24 September 2015

China-Australia Free Trade Agreement

Peter moved the following motion in the WA Parliament:

"That this house —

(a) endorses the proposed China–Australia Free Trade Agreement that provides Western Australia with enormous new opportunities to grow trade with China, boost economic growth and create new jobs;
(b) rejects the ill-founded, racist and xenophobic campaign waged by sections of the trade union movement against this agreement; and
(c) urges the federal government to implement the agreement in full as soon as possible to maximise the benefits of the agreement for all Western Australians.

It is a great pleasure to speak on this motion on the China–Australia Free Trade Agreement that the federal government is negotiating. It is the third trade agreement that this federal government has negotiated in the last 18 months, following agreements with Japan and the Republic of Korea. Obviously, the agreement will benefit all Australians, but when one looks at the facts about trade between Australia and China, we quickly understand that first and foremost it is a Western Australian agreement.

The people who stand to benefit most from free trade between China and Australia are the people of Western Australia. The sooner this agreement is implemented, the sooner we will reap the benefits of stronger trade links, more exports, more investment, the generation of more employment, greater growth and increased prosperity for the entire state. That is something every Western Australian should welcome.

At the moment, Australia’s export trade to China is around $90 billion a year. Of that $90 billion, around $64 billion comes from Western Australia. Two-thirds of all Australian exports to China come from this great state.

Western Australia is the gateway to China. China is by far Western Australia’s most significant trading partner, with 51 per cent of our exports going to China. Our most significant trade relationship is with China, which is important if we want to continue to have strong economic growth, good well-paying jobs for everyone who wants one and to live in a great place. Of course, a lot of our exports are natural resources, including iron ore, gold, petroleum products and the like; however, China is also Western Australia’s largest export market for the agricultural sector. I know that some of my colleagues will speak about that later, but let us not forget that almost 20 per cent of our agricultural exports go to China. China is our biggest market for agricultural products, including barley, wool, mutton, oats, wine and sheepskin.

Importantly, Western Australia also attracts a lot of investment from China to this country. Australia remains China’s second largest destination country for direct investment. We know that we require foreign investment—we have since Federation—and we welcome it with open arms. A lot of foreign investment comes to Western Australia. In the past year, the number of Chinese visitors to Western Australia increased by 19.4 per cent, and the expenditure of those visitors was up 12 per cent to $185 million. We would love to see that grow and expand.

That is important, and I will get back to it later. Another very large export earner for Australia, one that can get some great growth in Western Australia, is the international education market. China is already the largest source country for international students in Western Australia, with around 13 per cent of international students from China.

Those are just some of the facts and figures about the established relationship we have that makes China such a critical export destination and trade nation for our state. I do not think it is hyperbole to say that China is Western Australia’s greatest friend and that without China, our living standards, prosperity, job prospects and everything that goes with living in a developed state such as this would be worse. We welcome Chinese investment and markets. The free trade agreement will mean that we can get more of our products into the Chinese market.

The free trade agreement means that a lot of tariffs, particularly in agriculture, will be either reduced or removed completely. Beef tariffs currently range from 12 per cent to 25 per cent, and they will be eliminated periodically within nine years of the agreement, so each year things will get better and better. The same will happen with dairy, sheep and goat meat, and pork tariffs. There is currently a 20 per cent tariff on wine going to China. I said earlier that China is Western Australia’s number one destination for wine exports. Under the free trade agreement, that tariff will be eliminated within four years.

What a wonderful opportunity to grow that very, very important market. China is the world’s largest consumer market and it is very quickly becoming middle class and demanding high-quality products. Products such as our wines and spirits, and our beef can get there and we can continue to grow our state’s wealth. It is the same with seafood. At the moment there are tariffs across all seafood, and they will be eliminated within four years. That includes the 14 per cent and 15 per cent tariffs on things such as fresh abalone and rock lobster. That is very important. Members should talk to seafood exporters, who would tell them about the grey market that has developed to get around some of China’s export restrictions, tariffs and quotas. The elimination of just the grey market would cut out the middleman and increase income for Western Australia and would of course create scope to access that extraordinary consumer market that is demanding Australian products. It is an absolute no-brainer that this free trade agreement will be good for Australia and it will be particularly good for Western Australia.

