It was expected that the proposed ‘free trade agreement’ (FTA) between Australia and Indonesia would be signed on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit this week. However, Indonesia has reportedly told Australia that it will not sign the FTA until Australia rules out any prospect of moving its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. This has left Prime Minister Scott Morrison saying he is “available”, but that signing the FTA is not a pressing issue. From The AFR:
“We’re available but it’s not something I’m pressing. I’m looking forward to catching up again”…
“The negotiations have gone well but I’m not in a hurry. This process will take quite a period to bring to realisation, including ratification”…
“We’re not on a burning timetable here, we’re patient but we’ve never conflated these issues and we haven’t embarked on a process to do so.”
This agreement being put on ice is good news.
The Coalition previously admitted that an Indonesian FTA would further open the immigration floodgates by permitting “a few thousand” more Indonesians working rights:
Senator Birmingham… said the deal included provisions to grant more working holiday and working while studying visas to Indonesians.
“We want to make sure that at the professional services end there’s an effective free flow”…
Asked to put a figure on the additional numbers, Senator Birmingham said: “A few thousand”…
Therefore, an Indonesian FTA means more temporary migrant rorting and more low cost labour for business, which will further undermine Australian wages and working conditions.
The Productivity Commission has also frequently derided the efficiency losses associated with FTAs, claiming that Australia’s trade negotiations have been “characterised by a lack of transparent and robust analysis, a vacuum consequently filled at times by misleading claims”, and has called on the “final text of an agreement to be rigorously analysed before signing”.
Once again, the Coalition has sought another dodgy FTA for political rather than economic reasons, without rigorous assessment, and without due regard for longer-term consequences.
Hopefully it never gets off the ground.
