2016-11-15
The Greens have called on Labor to ditch their embrace of Hanson rhetoric and instead of dog-whistling outside of Parliament, back the Greens in Parliament by committing to ditch the Trans-Pacific Partnership and legislating to protect local jobs. The Greens will test Labor’s mettle in Parliament in coming weeks.
“Trade deals have become deals for corporations, not people. This has to change and we can start by knocking off the dodgy Trans-Pacific Partnership,” Greens Trade & Finance spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“The Labor Party says that they want to see the end of dodgy trade deals. Their first test will come on Monday, when the Senate will vote on a Greens’ proposal to officially dump the TPP.
“Rethinking trade deals means putting people and consumers back in the centre, not the big corporates.
“There are major issues with the secretive way that trade deals are negotiated to maximise advantage for corporations while letting regular people down, but that doesn’t mean we need to resort to populist isolationism.
“Bill Shorten needs to decide; is he serious about fixing unfair trade deals or is this all about competing with Pauline Hanson for the racist vote?”
Greens Employment & Industrial Relations spokesperson Adam Bandt MP said: “This isn’t Australia First, it’s Pauline Hanson First.”
"For years, the Greens have been urging we protect our sovereignty without racist rhetoric. Now Labor has embraced the Greens' policies but with Pauline Hanson's rhetoric."
“Barely a year after Labor sided with the Liberals to defeat Greens moves to require local advertising of jobs under the China free trade deal, Labor pulls out a post-Trump dog-whistle in an attempt to chase down the One Nation vote.”
“For years Labor has sided with the Liberals instead of the Greens to push free trade agreements that have undermined local jobs and industries.”
“Labor opposed a Greens bill to protect local jobs by placing stricter requirements on companies to employ locals before seeking to bring overseas workers in. Recently, Labor refused to vote with the Greens to require local advertising and minimum standards for workers like electricians coming to Australia under the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement.”
“When Labor has had the chance to address the misuse of overseas labor, they've instead voted with the Coalition to open up holes in our migration laws that you can fly planeloads of exploited overseas workers through.”
“The Greens will test Labor's mettle and reintroduce our bill to regulate enterprise migration agreements, which are used by companies to bring in 457 workers en masse.”
"There are many classes of visas open to exploitation other than s457 visas. Will Labor join with the Greens in regulating those or is this move the worst of both worlds: Pauline Hanson's rhetoric but without meaningful reform?"
“Do Bill Shorten and Labor genuinely want to help create jobs for locals by fixing our migration and employment laws or is this just dog-whistling in a post-Trump attempt to chase the One Nation vote?”
The Greens have introduced a motion to the Senate, to be brought to a vote on Monday, calling for the TPP to be ditched and will reintroduce into Parliament the Protecting Local Jobs (Regulating Enterprise Migration Agreements) Bill to see if Labor will match its public rhetoric with its votes in Parliament.
Media contacts:
Sarah Hanson-Young – Noah Schultz-Byard, 0427 604 760
Adam Bandt – Adam Pulford, 0429 109 054
Media ReleaseEmployment and Workplace RelationsFinance and Trade