Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is directed to economic development and job creation, and it is to the Minister for Employment, Senator Abetz. Can the minister update the Senate on the activities of certain registered organisations which oppose the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, and what threats these activities pose to the future of the agreement?

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Back for a policy question. A report headlined 'CFMEU rolls dice on Bill Shorten in China' shows exactly how worryingly deep the relationship is between the Leader of the Opposition and this corrupt union, the CFMEU. The CFMEU—a former official of which is the leader of the Labor Party in here—has bankrolled the ALP to the tune of $6.4 million since 2007. The report tells us further:

The cashed-up Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union has rolled the dice on a multimillion-dollar survival strategy: getting Bill Shorten elected prime minister.

At the recent ALP conference, Mr Shorten did a deal with the CFMEU to preserve his position as leader, and now the corrupt CFMEU is demanding the favour be returned. The Leader of the Opposition will be judged by the company he keeps. The CFMEU is Australia's most corrupt union. The interim report of the Heydon royal commission recommended that two of its state secretaries be charged with serious criminal offences and that a third was not a fit and proper person to hold the office he held. Three of its officials have recently been arrested in relation to serious allegations of blackmail and intimidation.

The Leader of the Opposition has not only outsourced his workplace relations policy to this the most corrupt of unions, the CFMEU; he has also outsourced his trade policy, his political strategy and his political backbone to Australia's most corrupt union. We as the coalition will stand firm against union corruption. (Time expired)

Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Has the minister seen claims by the CFMEU that provisions in the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement will allow Chinese investors to bring in their own workforces on infrastructure projects over $150 million, with no obligation for labour market testing? I ask the minister: is this the case?

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As Senator Back knows, and as those opposite also know but refuse to say so, that is false. The claim that the government has included a special arrangement for projects worth more than $150 million, where labour market testing is not mandatory, is completely and utterly false.

The investment facilitation arrangement is modelled on the enterprise migration agreement that Labor actually designed and introduced. But there is a big difference. Our IFA has far more stringent safeguards to ensure Australian workers get the first crack at any jobs. The IFA involves a three-stage process: firstly, entering into the IFA; secondly, the project agreement phase, where labour market analysis is a requirement; and, thirdly, the labour agreement stage, where labour market testing is a mandatory requirement. (Time expired)

Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Has the minister seen criticism that the CFMEU's campaign against the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement is xenophobic; and, if so, what is the government's response?

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The claim that the Labor Party's approach to this is xenophobic has been made by none other than a former ALP president, Mr Warren Mundine, who said:

It's a nonsense argument built on misinformation and lies. And Federal Labor is indulging it.

…    …   …

The clear message—ChAFTA will flood Australia with Chinese workers destroying Australian jobs and the Chinese are not to be trusted. It's an antagonistic, 'them against us' message, pandering to xenophobia.

That is what the Labor Party former president says about the Labor Party. There is no need for any hyperbole from the coalition. That is Labor identifying what it has done to its own once-proud record. The Labor Party is dancing to a tune that is being played by the CFMEU, the most corrupt union— (Time expired)