Voters concerned over free-trade deal
Marginal seat voters in four states have panned elements of Australia’s free trade deal with China in a union-commissioned poll.
The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union commissioned the poll of 2000 people in the seats of Capricornia and Flynn in Queensland, Gilmore and Macquarie in New South Wales, Corangamite and Dunkley in Victoria, and Hindmarsh in South Australia.
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More than 90 per cent of those surveyed were concerned about China being able to bring Chinese workers to Australia for infrastructure projects without advertising jobs locally, and Chinese firms being able to sue the Australian government over policy changes.
The union’s national secretary Michael O’Connor fears a lot of jobs will be sourced exclusively from China.
“What we have here is a radical altering of the labour market in our country – we’ve ceded sovereignty to another nation when it comes to regulating our labour market,” he told ABC radio.
