One of the Morrison Government’s final treasonous acts before leaving office was the signing of the interim India-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which greatly increases access for Indian workers and students to stay in Australia long-term:
A “side letter” accompanying the trade deal, which was signed over the weekend, also includes post-study work rights that will allow Indian students to live, work and undertake further study in Australia for years after the initial completion of their studies here…
Trade Minister Dan Tehan said the education sector held the greatest promise for Australia’s trading relationship with India.
“One million Indians turn 18 every month, so there is a huge and growing demand for a high-quality education,” Mr Tehan said…
Outgoing Trade Minister, Dan Tehan, claimed that “mobility was one of the key outcome of this trade agreement”, and hoped that labour market access would be expanded in the final agreement.
Tehan seems to have gotten his wish, with the Australian parliament passing the final agreement this week, thus clearing the way for a flood of low-wage Indian workers:
Soon after the Australian parliament cleared a free trade agreement (FTA) with India today, Commerce and Industry minister Piyush Goyal, stated that this will open more avenues for Indians in Australia.
“Visas for Indian chefs and yoga instructors, along with assurance that every child who goes from India to Australia will be given an opportunity for employment there. Stem graduate, doctoral will get four year of work visa in Australia. Postgraduate will get three years of work visa,” the minister said in a press briefing.
Obviously, the flow of workers will be one way from India to Australia. This is concerning as the Indian tertiary education system is far inferior to Australia’s.
Generous post study work rights for Indians will also see many thousands undertake cheap mickey mouse courses in order to work in Australia long-term in a bid to gain permanent residency.
In turn, the FTA will turn student visas into fully fledged low-skilled work visas, which is a slap in the face for Australia’s young people seeking careers in professional industries who will be shut out by Indians prepared to work for much lower salaries.
The bigger question is why the “Labor” Party hasn’t represented Australian workers and pushed back against the deal?
In 2019, the Electrical Trades Union’s (ETU) claimed Anthony Albanese’s Labor had “completely sold out” working people and betrayed its own policy platforms by backing FTAs with Indonesia, Hong Kong and Peru:
“The Electrical Trades Union resolves that it is appalled by the actions of the Labor shadow cabinet in supporting recent trade deals,” the resolution said.
“The lack of leadership shown by Anthony Albanese and the lack of direct communication by caucus members is a disgrace…
ETU national secretary Allen Hicks said the Labor Party had “completely sold out working people on trade policy”…
“Working people rightly expect the party they founded to represent their economic interests. It’s unfathomable that Labor would expose them to low-wage competition at a time when incomes are already flatlining…
The Indian FTA is all about providing cheap labour and demand for Big Business and Big Property, and students for the education-migration lobby.
It will further suppress wage growth and exacerbate infrastructure and housing strains across Australia.
Labor has proven yet again that it no longer supports the working class, but rather business interests, inner-city social justice warriors and virtue signallers. It cares more about identity politics than real issues that impact the working class.
