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representatives vote 2015-09-08#5
Edited by
mackay staff
on
2018-03-16 15:20:34
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Title
Motions — Trade with China- Motions - Trade with China - Safeguards
Description
<p class="speaker">Tony Abbott</p><p>I move:</p><p class="italic">That this House:</p>- The majority voted against an [amendment to the motion](http://www.openaustralia.org.au/debates/?id=2015-09-08.14.1) introduced by Prime Minister [Tony Abbott](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/representatives/warringah/tony_abbott), which means it failed. The amendment was introduced by Leader of the Opposition [Bill Shorten](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/representatives/maribyrnong/bill_shorten).
- ### Original motion text
- > *That this House:*
- > *(1) record the enormous economic potential of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to deliver Australian jobs, growth and investment;*
- > *(2) acknowledge that for benefits to flow to Australian businesses and workers without delay, it must be passed by the Parliament this year; and*
- > *(3) fully support the China-Australia FTA in its negotiated form.*
- ### Amendment text
- > *That paragraph (3) be deleted and that the following be inserted:*
- > *(3) support the China-Australia FTA and call on the Government to work with the Parliament to legislate safeguards which:*
- >> *(a) maximise job opportunities for Australian workers;*
- >> *(b) protect overseas workers from exploitation and maintain Australian wages and conditions; and*
- >> *(c) promote safety on Australian work sites by ensuring the skills and qualifications on temporary trades workers are of the highest standard*
<p class="italic">(1)   record the enormous economic potential of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to deliver Australian jobs, growth and investment;</p><p class="italic">(2)   acknowledge that for benefits to flow to Australian businesses and workers without delay, it must be passed by the Parliament this year; and</p><p class="italic">(3)   fully support the China-Australia FTA in its negotiated form.</p><p>It is important to remind the House of just how big a deal the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement is—just how big an opportunity for our exports and for jobs in Australia the China free trade agreement is. Already China takes about one-third of our exports. China is already the strongest economy in Asia, and soon China will be the biggest economy in the world. What the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement—the China-Australia export agreement—does is give Australia and our exporters privileged access to the biggest market in Asia and what will soon be the biggest market in the world.</p><p>It is important for people in this parliament to understand that this is the only free trade agreement that China has made with another G20 country. This is by far the best agreement that China has done with any significant developed economy. As members right around this chamber should know, this agreement has been 10 years in the making; it was started by the Howard government and it was finalised and concluded by the Abbott government. It is also important for people right around Australia to understand that, under this agreement, more than 95 per cent of our exports to China will enter duty free—will enter without any tariffs at all. That is why this agreement gives us absolutely unparalleled and absolutely unprecedented access to what is certainly the biggest market in Asia and will soon be the world's biggest market. This is something which applies across the board when it comes to our exports. Our resources will go in on a better basis than now, our agricultural exports will go in on a better basis than now and there will be unprecedented access for Australian services to the Chinese market because of this particular agreement.</p><p>We all know that about five years ago New Zealand successfully concluded a free trade agreement with China. We probably do not know, but we should, that under this agreement New Zealand's exports to China more than quadrupled. At a time when our exports to China merely doubled, New Zealand's exports to China more than quadrupled because of the free trade agreement that they had and we lacked. Our free trade agreement with China is a much better agreement than New Zealand's. It is a much better agreement than New Zealand's because ours involves services too.</p><p>I have to point out to the House that the agreement that was negotiated by us with China—the agreement that was so carefully and painstakingly finalised by the Minister for Trade and Investment, the member for Goldstein, with China—is a done deal. It cannot be renegotiated. It is a done deal. It is a deal that we either take or leave, and I put it to the House that it would be absolutely unconscionable for us not to take the deal as negotiated by this government with the Chinese.</p><p>I have to say that, on a momentous day 10 months ago in this very chamber, the Leader of the Opposition said to this House:</p><p class="italic">… Labor welcomes the prospect of a trade agreement between our two countries. A decade of hard work has gone into creating this opportunity for Australia, from Prime Minister Howard to Prime Ministers Rudd and Gillard, and now Prime Minister Abbott.