NO MATTER how much the Government and Opposition want to trump it and sing its praises, the free trade agreement between Australia and China must put Australia and Australians first. 
In the past, FTAs have not always been fair for Australia, notably ones involving the United States.
Contrary to what your Editorial suggested (C-M, Oct 22), until now concerns raised about the potential for "cheap Chinese labour" and shipped-in foreign workers from China "stealing"Australian jobs has not been baseless scaremongering. It has been legitimate and rational.
Labor stuck it out and wouldn't budge on its demands for the terms of the FTA to be amended to make certain that Australians at least get a decent percentage of the jobs on Australian soil that the FTA will create in years to come.
You can thank Senator Penny Wong for that.
It seems Trade Minister Andrew Robb couldn't have cared less. Overall though, as your Editorial outlined, the FTA appears to tick a lot more boxes of economic positivity than it doesn't, particularly for Australian primary producers being able to tap into new tariff-less markets in China for the first time.
All Robb needs to do now is iron out some lingering issues to do with the investor-state dispute settlement clauses, which exist somewhere in the fine print of the FTA, to ensure Australia's corporate sovereignty is never under threat from China.Tim Badrick, Toogoolawah