Page 2736 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 12 August 2015
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Members, through you, Madam Speaker, are we in favour of supporting our two per cent of the population who are from China, the 5,500 Chinese students that study here and the regular visitation we receive from Chinese students? We should be. What we cannot let stand are the bigots in the CFMEU, through their advertising and their robocalls, saying that Australian jobs will be lost, unqualified tradesmen will be allowed in the country and all will be ruin. It is just not true.
The myths they were running out included that Chinese companies will have unrestricted access to Chinese workers for major projects threatening Australian jobs. The reality? That is false. Anyone who wants to bring somebody here to work will go through the existing visa arrangements, including the 457 visa program. And it would be reasonable to ask how many Chinese people are working in Australia under the 457 visa program? According to the CFMEU, the yellow horde is coming. Beat that drum. I thought the white Australia policy had gone. I thought everybody believed it had no place in a society like ours.
Let us look at the numbers. Analysis done by Migration Council Australia shows that the impact using 457 visas to bring workers to Australia will be exceptionally small. Here I am quoting from an article by Paul Kelly, editor at large in the Australian. He said:
At September last year there were 6245 Chinese citizens on the 457 visa and it is estimated only about 1150 would have been subject to labour market testing. “These migrants represent approximately 1 per cent of the 457 visa program,” the Migration Council Australia said, a sobering analysis.
One per cent! This is the drum that the CFMEU beats and this the drum we can stop today as an Assembly—united by saying that we do not support them and we condemn the CFMEU for their program.
Of course, there is the second fact that they claim that the China Australia free trade agreement will allow Chinese electricians to work in Australia without any skills assessment. False again. Under the 457 subclass, anyone coming here to work will have to have the requisite skills, qualifications and work experience to work safely in Australia. If you do not meet it, you do not get the visa.
The third myth is about investor state dispute settlements—that the ISDS provisions will allow Chinese companies to sue the Australian government if they make a loss on investment. Again, it is just false. And again, on the free trade agreement on the DFAT website, it says:
The ISDS provisions in ChAFTA—
the agreement—
provide a mechanism for Australian or Chinese investors to pursue international arbitration based on a claimed violation of the national treatment commitment in the investment chapter. ISDS does not protect an investor from a mere loss of profits following a change in government policy or regulation.
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