Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I hear the interjections coming from Senator Whish-Wilson and others over there. I reflect on the question that Senator Whish-Wilson asked before, in which he was quibbling over the number of jobs that the China-Australia free trade agreement would create. But what he was not disputing was that jobs will be created and that there will be more jobs. My question to Senator Whish-Wilson, to the Greens, to the Labor Party and to everybody else is: why are they against jobs? Why are they against the fact that the China-Australia free trade agreement will create many more jobs?

The proof is there—as Senator Payne rightly said—in the fact that since New Zealand signed their free trade agreement with China, New Zealand's trade exports to China have gone up five times, as Senator Back said. They have quintupled. In comparison, Australia has basically doubled in that time. New Zealand's FTA has demonstrated that it a good FTA with China delivers more trade, more exports and more jobs.

It does that right around Australia and across industries around Australia: in agriculture; in resources and energy; in services, like education, aged care and other services exports and in advanced manufacturing. It does that right around Australia geographically, in states like Senator Reynolds'—Western Australia—where there will be great benefits and in localities like the electorate of Canning, where there will be great benefits and there will be more jobs for Australians because of the increased exports and trade from the China-Australia free trade agreement.

Senator Reynolds also asked whether it was still require foreign workers working in Australia to meet Australian standards. The simple answer to that is: yes, it will require workers to meet exactly the same standards as anybody else in Australia. (Time expired)