Australian Financial Review, p 50   Since Macarthur’s first bale of wool left our docks and arrived in England in 1807, free access to fast growing global markets has been deeply etched in our economic history and national consciousness. Australians have an innate understanding of the contribution of openness to our prosperity, and accept (albeit sometimes grudgingly) foreign investment as necessary to nation building and raising incomes.

Now, this critical ingredient in our wealth and prosperity is under attack in the community and the parliament. No Australian should underestimate how serious this is for our economic future.

In recent weeks, the CFMEU has been conducting telephone campaigns in marginal seats in efforts to kill off the China Free Trade agreement (ChAFTA). Voters are being told they will lose their jobs. A new version of the ‘yellow peril’ narrative is emerging, and Australians concerned about their jobs and incomes are listening. If you have a large mortgage, you’re hearing about a fragile economy, and you receive a call telling you to be very frightened about your job, you listen. If no-one else counters the story, you start to believe.

We know this is just the beginning. The unions are about to ramp-up a monster campaign, using the oldest military and political weapons: ground troops. Unionists are planning to doorknock, telephone and facebook their way into power and away from free trade.  It’s somewhat ironic that in the modern world the oldest weapon is the most deadly. But with the help of technology driven targeting, where voters are evaluated for the ability and willingness to influence an election outcome, ground troops are the new guided missiles.

At the heart of the campaign is a false assertion that the China free trade agreement frees up Chinese workers to work on Australian projects. Nothing could be further from the truth. Treaties don’t override domestic laws in this country. If we were to free up the regime for offshore workers, we would need to change legislation, but this won’t happen. The 457 visa regime will remain unchanged; nothing in the agreement requires workplace legislation changes.

This campaign goes against every fibre of Australia’s economic history, natural advantages and future prospects. For two hundred years, we have exported high quality, high value products – mostly minerals, food and fibre - to the world. Don’t listen to the dross from leftist isolationists who deride our focus on digging and farming, as if they are second class activities. We are world class farmers and miners, deploying know-how, technology and innovation like no others in the world. To add to that, the free trade agreement offers enormous opportunities in service exports – education, professional services, financial services and more.

If you think that this campaign stops with the CFMEU, then think again. In the parliament, many Labor MPs have supported their anti-trade union mates. The member for Bendigo, Lisa Chesters recently argued that “this was the wrong time to be striking such a free trade agreement”, without specifying whether there will be a right time. She goes on to say “we are not ready for free trade”. You’d better tell our pioneering ancestors that.

Pat Conroy, the member for Charlton, defends Labor’s failure to negotiate agreements whilst in government saying that free trade agreements have “sold out Australia”. Melissa Parke, the member for Freemantle, has said that these “so-called free trade agreements stand to undermine our economic standards.” Some cross benchers share this view, with John Madigan describing ChAFTA as a “reckless agreement”. Crikey.

Fortunately, there are still some rational heads in the Labor Party, although their voices are increasingly drowned out. Bob Carr has recognised the dishonesty of the campaign, declaring that the China Free Trade agreement “does not need to be rewritten” to protect the interests of Australian workers.  

The outcome in the battle between Labor’s left wing anti-trade gang and the rational right is not a foregone conclusion. Many of the anti-trade brigade are so called ‘rising stars.’ We are told they are the future of Labor. Scarily, they don’t value the economic openness that was a core feature of Labor policy making in recent decades.

My strong sense is that the business community doesn’t know what is coming. Complacency driven by decades of positive reforms and rising incomes has left the business and broader community with a belief that Australians usually get it right. Indeed they do, when they are well informed. But scare campaigns are based on misinformation, and that is what we are up against.

In recent months, I have started to seriously question the assumption that Australians have a bias to openness. The day we stop preaching the benefits of openness is the day our economy starts to focus inwards. If well informed well motivated Australians don’t take up arms in this battle, I am convinced we will lose. It’s time to fight for what has made this country great and will define our economic future.