Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Trade and Investment, Senator Payne—and Senator Abetz will be pleased to know it is about the Chinese free trade deal and the jobs it will provide. Minister, recently, in response to a question on the benefits of the Korean, Japanese and Chinese free trade agreements, you stated that modelling shows that between 2016 and 2035 there will be 178,000 additional jobs created as a result of these deals. This figure was also repeated by the former Prime Minister, Mr Abbott—that sounds satisfying—in the other place and recently by Senator Abetz in the Senate. In his media statements, the Minister for Trade has also referred to hundreds and thousands of jobs being created. Minister, did you take this figure from the government's report on the impact of these trade deals which was done by the Centre for International Economics? If so, why are you quoting a figure of 178,000 jobs when the report explains there will be only 5,434 jobs in 2035?