Australia is rich in resources but poor in outcomes becauseour biggest industries are owned by the U.S., writesBevan Ramsden.

U.S. CORPORATE DOMINANCE of our economy is depriving Australians of the benefit of our abundant resources and denying our government sovereign control over our economy. Its time to break free.

That we, Australians, live under the military, economic and cultural domination of the United States is a fact of life and to our great disadvantage. Whilst much has been written about the military domination expressed through subservience to the U.S. alliance and embracing its sub-sets, AUKUS and the Force Posture Agreement, less is known of U.S. economic domination and its disastrous impact on our everyday life. But it helps explain why a wealthy country has so many poor, homeless and workers struggling to keep their heads above the financial waters.

ANZ and Qantas prove that when corporate greed trumps fairness and equality, democracy itself is at risk.

Len Fox, in his 1980 book 'Multinationals take over Australia', provided the following figures for foreign control of various industries:

These figures were obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) but unfortunately, more up-to-date figures are not available from this source as John Howard, treasurer under the Fraser government, stopped the ABS collecting data on foreign ownership in 1978. The figures were becoming an embarrassment at a time when the Fraser Government was encouraging foreign investment.

We are indebted to The Conversationand Clinton Fernandes for more up-to-date information on foreign ownership of industry in Australia, and I quote as follows:

The list included the following:

One might ask how such U.S. economic domination is to the Australian peoples detriment? After all, governments keep telling us that foreign investment is a great boon and something we cant do without.

Because of their financial size and domination of industries, decisions about investment and development are made not by the Australian government but in the boardrooms of those corporations and most probably overseas. Those decisions are made to maximise profit for their shareholders, their prime responsibility, not in order to meet national priorities for the benefit of the Australian people.

A classic case is the car manufacturing industry. Successive Australian governments allowed and even encouraged, foreign investment and hence ownership until the entire car manufacturing industry was 100% foreign-owned. The government lost any control over this industry, which was taken out of Australia by its foreign owners when they decided they could make greater profits in a country with lower labour costs. Closure of the car industry caused closure of support industries, loss of jobs and loss of the skills that went with this industry.

We also lose out because of tax manipulation and so-called "creative accounting". Clinton Fernandes, in his excellent book, 'Island Off the Coast of Asia'writes:

In short, one Australian worker paid more tax than five giant U.S. corporations whose combined income in that year was $51.8 billion. The Australian community suffers because of the lost revenue, which could otherwise finance much-needed infrastructure such as public housing, essential upgrading of public health care and addressing the climate crisis.

The clout of the foreign-owned mining sector was seen in 2010 when it mounted a very public political campaign opposing PM Kevin Rudds proposed resources rental tax, which would have improved the income from this sector for the benefit of the Australian people. The ALP buckled under this political pressure, replacing PM Rudd with Julia Gillard, who promptly bowed to the wishes of the foreign-owned mineral Industry and removed the resources rental tax proposal from further consideration.

The U.S. dominant corporations have put downward pressure on wages, and as the following example indicates, their attitude to labour, leaves much to be desired.

A former trade union organiserShirley Wintonat a recent Melbourne protest rally explained:

A new book provides a sharp and unsettling examination of how Australias foreign policy is being shaped, steered and stretched by the strategic ambitions of a Trump-led United States.

Successive Australian governments by the encouragement, even subsidy, of U.S. and other foreign transnationals, have allowed them to gain ownership dominance in key industries and so have lost sovereign control of the economy and the ability to set national economic priorities. The defence against dominant foreign ownership and control is publicly-owned enterprises. But this defence was jettisoned by successive governments when they adopted the policy of privatisation, selling off the Commonwealth Bank, the Australian Defence Industries and many others, and opening up those enterprises to take-over via share buyout.

For a bright and independent future, in which the people of Australia gain the maximum benefit of the countrys bountiful resources, we certainly need to break free of U.S. economic domination. Reversing the privatisation policy, to regain sovereign control through public ownership, is a starting point. IPAN, the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network will be addressing the issue of U.S. dominance and the urgent need to break free at its National Conference in Adelaide this year. It is scheduled for 2426th July. Registerhere.

Bevan Ramsdenis a long-time peace activist going back to his full-time voluntary organising work in the Vietnam Moratorium Campaign, for which he was, with Jim Cairns, the Victorian representative on the National Vietnam Moratorium Campaign committee. He has continued since in peace activities and more recently as a member of the national coordinating committee for the Independence and Peaceful Australia network and editor of its monthly publication, Voice.