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SERIES of new television advertisements
are scaring the pants off working class
Aussies, says Rowan Smith, writing in News
Corporation media. They paint a picture
of an invading force of Chinese workers
ready to steal our jobs and overrun our
workforce, he says.
It's
fear mongering about the China-Australia
Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) courtesy of
the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy
Union. And it's working. In one ad, a young
family sits around a breakfast table. Dad
reads the newspaper and, to his shock, discovers
that Canberra and Beijing have agreed to
terms on open borders and lucrative trade.
"I
can't believe they've done it," he
says to his son, a young jobseeker. "(Tony
Abbott is) bringing in Chinese workers.
He doesn't even have to advertise the jobs.
Sorry, but you won't even get a look in,
son."
The
ads are part of a push-back against the
ChAFTA, signed in June, and play on fears
the agreement will be one-sided and damaging
for everyday Australians.
But
how true are the claims? The Department
of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) website
says it is a myth that companies will have
unrestricted access to Chinese workers for
major projects, threatening Australian jobs.
The
ChAFTA talks led to a separate agreement
that allows Chinese companies that invest
more than A$150 million (US$104 million)
in specific types of infrastructure to have
"increased access" to skilled
overseas workers when locals couldn't be
found.
DFAT
argues the agreement will actually create
more jobs for Australians. "Australian
workers will continue to be given first
opportunity," the site reads.
Trade
Minister Andrew Robb said the advertisements
were part of a "racist, dishonest,
scare campaign being waged against the China
FTA by militant unions".
He
said companies would only be able to hire
Chinese workers on a temporary basis, if
they were unable to source local skilled
workers.
"This
will require labour market testing, including
providing evidence of advertising efforts
in the previous six months. To claim otherwise
is a lie," Mr Robb said.
"These
unions are running an anti-trade and anti-Coalition
government agenda and for once they should
put the national interest ahead of their
own narrow self-interest."
And
despite the fears the ads have created,
on a farm in outback Queensland, struggling
farmer Matt Bennetto is punching the air.
He
knows exactly what the agreement means for
him. It means he gets to put food on the
table and feed his young family. Part of
the agreement will see cattle, just like
the 350 he's raised an hour west of Townsville,
be sent to China where there is a growing
demand for beef products.
Details
of the deal are still forthcoming, but hundreds-of-thousands
of Aussie cattle are expected to be shipped
to China each year.
For
a farmer suffering through years of drought
and unstable overseas markets, the deal
is a huge victory. And it's a huge relief.
Mr
Bennetto has seen the ups and downs of unstable
overseas markets and watched as dodgy slaughterhouses
gave his industry a bad name.
He's
been forced into prematurely selling three-quarters
of his cattle to keep food on his children's
plates.
Despite
everything, he says he wouldn't leave the
farming life for anything. Thanks to free
trade agreement with China, he likely won't
have to.
"Typically
we run about 1700 head of cattle a year
but right now we have probably about 350,"
said Mr Bennetto. "It's just been a
dry year, a very dry year for us here."
A
dry year for Mr Bennetto and his three young
children means "seven inches of rain
out front and about 3-4 inches out back".
The
drought and the CFMEU TV ads are not the
only things he's up against. In the coming
weeks, buses, taxis and billboards across
Australia's capital cities will be plastered
with campaign material tugging at the heartstrings
of Australia's animal lovers.
The
ads, calling for a ban on live animal exports,
will feature a crying bull and the words:
"Some trips should never be taken".
It's the animal activists' response to the
deal with China, one they say is "all
bad".
Animals
Australia says the concept of sending cattle
to a country that hosts a dog eating festival
is "disturbing, to say the least".
Animals Australia released a statement last
week urging the government to change its
mind. It said rules set up to protect cattle
from cruelty are "a sham".
"They
aren't properly enforced. They are continually
breached. And we are invariably witnessing
horrific violence and brutal slaughter as
a result," the statement said.
Mr
Bennetto said the campaigns against the
live export trade are "a lot of melodramatic
hysteria" and "completely unnecessary",
but nothing new.
In
2011, ABC1's Four Corners exposed the mistreatment
of Australian cattle exported to Indonesia.
The programme showed how cattle were kept
in restraint boxes, abused and suffered
slow and torturous deaths.
The
joint investigation with Animals Australia
and the RSCPA led to tough new regulations
aimed at protecting Australian cattle.
The
following year, a similar investigation
revealed how 20,000 Australian sheep had
been cruelly slaughtered in Pakistan.
Indonesia
recently slashed the number of cattle it
was accepting from Queensland farmers, in
large part because of criticism from the
Australian government over the executions
of drug traffickers Andrew Chan and Myuran
Sukumaran.
Mr
Bennetto said the China deal will take years
to flesh out but he is confident China will
be forced to adhere to "onerous and
rigorous" standards. He says he wouldn't
send his cattle there if they were going
to be mistreated.
"The
China deal involves very small numbers,
about 20,000 next year for the first few
years, so we can make the system water tight.
It's exciting but it will take some time
to nurture.
"We
take so much pride in our animals and we
try and do the best we can by the animal
for their whole life here. We, more than
anyone, would be so disappointed to see
anything happen to the animals overseas,"
he said.
The
deal is a security blanket for Mr Bennetto
and his wife Sonia who just eight weeks
ago gave birth to the couple's third child.
On his farm, hours away from the nearest
city, hours away from the noise, Mr Bennetto
is aware of those who are critical of the
China deal but he tries to tune them out.
He has to.
"Our
business is so vulnerable to politics,"
he said.
And
to drought. And to changing markets. And
to dodgy operators.
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