Scare Campaigns over ChAFTA are a public disservice

“They are letting Chinese companies bring their own workers …  Sorry, but you won’t even get a look-in, son.”

So goes the fearmongering ad campaign against the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) promoted by the Construction, Forest, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) in a concerted movement with other stakeholders to oppose the trade deal.

It shows a deplorable attempt by vested interests to manipulate voters with lies, damned lies – but in this case no supporting statistics.

Make no mistake: ChAFTA is a landmark victory for Australians, opening up a cornucopia of future export opportunities. It will boost Australian jobs, creating new possibilities and demand in our economy.

China is the second-largest economy in the world (soon-to-be the first by any measure), home to a population of approximate 1.4 billion consumers, and Australia’s biggest trading partner worth of over A$150 billion annually. Any attempt to block the recently signed free trade agreement – especially on misleading grounds – is an attack against every Australian.

The 1,800 or so annual Chinese workers allowed to enter Australia as contractual service suppliers, or those brought for infrastructure projects worth over $150 million, do not constitute a threat to local jobs – particularly as many other jobs will be created in the process.

The Leader of the Labor Party and the trade union movement should stop politicising the issue in dubious attempts to score some political points. Instead, the Opposition should soul-search the reformist and free trade attitude of its recent past; as former ALP Prime Minister and ACTU President Bob Hawke admonishes: “Talk of opposing it [ChAFTA] is just absolutely against Australia’s best interests.“

Indeed. For the sake of Australia – and Australians – we should hail the agreement as the blueprint for an economic and employment win.