Douglas Alexander: “I believe the proposed United States-Australia Free Trade Agreement is a good free-trade agreement. I intend to vote for…”

“I believe the proposed United States-Australia Free Trade Agreement is a good free-trade agreement. I intend to vote for it. I believe it will strengthen our economy. I believe it will create more jobs in the United States and it will also strengthen the historic close ties between our two countries. I have a special fondness for Australia. In 1987, when I finished two terms in the Governor's Mansion, our family moved to Australia and we lived there for 6 months, my wife and I and three teenagers and a 7-year-old. I remember my 7-year-old son wanting to know if there would be McDonalds there. I remember fly fishing in Tasmania with my older son Drew, and thinking I was about as far from Nashville as I could get on Earth. I think maybe I was. We didn't know much about Australia when we went, but we learned about Australia there, and we found it a great place to learn more about our own country. In spite of the distance between our countries, our countries could not be closer. Australians and Americans are literally cousins, almost first cousins. We are both pioneers. We both started out as underprivileged people.”