Coroner & Legal
Rust Belt 2.0 – What will the China-Australia deal mean for Australian jobs?
The Greens spokesperson for Trade, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson provides the following comments on the today’s announcement about a China-Australia Free Trade Agreement.
Senator Whish-Wilson said, “What has the Government actually announced today? We are signing something to say that we will sign a deal at some point in the future. This is a Clayton’s trade deal when you need a headline.
“The Government has stolen a headline and yet they won’t release the text for months.
“The devil will be in the detail in this trade deal and I have repeatedly cautioned everybody not to be suckered into the spin about what it will deliver.
“For instance, John Howard promised the US FTA would deliver billions, yet exports to the US crashed and imports rose. And tighter restrictions on intellectual property have cost Australia hundreds of millions over the term of the agreement.
“Treasury and the Productivity Commission have repeatedly advised that the potential benefits of the Free Trade Agreements currently under negotiation have been oversold and the negatives largely ignored.
“Recently Toyota, in explaining their decision to pull out of local car manufacturing, cited the impacts of “current and future free trade agreements.”
“What will this deal cost us? The Government should immediately release the state-by-state and sectoral modelling.
“Is the combined impact of the Abbott trade deals going to be Rust Belt 2.0 around our cities and towns as happened in the late 1970s? Abbott will be hiding the details until after the Victorian election is over.
Greens Deputy Leader and spokesperson on employment and workplace relations Adam Bandt MP said, “Despite reports of labour protections in the agreement, the Greens remain concerned that the China FTA could undermine local jobs and local workers’ wages and conditions.
“The Greens will not support the trading away of local workers’ wages and conditions,” he concluded.
• Jan Davis: Major benefits for the dairy industry “We can see major benefits for the dairy industry, for fruit and horticulture and for wine,” she said. “That’s a two-way opportunity. China is already the biggest market for our produce.