LEON BYNER: Lets talk with Shadow Trade and Investment Minister, Senator Penny Wong. Penny, theres an interesting quote in your release and Im going to read it, it says: Labor wont be lectured on race by a Coalition Government that remains committed to protecting the rights on bigots and implementing a discriminatory foreign investment scheme that treats Chinese and American investors differently. Explain what you mean by that?

SENATOR PENNY WONG, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE SENATE: This was in response, as you know, to the Prime Minister, Mr Abbott, and others suggesting that legitimate questions that are being asked by Labor and by other people in the community about the China Free Trade Agreement, were somehow racist.

And I was making the point, first there isnt any place for racism in any debate and certainly not in relation to the China FTA, but there is a place for legitimate questions to be asked and answered and instead of telling people off, maybe Tony Abbott could start answering some of the questions.

But the other point I was making, of course, was referencing the fact that this Government has different investment thresholds in terms of foreign investment, as between a Chinese investor and an American investor, and I was simply making the point that I dont think theyre in any position to start telling people off or raising race issues when its clearly discriminatory, there is a difference between someone from the US and someone from China in investment policy.

BYNER: I need to ask you, whats the official position of the Opposition on this FTA with China?

WONG: Our starting position is that weve been a Party thats been supportive of trade because it means more jobs and better conditions for more Australians for 30 years. Weve also been a Party thats supportive of stronger engagement with Asia, and so all along weve said we want to support a deal thats in the national interest, we want to support a high quality deal. But the challenge is, weve seen a Government that has, I think, brought forward an agreement that theyre not prepared to sufficiently explain to the Australian people and it doesnt include the safeguards which we think are necessary to maximise Australian jobs.

The whole point of trade, and I know people have different views about this Leon, but the whole point of trade is to try and generate more jobs and better working conditions for Australians. And if youve got an agreement which doesnt sufficiently do that, then I think its legitimate for the Opposition to be saying we want some safeguards.

BYNER: Alright, now Tony Abbott has basically gone on the record already and said that hes not changing anything. You want safeguards, which means that if he was going to do anything he would have to change what he said he wont. The Chinese apparently also asked for a guarantee that nothing will change. So, when it comes to a vote on the implementation, where you only have one choice, you can either vote for it, or against it, but you cant change it, what do you think you might do?

WONG: Lets first keep the pressure on the Government to sit down and talk to the Opposition about the sorts of safeguards which might enable us to support this agreement. Thats what we want to do and there may well be safeguards which relate to this agreement which can deal with some of the concerns that people have legitimately raised, one of them being that to enter whats called an Investment Facilitation Agreement, you dont do whats called labour market testing and see if jobs under that agreement could be given to Australians.

Now, I just want to make this point, Tony Abbott is standing on his digs, as you have pointed out, but John Howard understood that he had to talk to the Labor Party when he had the US Free Trade Agreement before the Parliament, he took a sensible approach. Tony Abbott on this, and on Bronwyn Bishop, seems to simply believe that he can just stand there and say no, and I think its not in the national interest for the Prime Minister, frankly, to be so stubborn on these issues.

BYNER: Have you seen the text? Professor Patricia Ranald was in the studio a couple of days ago. Shes the convenor of the Fair Trade and Investment Network. She actually said that shes read the text and she said its one of the most extreme shes ever seen.

WONG: Of the China Free Trade Agreement?

BYNER: Yeah.

WONG: Yes, that has been made public; it took seven months for it to be made public. Id just make this point, we had a big fanfare announcement in November last year and it took seven months for the Government to actually tell Australians whats in it and now they are thumping the table and saying pass it immediately. And I think there are some real concerns which have been raised by the text, which is why questions have been raised and why people are concerned and instead of the Government dealing with these fears they just keep having a go at people. And I dont think thats the way you generate support for your position, is to just tell people off all the time.

BYNER: So when the Parliaments back, which is pretty soon, the free trade with China agenda is going to be high on the list, I suspect.

WONG: I think so, I think so, and what Id say to the Coalition is why dont you try and take a leaf out of John Howards book. I know its bizarre that a Labor person is saying that, but he was prepared to actually have a discussion about the problems in the US Free Trade Agreement. At the moment weve got the Prime Minister who is just telling people its my way or the highway.

BYNER: Alright, Penny Wong, thanks for joining us. Well keep a close eye on this. Thats the Shadow Trade Spokesperson in the Opposition, Penny Wong.