‘Fewer Chinese working here since FTA’

The number of Chinese in Australia on temporary work visas has fallen since the start of the free-trade agreement with China.

The number of Chinese in Australia on temporary work visas has fallen since the start of the free-trade agreement with China, accordi­ng to a report to be ­released today by the Australia-China Relations Institute.

The report on labour market practices in Australia since the start of the agreement just over three years ago, by institute deputy director James Laurenson, says the evidence refutes allegations the agreement would lead to unsafe work practices or influxes of Chinese workers into Australia.

It says the number of people from mainland China being granted temporary visas to work in Australia has fallen every year since the agreement started in Decemb­er 2015.

The total number of visas granted to Chinese workers has also fallen as a proportion of the total granted to all foreign ­workers. “Under ChAFTA, more Chinese on temporary work visas have returned home than have arrive­d,” the report says.

It says that contrary to some concerns raised during the nego­tiations over the agreement, ­particularly during the final months of 2015, there have been no labour agreements struck betwee­n Chinese governments and the federal Department of Home Affairs to facilitate Chinese workers coming to Australia temporari­ly.

“When the agreement was signed in 2015, claims were made that Australian jobs would go to Chinese workers and that safety standards on Australian work sites would fail,” Professor Laurenso­n says.

He said there were claims made at the time that the agreement would mean thousands of Australians would miss out on jobs, with one claim that it was only a matter of time before “someone is killed”.

But he said the report showed that there had been no reports connecting ChAFTA with unsafe work practices in Australia.

He said the report showed some of the claims about the potent­ial impact of the agreement on labour practices in Australia had been “alarmist”.

“When the agreement was signed in June 2015 it triggered an attack from the trade unions and some academics and think tanks aimed at sinking the deal,” he said.

“These attacks centred on claims that the agreement would result in large and adverse outcome­s for the local labour market.”

The report showed the number of 457 temporary work visas given to workers from mainland China was 3522 in 2014-15. That dropped to 2773 in 2015-16 and 1699 in 2017-18.

The proportion of Chinese workers in Australia under the temporary work visa scheme was down from 6.9 per cent in 2014-15 to 4.9 per cent in 2017-18.

“The facts of ChAFTA always pointed to some of the claims as being alarmist,” he says.