Today the Treasurer, Joe Hockey, revealed the Abbott Government has traded off industry assistance to secure trade agreements with Korea, Japan and China.

There would not have been any free trade agreements if we hadnt of made the hard decisions about industry assistance at the beginning of the year.

Joe Hockey, ABC Radio National, 2 December 2014

Ending the age of entitlement for industry was a hard decision but it needed to be made because as a result of that decision we were able to get free trade agreements with Korea, Japan and China.

Joe Hockey, HoR Question Time, 2 December 2014

Labor is alarmed by the revelation that support for Australian jobs was used as a bargaining chip in the Abbott Governments trade negotiations.
Trade Minister Andrew Robb and Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane must outline today what industry assistance has been traded away by the Abbott Government in the pursuit of trade agreements.
The Abbott Government has an appalling record on support for Australian industry and jobs.
The Abbott Government is seeking to rip $900 million out of automotive industry assistance, which would lead to an early closure of manufacturers, cutting off opportunities for workers in the supply chain to retrain.
On top of this, the Coalition cut $4.1 million in funding set aside for workers affected by the decision of Ford Australia to end local manufacturing operations in October 2016.
Its time for the Abbott Government to be honest with Australians and deliver greater transparency on industry and trade policy.