Senator says the government has sacrificed ‘many tens of thousands of jobs on the altar of free trade fundamentalism’
Nick Xenophon says the Turnbull government is fundamentally misguided if it believes a concerted public advocacy effort can turn around a broad-based electoral backlash against globalisation and free trade.
In an interview with Guardian Australia following the confirmation of his Senate bloc on Thursday, Xenophon declared jawboning would not change any of the fundamentals.
“I think [fixing the current disaffection by advocacy] is a deeply superficial analysis,” he said.
“[The] fact is our trade deficit has gone up, our current account deficit has continued to increase, we are lousy negotiators, we have not negotiated in the context of an industry policy,” he said.
Read the full article on Guardian
