New trade tensions inside Labor as Left faction pushes for greater labour restrictions

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New trade tensions inside Labor as Left faction pushes for greater labour restrictions

By David Crowe

A new row over free trade will increase pressure on Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to toughen his stance on foreign policy, as Labor’s Left faction pushes for stricter conditions on Australia’s next big trade deals.

The powerful faction has agreed to pursue the new demands at Labor’s national conference in six weeks, sharpening a dispute over a potential deal with China and other Asian nations with $392 billion in annual trade with Australia.

The national Left agreed at a meeting in Melbourne on Saturday to insist on stronger labour safeguards in trade deals to stop the use of prison workers and protect the right to strike – two big issues with China.

Trade will be a hot topic for Opposition Leader Bill Shorten at Labor's national conference in December.

Trade will be a hot topic for Opposition Leader Bill Shorten at Labor's national conference in December.Credit: AAP

The debate will set official Labor Party policy and shape decisions by Mr Shorten and his team if he wins the next election.

The key demand from the Left is that Australia would only agree to multilateral trade deals when all parties abide by International Labour Organisation conventions.

This would apply to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) currently being discussed with China and other Asian nations, as well as a trade agreement with the European Union now in negotiation.

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Labor trade spokesman Jason Clare resolved the party’s internal tensions on trade three weeks ago with an agreement to approve the passage of the Trans Pacific Partnership, while pledging to amend the regional trade deal if Labor secured power.

The stance taken by the Left on Saturday, agreed among about 90 delegates from around the country, attempts to add tougher labour conditions to the policy agreed with Mr Clare.

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The two federal parliamentary convenors of the Left faction, Pat Conroy and Andrew Giles, summed up the discussion by telling the meeting the trade conditions would be a priority at the national conference in December.

This will force a response from Mr Shorten and Mr Clare, a member of the NSW Right.

Mr Clare has already agreed to insist that any bilateral trade agreements, such as the potential deal with Indonesia, include a chapter to honour employment standards set by the International Labour Organisation.

Mr Clare did not want this mandatory approach to extend to multilateral trade agreements such as the RCEP, which is being discussed between China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade estimates that Australia's two-way trade with RCEP member nations is worth about $392 billion a year. This comprises $222 billion in Australian exports and $170 billion in imports.

Other multilateral trade deals on the horizon include Australia’s negotiations with the European Union, a potential agreement with Latin American nations and a possible extension of the TPP to include the United States if Donald Trump is succeeded by a US president who is open to the trade pact.

The current party policy is that a Labor government would “seek” to include a chapter on labour conventions in multilateral trade deals rather than demand one.

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One Left faction source said the argument on trade was shaping up as one of the major economic debates of the Labor national conference, to be held in Adelaide in December.

A key concern in the Left is that Asian countries, such as those in the RCEP talks, have a big cost advantage over Australia because they do not meet international labour conventions that ban the use of prison labour, slave labour or indentured labour.

The international conventions also defend the right to organise in a union and the right to strike. While China experiences industrial action, it does not have a right to strike in its trade union law.

If adopted at the national conference, the Left faction position would become party policy and should be reflected in any Labor government trade agreements.

Some unions on the right of the party, such as the Australian Workers Union, may be sympathetic to putting tougher labour standards into future trade agreements, splitting the Right on the issue at the national conference.

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