ones? Those in power or those who voted them into power?
Jay Nauss
Glen Aplin
