PM dares Labor on China free trade deal

He said there were similar provisions to the Chilean FTA which Labor negotiated when in government.

It was a much better agreement than the one New Zealand cut with China five years ago, he said, that resulted in its exports quadrupling.

TONY Abbott is using the second anniversary of the coalition’s election win to spruik his government’s economic achievements. Shorten asks. The PM responds: “We will do more in the weeks and months and years to come because we are a decent and compassionate people… who always step up to the plate”.

The China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) was signed in Canberra on June 17 after 10 years and 21 rounds of negotiations between the two parties.

The ACRI claims to be an independent, nonpartisan, research think tank established by the University of Technology, Sydney.

Ms Sales pushed the Prime Minister further on the crisis, asking him to explain why Australia was not committed to removing the Assad regime in Syria and on the simmering tensions in the region.

‘I’m confident that nothing Labor is saying is a deal-killer, ‘ he said.

Tony Abbott began by explaining that Australia would concentrate on taking persecuted minorities, women and children and families from refuges on the border of Syria.

Senator Wong said the text of the trade agreement “makes very clear that labour market testing is not required in a range of circumstances”.

“The only free trade agreement that members opposite have complained about is the free trade agreement with China”.

“It’s a deal that we either take or leave”, he told MPs, adding it would be “absolutely unconscionable” not to take it.

Shorten has said he would prefer a “safeguard” for Australian workers, while shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen has threatened to block the final version FTA, unless government representatives “go back to Beijing and renegotiate the deal”.

Mr Abbott said he was not obsessed with political polls, describing them as something “people in the press gallery like to hyperventilate” about.

In the past two years, Mr Abbott has weathered heavy criticism over his passion for knighthoods, the 2014 budget emergency, leadership battles, Bronwyn Bishop’s Choppergate scandal, the sluggish economy and the gay marriage plebiscite call.

Interestingly, aside from concerns over workers’ rights, Labor has been in favor of the deal, with party president Mark Butler telling Sky News this week that Labor had “strong support” for the FTA.