</p><p>That is what the Leader of the Opposition said 10 months ago in this chamber, in the presence of President Xi Jinping himself. He said, 'Labor welcomes the prospect of a trade agreement between our two countries.' That is what he said in this chamber when President Xi Jinping was here on his historic visit to our country.</p><p>What has happened since? What has happened since is that the CFMEU has come out and condemned the deal, and as soon as the union movement started to condemn the deal what happened was that the Leader of the Opposition started to shift his position. The problem right now that the Leader of the Opposition faces—and I invite him to come into this chamber and speak on the deal—is that, unless he is to come into this chamber and speaks on this motion, the very strong impression will be created in the minds of the people of Australia that every time the Leader of the Opposition moves it is the CFMEU that is pulling the strings, and every time the Leader of the Opposition speaks it is the CFMEU's voice that we hear.</p><p>Notwithstanding all the advantages of this export agreement for Australia, the CFMEU has already spent what is estimated to be $12 million on undermining, sabotaging and telling lies about this agreement—this agreement vital for the future of our country.</p><p>Right on cue, as soon as the CFMEU and other unions started attacking this agreement, what did the Leader of the Opposition say? The Leader of the Opposition, on cue, said, 'It's a dud deal.' He now has his chance to stand up in this parliament and say exactly where he stands. Right now what we have had is Labor member after Labor member taking their cue from the union movement, standing up and threatening to block this deal which is vital for Australia's future.</p><p>Let me make it absolutely crystal clear to members opposite what this deal will involve in this parliament. In this parliament, acceding to the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement involves no legislation to change the Fair Work Act. It involves no legislation to change our immigration laws. The only bills that will be before this parliament to put the China Free Trade Agreement into practice, to put it into effect, are changes to our tariff laws. So there are no changes to the protections for workers, no changes to the protections built into our immigration laws—none whatsoever.</p><p>So there is absolutely nothing possible under this agreement with China that is not already possible. Let me repeat that: there is absolutely nothing possible under this agreement with China that is not already possible, including under free trade agreements negotiated by members opposite when they were in government. So absolutely every single thing which is envisaged under this free trade agreement was envisaged under free trade agreements negotiated by members opposite when they were in government. It is absolutely critical to note that there is absolutely no possibility of placing any foreigner in an Australian job without labour market testing. That was the situation under members opposite when they were in government and that is the situation under this government under this agreement.</p><p>So what have we got here? We have a campaign of lies. It is a campaign of lies—xenophobic at best, racist at worst—being peddled principally by the CFMEU, being taken up by the ACTU more generally, being connived at by members opposite, being articulated by members opposite. I just want to make it absolutely crystal clear: the only free trade agreement that members opposite have complained about is the free trade agreement with China. What have they got against China? Why is it that they are preparing to snub the strongest economy and the strongest power in Asia? What is it that members opposite have got against China? Why is it that members opposite seem to be channelling the ghosts of the Federation parliament, echoing the kinds of sentiments that were heard in the Federation parliament at the time of the White Australia policy? Let me make it absolutely crystal clear. Members opposite talk about the Asian century. This agreement makes us part of the Asian century. Why are members opposite against an agreement which makes us part of the Asian century?</p><p>I am pleased that the Leader of the Opposition has finally deigned to enter the parliament and I hope he is going to contribute to this debate. I hope that finally the Leader of the Opposition is going to tell us exactly what he thinks is wrong with this agreement, if indeed there is anything that he can come up with which is wrong with this agreement. We know exactly where other significant Labor leaders stand. Bob Hawke supports this agreement, Bob Carr supports this agreement, Simon Crean supports this agreement and the Labor premiers of Victoria, Queensland and South Australia support this agreement. Where does the Leader of the Opposition stand? Whose side is the Leader of the Opposition on? Is he on the side of Bob Hawke, Bob Carr, Simon Crean and the Labor premiers of Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, or is the Leader of the Opposition yet again listening to the CFMEU? That is the challenge that I put to the Leader of the Opposition: just for once, tell us where you stand. Just for once, stop playing politics. Just for once, put the interests of Australia first and back this agreement.