TRADE UNIONS LOVE TO ATTACK ANDREW ROBB, JUST NOT THE LEGACY OF JOHN BUTTON

Without any free trade agreements, Australia's economy in the years to come will
retract into virtual third world status. Love it or hate it, globalization demands that western governments, including the Abbott government, are willing and enthusiastic participants in the global economy.

Free market policy condemned protectionism to history from the late 1980's onwards. It also condemned so much of the Australian manufacturing industry, which never has, and never will, have any hope of competing against cheap foreign labour markets. Granted, free trade agreements offer OZ primary producers the opportunity to tap into overseas markets which wouldn't even exist without them.

Many neo-capitalist and free market ideologues will disagree with me, but no, "we are not all the richer" for Button's complete abomination of protectionist policy in the 1980's and his manic, ideological crusade to deregulate labour markets and take a knife to anything constituting tariff and competition policy. That's in reference to John Button, the Industry and Commerce Minister in the Hawke-Keating government.

Australia at that time was lobbed onto what was then a very un-level playing field in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of our industry being completely uncompetitive against cheap foreign imports. Thousands of Australian companies and businesses over the past nearly 30 years "have been made all the more poorer", or have been sent bankrupt altogether, due to the many flaws of Button's labour market reforms.

There's more of a chance of it snowing in hell, but what the trade union movement should be attacking is the legacy of John Button and just what disastrous impacts having "zero protectionism" has had on the Australian manufacturing industry in the past 30 years.

Certainly a lot more than attacking trade minister and globalization guru Andrew Robb and the FTA between Australia and China, which is just about to take effect.

Credit where credit is due, at least Robb has gone about the negotiations with China observing some caution and reservations, in contrast to the "anything goes" approach and mentality of Button and Labor during the 1980's.