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Australia's free trade agreement with South Korea has received mixed responses from opposition party and some trade unions.
While welcoming the latest breakthrough of the bilateral trade talks, the Labor party said in a press release that it is concerned with "the impact of any proposed investor state dispute settlement mechanism" and urged the government to release the text of the proposed agreement.
"Negotiations on a bilateral agreement were initiated by Labor in 2009," Labor's press release said, "The Republic of Korea is Australia's third-largest export market and a Free Trade Agreement presents significant opportunities for Australian exporters and workers." "It also presents potential challenges for the motor vehicle, automotive parts, steel and textile, clothing and footwear industries," it said. "Labor looks forward to examining the proposed agreement and will assess it carefully to ensure it is in the national interest. "
The agreement is expected to give the Australian economy an annual boost of about 653 million AU dollars (590 million U.S. dollars) after 15 years of operation, said Trade Minister Andrew Robb.
However, the Australian Manufacturing Union has condemned the federal government's decision to pursue a free trade agreement with South Korea, as not in Australia's national interest.
Andrew Dettmer, the unions' national president, said there was a range of concerns from working people to the agreement, including the threats to the auto-industry and the ability for investors to sue governments for market access. "We're still seeking information as currently there are more questions than answers when it comes to what exactly the government has signed us up to." "But on the face of it, it would appear that Tony Abbott's government is moving to the situation where multi-nationals have a veto over government policy." "Australia sovereignty appears under threat from this deal, if companies can now sue governments for making unfavorable legislation."
Dettmer called the agreement"a cows for car deal".
"We get to import beef, and the Koreans import their cars. This is a disaster for manufacturing, which has been put as the last priority," said Dettmer.
Paul Bastian, the unions' national secretary said that the deal would not be good for Australia's auto-industry. "The auto-sector is already under pressure ...Australia already has the most open market in the world, and bilateral FTA's fail to address the non-tariff issues we face." "South Korea already has a tax on any car over 2Lt engine, which will further impact our industry," he said.