</p> <p class="speaker">Bill Shorten</p><p>I move:</p><p class="italic">That paragraph (3) be deleted and that the following be inserted:</p><p class="italic">(3) support the China-Australia FTA and call on the Government to work with the Parliament to legislate safeguards which:</p><p class="italic">(a) maximise job opportunities for Australian workers;</p><p class="italic">(b) protect overseas workers from exploitation and maintain Australian wages and conditions; and</p><p class="italic">(c) promote safety on Australian work sites by ensuring the skills and qualifications on temporary trades workers are of the highest standard.</p><p>Labor supports this amendment and the amended resolution, because otherwise here we will be again—another day, another stunt from the Abbott stunt factory of Australian politics. I can just imagine the Liberal brains trust—if that is not an oxymoron—high-fiving each other this morning. They would have rushed in and said, 'We've got a great idea. We've got a great idea—we're going to have another national time-wasting resolution from the champions of national time wasting.' They would have said, 'Let's put up a parenthood resolution on the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement and try to wedge Labor.' Unfortunately, this unamended motion changes nothing about Labor's position. It is the ultimate hollow resolution of the ultimate hollow man.</p><p>The Prime Minister's motion pre-empts consideration of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement by the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties. The treaties committee had its latest public hearing only yesterday. The committee is still deliberating and it has set 19 October as the date for reporting to this parliament. This kind of reckless behaviour we have learned to expect from this Prime Minister—pre-empting this report—does not surprise. But this motion does provide an opportunity for me to set the record straight and to restate Labor's priorities for a China-Australia Free Trade Agreement. Labor wants the best possible free trade agreement with China: a high-quality agreement that creates and protects Australian jobs and a deal that generates high-skill, fair-paying jobs here in Australia and ensures that Australians are given the first opportunity to do the work in Australia.</p><p>Firstly, in support of this, Labor believes in trade liberalisation and the bilateral and multilateral agreements which support this. We have delivered trade liberalisation when in government. It was Labor governments that reduced Australia's trade tariff barriers unilaterally in the 1980s and 1990s. It has been Labor that has opened the way for the modernisation of Australian industry and improvements in living standards for working people. It is Labor that has presided over the formation of the Cairns Group, an initiative that secured significant freeing up of world markets, delivering benefits for Australian farmers in particular. It was Labor that secured the WTO Uruguay Round Agreement, one of the most significant multilateral trade agreements of the modern era. It was Labor that has negotiated and implemented free trade agreements with Malaysia, Chile, the 10 ASEAN countries and New Zealand. And in my time in opposition we have supported the Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement and the Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement.</p><p>Our support for free trade is not a matter of extreme ideology or unthinking orthodoxy. We do not see the signing ceremony as the end of the game. Our goal is to always ensure free trade, open markets and economic change that works for all Australians. I stress: all Australians. Labor understands that open markets are an excellent way of achieving economic growth and that economic growth is the best way to create good jobs. But we do not just want economic growth; we want quality growth and we want the benefits fairly shared amongst all Australians. We want market access for Australian firms and we want new jobs for Australian workers.</p><p>Secondly, Labor fundamentally believes in an Australia engaged with our region. We are the party of APEC and of the Asian century. We know that more trade with Asia is an essential part of building a high-skill, high-wage future for all Australians. If Australia gets this agreement with China right, everyone can benefit. This is what Labor wants. We want our hardworking farmers to get their high-quality produce onto the Chinese market more easily. We want new opportunities for our growing services sector. And we want emerging industries, like advanced manufacturing, to get a boost too. But the fundamental point remains—we need to get the package right. For Labor, this will always mean doing the right thing by Australian workers. There is nothing for Australia to gain by entering a race to the bottom with our neighbours on wages and conditions. There will always be other countries, Mr Prime Minister, that have more people willing to work longer and for less money. Our goal should be to play on Australia's strong ground.</p> <p class="speaker">Government Members</p><p>Government members interjecting—</p> <p class='motion-notice motion-notice-truncated'>Long debate text truncated.</p>
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