PACT COULD HURT DAIRY FARMERS.

Byline: Lisa Friedman Washington Bureau

California dairy farmers are accusing the Bush administration of putting them out to pasture under a proposed international free-trade pact they fear will flood the market with cheap Australian milk products.

Hollywood, meanwhile, is eyeing the same trade agreement with Australia as a potential cash cow, allowing it to compete for a greater share of that country's broadcast market.

``It is unfortunate that this trade agreement unfairly picks winners and losers. While farmers and dairymen go out of business, Hollywood elitists and executives will rake in more money,'' Rep. Gary Miller, R-Diamond Bar, said in a statement Friday.

Miller, whose district includes the Chino Basin and who occasionally jokes that he represents more cows than voters, wrote a letter Friday to President George W. Bush and U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick, warning that removing tariffs could crush the state's $30 billion dairy industry.

Eight other California House members, as well as U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, also signed the letter.

Australian economists have estimated that dairy exports to the United States could quadruple if America lifts the tariffs.

California dairy farmers say the influx of cheap Australian cheese, butter and other milk products sure to follow would put about 10 percent of the state's 2,200 dairy farms out of business and cost the industry about $4.9 billion over 10 years in the Golden State alone.

``They're going to dump their subsidized milk products on the U.S., and, of course, it will have its biggest effect on California,'' said Bob Feenstra, executive director of the Milk Producers Council, based in Chino.

Lowering tariffs and trade barriers on a range of goods and services, however, is expected to boost the export of U.S. cars and other manufactured goods to Australia.

U.S. manufacturers and business groups are urging the administration to wrap up the trade talks quickly, despite farmer opposition.

Hollywood, meanwhile, is also trying to hammer out tough differences in the agreement, primarily on intellectual property protection and market access. Australia is America's eighth-largest market for filmed entertainment, representing about $500 million in annual revenues.

Officials with the Motion Picture Association of America said they would like Australia to extend its copyright-term protection from its current 50 years to 70 years after the death of a creator or 95 years for corporate works. Hollywood also is trying to demand that Australia better police intellectual property and Internet piracy.

``Right now, it's a fairly low priority for the Australian government,'' said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, who helped spearhead an international anti-piracy caucus in Congress.

He noted, however, that while U.S. losses in Australia are still relatively small - about $34 million in 2002 - they are steadily increasing.

``Australia should be a natural country for us to work out intellectual property protections with. It has its own budding entertainment industry that will soon be victimized if it hasn't been already,'' Schiff said.

Lisa Friedman, [phone]

lisa.friedman(at)langnews.com