Unions demand detail of Australia’s free trade deal with UK citing concerns for workers
Australia’s peak union council is demanding the Morrison government release a text of its new free trade deal with the United Kingdom after flagging concerns about the impact of liberalised labour provisions on local workers.
The in-principle trade agreement has been broadly welcomed in Australia, but the ACTU says there is “mounting evidence” the two governments will remove labour market testing, allowing Australian employers to fill vacancies through visa programs without first determining whether local workers could do the job.
The ACTU president, Michele O’Neil, noted documents from the UK’s Department of International Trade suggested that, under the deal, Australian firms would not have to prioritise hiring Australians.
The UK fact sheet states: “Highly skilled professionals will now be able to work in Australia temporarily and Aussie firms will no longer have to prioritise hiring Australian nationals first.”
The Australian prime minister,
Scott Morrison, and his British counterpart, Boris Johnson, unveiled the inprinciple trade agreement on Tuesday in London. The two leaders provided a broad overview but a draft text is not yet available.
While any liberalisation in the agreement is likely to benefit workers in Australia and the UK equally by opening employment opportunities in both countries, O’Neil said it was critical that Morrison ensured all trade agreements contained proper labour market testing to protect the interests of Australian workers.
“The Australian and UK governments have been secretive throughout the entire trade negotiations process and there has been no independent, union or public scrutiny,” O’Neil said. “We call on the governments to be transparent and immediately begin consultations with trade unions about the details of the agreement.”
Australia’s trade minister, Dan Tehan, confirmed on Wednesday night the FTA would ensure there was no requirement for “economic needs testing or labour market testing on businesses wanting to employ an Australian in the UK, or a UK national in Australia”.
Tehan said the change would reduce red tape and “bring the treatment of UK nationals in Australia to the same level enjoyed by nationals of other FTA partner countries”.
He said Australia’s skilled visa system would remain demand-driven “and Australia’s free trade agreement commitments, including labour market testing waivers, do not change that approach”.
The two governments have confirmed the new agreement will give working holiday makers from the UK expanded rights, allowing people under 35 to stay in Australia for three years without having to undertake work in the agricultural sector.
The Australian government says professionals will also benefit from “provisions to support mutual recognition of qualifications and greater certainty for skilled professionals entering the UK labour market”.
The trade deal will give Australian agricultural producers staged access to the British market over the next 15 years – a development welcomed by the National Farmers Federation (NFF).
The National Farmers Union (NFU) in the UK raised significant objections during the negotiation about different environmental and animal welfare standards applying in the two countries.
The NFU is demanding the British government engage with the farm sector on the details of concessions made to Australian farmers, and that parliament maintain oversight of the trade agreement. It is the first trade deal the UK has entered since Brexit.
The Australian NFF president, Fiona Simson, said farmers in both countries shared a commitment “to meeting the highest standards when it comes to caring for their land and their livestock, and that commitment shows in the quality of our produce”.“UK customers will benefit from the increased availability of high-quality Australian products on their supermarket shelves, alongside their homegrown options,” Simson said.
The opposition trade minister, Madeleine King, said the Australian Labor party would work constructively with the Morrison government to finalise the trade deal. King said Labor would consult with the union movement, the business community and the public service to ensure they were fully apprised of the implications.
King said the government should commission independent economic modelling “for all of the free-trade agreements it enters” and also provide greater transparency in the development and implementation of the deals. She said transparency was “vital in building community support for fair and open trade”.
Tehan characterised the in-principle agreement as a “world-class free trade agreement” that “rights a historical wrong when the UK turned to Europe 50 years ago”. He said the “ambitious” new deal was “the most comprehensive FTA that [Australia has] negotiated with any country apart from New Zealand”.