China FTA

 Greg Jericho writing in the Guardian on November 20 debunks the uncritical media reports of government claims of US $18 billion added to Australia's GDP by the China FTA.

Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age quote AFTINET on investor rights to sue governments in China FTA, November 19, 2014 and link to Dr Kyla TienHaara's article in the Drum

The China-Australia FTA text  released on June 17, 2015 shows the Australian government made huge concessions on temporary labour and investor rights in its desperation to complete the deal. 

AFTINET's preliminary analysis  reveals that the Australian Government has increased temporary labour mobility and has agreed that Chinese investors will be able to sue Australian governments if they can claim that a change in law or policy "harms" their investment, known as Investor-State Disputes or ISDS, but those provisions are unfinished and ambiguous.  A Memorandum of Understanding  separate from the text of the trade agreement gives Chinese investors in projects valued over $150 million additional rights to bring in temporary migrant workers.

See the AFTINET media release on ISDS here. See Sydney Morning Herald articles by Michael West and Peter Martin,  Kyla Tienhaara in the Canberra Times  and Joanna Howe in the Conversation.