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Bipartisan deal will secure passage of ChAFTA

FOLLOWING months of disagreement over terms of the China Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) the Australian Government and the Opposition have reached a bipartisan agreement which will see the deal passed through parliament by year’s end.

Changes mostly relate to the hiring of foreign skilled workers, which have been the crux of a union-led anti-ChAFTA campaign which had threatened to derail the landmark deal. Importantly, the changes will be achieved through new migration regulation rather than legislation, meaning the lengthy process of renegotiating the ChaFTA and the risk of offending the Chinese Government has been avoided.

“This high quality agreement, with our biggest trading partner, presents enormous opportunities for Australia in the years and decades ahead in terms of supporting growth and job creation,” said Minister for Trade and Investment, Andrew Robb.

“In this country, we have enjoyed decades of bipartisan support for freer trade and through the agreement reached with Labor this tradition is now set to continue.”

Among the amendments, the government has agreed to:

  • Amend an existing regulation to prescribe that employers seeking to sponsor skilled workers on 457 visas under free trade agreements will have to demonstrate that they have made recent and genuine efforts to recruit Australian workers first. This will also apply to Investment Facilitation Arrangements (IFA), which apply to projects worth at least $150 million.
  • Amend a visa condition to clarify that overseas tradespersons who hold visas must also obtain any licenses, registrations or memberships required under commonwealth, or state or territory law.
  • Undertake a review before the end of 2015 of the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT), to consider whether its current level of $53,900 should be indexed. This review was already due to be undertaken following a recommendation by the Independent Review of the Integrity of the Subclass 457 Programme, but will now happen sooner.

Minister for Employment, Michaelia Cash, commented on the job opportunities the deal would initiate and called on the union movement to cease its anti-ChAFTA campaign.

“(ChAFTA) enhances our competitive position in key areas such as agriculture, resources and energy, manufacturing exports, services and investment – these are industries that already generate many jobs but importantly they are sectors where we will see extraordinary opportunities for future jobs growth,” Minister Cash said.

“I call on the CFMEU and the ETU to cease their misleading and divisive campaign against the China Australia Free Trade Agreement – get on board and back this historic deal that is good for jobs, good for growth and good for all Australians.”

Through a joint statement, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and Shadow Minister for Trade and Investment, Penny Wong said they were confident the amendments will address the ‘concerns the community has held’ in relation to Australian jobs.

AREEA led the response from the national resource industry.

“The ChAFTA will come into force at a time when Australia’s resource industry must up the ante on its international competitiveness and grasp opportunities that would otherwise go to emerging resource destinations,” said AREEA chief executive Steve Knott.

“Tangible benefits will be felt through the abolishing and phasing out of tariffs on resource commodities vital to building our economy over the coming decades, including coal, liquefied natural gas, iron ore and gold.

“Securing preferred trading status with our largest trading partner, a country that represents 32% of all global GDP growth and about 30% of global capital expenditures, is good for resource exporters and also for Australia’s world-leading resource technologies and service providers.”

Once ratified, the ChAFTA will mark the third deal secured by the Australian Government with a significant Asian trading nation over the past 12 months, and follows the Trans Pacific Partnership recently reached with 11 other countries.

“We congratulate trade minister Andrew Robb for his leadership in achieving the trifecta for free trade with Australia’s key partners in Japan, South Korea and now China,” Mr Knott said.

“Coupled with the Trans Pacific Partnership, these exciting arrangements will open new doors for Australia’s economic growth and drive our national prosperity into the future.”

Click here for more information on the bipartisan agreement for ChAFTA.

Click here for information and facts on ChAFTA.

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