The sooner it is implemented, the sooner we can start deriving the benefits of that agreement. It goes beyond agriculture and natural resources; it is in things such as legal and financial services, industries in which we have a great advantage. We have wonderful expertise in those services and we could continue to develop them. There will be advantages for health and aged care services, because Australian companies will be able to establish hospitals and aged care facilities in China. That is a massive advantage.

I spoke about education before. I think we can do better than we are already doing in international education.Some of the other states have stolen the march on us, and having a free trade agreement and freeing up opportunities, having more of our education providers listed in China, which is what this free trade agreement specifically provides, will allow us to capitalise on attracting students, and that will flow through to visitation both in tourism and other aspects for our great state. As I said, it is a complete no-brainer. I would have thought that no Australian in their right mind would want to hold up this agreement and that no Australian would want to send a message to the Chinese that perhaps we do not like this agreement, or perhaps we do not like them. But then in march our friends in the trade union movement. They marched in with their ridiculous campaign, their scare tactics and their outright lies that somehow or other this agreement is going to cost Australian jobs. This is an agreement that ill expand trade with the largest nation on earth. This is an agreement that will allow Australian companies, Western Australia companies, to hire more people so that they can produce more export goods for the Chinese market.

That is pro jobs. That will increase jobs, not decrease jobs.

For some reason the trade union movement seems to fear an influx of Chinese workers into Australia and is worried that this agreement is somehow or other against the spirit of the existing laws. Every single one of the trade union movement’s arguments has been refuted. Chinese companies that invest more than $150 million in Australia will have the opportunity to bring in labour if required, but they are still going to have to meet the labour market tests. They will have to prove that there is not a ready workforce in Australia for the jobs that they require. The people they are bringing in will still need to meet the existing trade qualifications and technical and skill requirements. Yes, some of the red tape will be cut, and perhaps some of the red tape will be eliminated.

That is actually a good thing; it will make it easier for people to comply with existing regulations. It has been spelt out by the federal Minister for Trade and Investment, Andrew Robb, in the words of the agreement that exactly the same rules will apply to the China–Australia Free Trade Agreement in relation to the labour movement—the movement of people between our two countries—as apply to Australia’s free trade agreements with Japan and Korea. I did not hear the trade union movement jumping up and down and complaining about Australia’s free trade agreement with Japan or Korea.

All of a sudden, with China, the trade union movement is running a scare campaign, warning people that somehow or other their jobs are under threat by an agreement thatincreases employment, increases prosperity and gives everyone a place at the table.

What is behind it?

What is it? Is this the reincarnation of Doc Evatt and Arthur Calwell and the old White Australia policy?

Is this some sort of attempt to wreck our export trade with China? When we sit with someone to do a deal, we expect there to be goodwill.

If advertisements are being run on television that say that under the China–Australia Free Trade Agreement, the Chinese are coming to take our jobs, will that build goodwill with the partner that we are trying to negotiate with or does it send a message that perhaps they are not welcome and that perhaps they can take their direct investment somewhere else, such as to the United States or some other country that might welcome it more than this trade union movement welcomes it?

Perhaps the Chinese student, visitor or tourist who sees those ads on the television will think that Australians do not like them.

Here we are once again. The wreckers in the trade union movement are trying to destroy something that is going to build export links, build trade, build jobs and increase Australian’s prosperity, because they just do not care.

As we know, anyone who follows the media will know that their cheap, nasty, racist, xenophobic campaign was exposed for the sham that it was when it was revealed that the hats and shirts that were handed out to their rent-a-crowd so that they could march in the streets against the free trade agreement were made in China. They are very happy to take the benefit of trade, but unfortunately they are not prepared to welcome this agreement because it was negotiated by a political party that they perhaps do not support.

Unfortunately, I do not have much time today; it is a time-limited debate. This is a great agreement for Australia, and particularly for Western Australia. Every day that we delay is one more day that we delay the benefits of the prosperity that this agreement will bring. It is called the China–Australia Free Trade Agreement, but I am happy for it to be called the China–Western Australia free trade agreement. The people in the Labor Party who are delaying this should stop listening to the scare campaign in the trade union movement, should send the right signals and not send mixed signals, and they should accept this agreement for the benefit of all Western Australians."