The Federal Government is defending the free trade deal it has negotiated with China amid criticism from unions that it fails to protect Australian jobs.

Australian Council of Trade Unions president Ged Kearney said the agreement confirmed fears the manufacturing industry would be devastated.

• China FTA to boost jobs, investment
• Who wins from an Australia-China free trade agreement?

“At a time when unemployment is at a 12-year-high of 6.2 per cent, Tony Abbott has just negotiated a deal that allows Chinese workers to be brought in on individual contracts for infrastructure projects of $150 million or more,” she said.

“We’re not talking about massive projects. A $150 million project is an office building that could be built by skilled Australian workers looking for jobs.”

The Government said Chinese workers will have to be paid according to Australian standards.

Trade Minister Andrew Robb has labelled as “scaremongering” suggestions of minimal supervision of the visa system, saying there have been several inquiries that found “minimal abuse of these systems”.

Employment Minister Eric Abetz said “the job opportunities will be bountiful and the rules that apply today will continue to apply”.

“Every unemployed worker should see this free trade agreement as a very real opportunity for them, their families, their sons and daughters, to be able to gain employment in circumstances where we now have access to the world’s largest market,” Senator Abetz told ABC radio.

Asked if it was open for Chinese companies to specify that employees be able to speak Cantonese or Mandarin when conducting their labour market testing, which could shut out some Australian workers, Senator Abetz said that situation was “a hypothetical”.

“They would have to make out a very strong case as to why, in Australia, where we speak Australian, why the particular language skill is so vital,” he said.

“Now, it might be needed in a very small number of jobs. Potentially that’s the case but I can’t see that as being widespread at all.”

When asked how many labour market deals would be audited, the Employment Minister could not say.

“I’m not sure … What I can say is that if anybody is aware of any agreement that sees workers being paid less than the Australian standard, they should make the relevant authorities know about that as a matter of absolute urgency.

“Because we don’t want to see Australian workers’ conditions being undercut through these mechanisms. And if people want to play that game then they will have the full force of the Australian law to deal with.”

Senator Abetz said he did not see a scenario under which there would be “an influx” of Chinese workers “because the current tests remain”.

-ABC