Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Here we are again, as a parliament, about to embark on another debate about free trade agreements. As it's starting to play out in the community, again, as they should, they're asking: what's in it for us? Free trade agreements have been used and have been created between our country and others for a few decades now. I'm raising this question in this parliament at this point because, like all economic policy in this place, we have reached a point where the government no longer deliver what has been promised. If you think about interest rates, for example, there was common belief that cutting interest rates would be a great economic boost to an economy. We've seen interest rates cut to a record low and no boost to our economy. So we're at that point where we need to rethink and recalibrate our approach to that policy area. Is it time to do the same again when it comes to free trade?

In the eighties and the nineties, trade liberalisation and tariff reduction did lead to growth in industries. There were also industry plans that went alongside an assistance to lessen the impact on those workers most affected by those trade agreements. However, recent trade agreements that have been negotiated since this government has come to power have not been accompanied with these plans.

I'm talking specifically about what happened to our automotive industry. Some could argue that when we signed the Korean, Japanese and Chinese free trade agreements, we lost our automotive industry at the same time as signing them. There were 200,000 workers displaced. A third of those have never worked again. Another third have worked in casual work or their own self-employment. Another third have found other work in manufacturing, but at nowhere near the skill or the class level they had previously. There's been no plan or transition for these workers.

We also know from the government's own modelling at the time that these deals that were put forward that they were only going to generate 5,434 additional jobs by 2035. That's what they proposed. My questions to the government in 2019 are: Are we on track? Have those deals created the jobs that they say that they have done? We've had a lot of rhetoric, we've had a lot of campaigning and we've had a lot of suggestion. But has it created the good, secure paying jobs? They're still well short of the 200,000 plus that we've lost.

I'm also concerned about the new trade deals that are being put forward and whether they're actually going to deliver. The question I have for the government is: what are we actually going to get from it? This isn't just my question; this is a question that lots of people are asking. We're told that it's going to deliver in agriculture. Well, is that really a priority for us right now when the country is in severe drought and we're not producing the goods or the commodities that we would export under these agreements? We're told that these agreements will deliver great economic output. Well, where's the independent modelling to prove that?

What I'm also concerned about is this government increasingly attaching the trade of people to free trade agreements. Back in the eighties and nineties, such agreements dealt specifically with tariffs and trade opportunities. Today, increasingly under this government, we're seeing more negotiations and more trading of people. I'm talking about the side deals where they allow more temporary workers into this country. The proposed Indonesian free trade deal, for example, looks to increase by about 4,000 the number of backpackers and holidaymakers each year—rising from 1,000 to 5,000—when this government has not yet fixed the system. The exploitation of backpackers is rife, and report after report talks about how they are victims of trafficking—of modern slavery—in some cases. Yet this government is proposing to bring more of them in. There are far too many questions being asked about our trade agreements, and the government has done very little. They have done very little to look at the non-tariff barriers since reaching agreements. The question needs to be asked: are free trade agreements worth it today?

James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Free trade agreements certainly are worth it today. Although I intended to make a different contribution, I do always enjoy the opportunity to talk about free market capitalism and free markets, and the growth and prosperity they have led to in this nation and across the world. No serious person would say we should go back to the dark old days of protectionism and close our borders, close off our markets, close our economies to each other and put ourselves in a position where we move away from competitive advantage. Far from it: the opportunities that free trade has given this country in particular, and particularly since the Second World War, have been phenomenal.

One point that I think is truly remarkable in our economic statistics at the moment is that we have a trade surplus in this country. We've had a trade surplus for the last 14 months. When we first came into surplus, that was the first time since 1973. Free trade is working for our country. More importantly, it's working for industries that we are very competitive in, particularly agriculture. I was shocked to hear the contribution from the previous member attacking the unlocking of markets for our agricultural sector because we're currently in drought. To suggest that those industries shouldn't be given every opportunity possible, at the moment in particular, is absolutely outrageous. But it's also unbelievable to see a complete breakdown in the bipartisanship that we've had for so long around supporting free trade.

It wasn't that long ago, in the Hawke-Keating era, that, to be fair to Labor, they understood the importance of unlocking the protectionism of our economy, breaking down tariffs and allowing the industries that we have a very strong competitive advantage in to grow and flourish. That has led to unbelievable employment opportunities in the industries that we're successful in. In my home state of South Australia, you can look at the wine industry and how that has grown over the decades since we've been able to increase our market access into so many different countries. That's because we signed free trade agreements with those countries, and those companies have been able to go and compete without tariff barriers. When Australian businesses compete on a level playing field, it turns out that we're usually the best; we usually produce the highest quality. Wine is one of many examples of that, and it's because we've broken down trade barriers and given that market access to our businesses that they've been able to grow.

When you're a nation of 25 million people on a planet approaching seven billion, the biggest opportunity you're going to have for your industries is exporting. There's a great saying from John Key, who was an excellent prime minister of New Zealand. He used to say, 'New Zealanders won't get wealthy selling lattes to each other'. That's the reality. When you're a nation of our size on a planet of our size, the opportunity is through export, and that opportunity comes by breaking down trade barriers and creating market access for your most successful businesses. It was terrible to see the car industry close down in this country. In my home state of South Australia, General Motors Holden were one of the businesses that made that commercial decision, and they pulled out of the plant in Elizabeth. Unless you're embracing free trade and growing other sectors, you'll never be able to replace the jobs that go when a decision by a private company like that happens to be made. Whilst it was regrettable, at least we had industries like agriculture and wine: industries that are growing not because of protectionism—far from it—but because we've got a competitive advantage. When you break down those barriers, you'll find that there are Australian businesses that are the best in the world at what they do. In my time in the wool industry, as we broke down barriers with nations in North Asia in particular, we saw a dramatic increase in our market access into places like Japan—because of the free trade agreements. The free trade agreements we've got with Japan, Korea, China, South-East Asia and the United States have been fundamentally excellent opportunities for Australian businesses to succeed.

The member who spoke previously seems to have taken it upon herself to change Labor Party policy—to break down the bipartisanship. That's fine by me, because I'm more than happy, as a proud member of a government that is pro free trade, to keep prosecuting the benefits of free trade and to work with the businesses that benefit from it to make sure that the Labor Party never gets back into government in this country and apparently, from what we've just heard, wind back the clock and reintroduce protectionism, which is only going to cost jobs in our economy.