The deal has been signed between the two government but must be agreed to by the Australian Parliament. That is expected later this year following two separate parliamentary inquiries.

Labor, the Greens, some Senate independents and the union movement are all expressing misgivings about elements of the agreement.

Wang Zhenyu, from China's Foreign Ministry, told AFR Weekend that Beijing would not accept changes to the hard-fought agreement, without demanding further concessions from Australia.

"If Australia wants to change any part of the agreement, this will change the balance of the overall agreement and will not be accepted by the Chinese side," he said from Beijing.

"If the Australian side insists on changes, then China would need to make further demands to ensure it was a win-win agreement for both sides."

Mr Wang said China had gone further in its agreement with Australia than it had with any other country.

"This is the first of the next generation agreements China has signed with a big developed economy. It was a high-quality agreement and one that has been widely welcomed by both Australia and China. But it was not easily reached, in fact it was very difficult to conclude."

Mr Wang said the concessions made for Chinese labour in the agreement were small.


"The provisions for labour was very limited anyway and the agreement had already taken into account the concerns of Australian unions," he said.

Labor has no intention of blocking the deal but shadow trade minister Penny Wong said on Thursday that it failed to adequately protect Australian jobs and Labor was "exploring ways to ensure labour market testing and skills assessments occur before foreign workers are granted visas to work in Australia".

But a group of Australia's seven largest unions will use next weekend's ALP national conference to pass a motion seeking to bind the Labor caucus to oppose certain provisions in the agreement.

The unions oppose the investment facilitation agreements, which they say would "allow the importation of entire workforces for investment projects worth at least $150 million, with a Chinese component of as little as $22.5 million, or 15 per cent".

They list the removal of skills assessment for 10 occupations under the 457 visa program for imported workers, "including for trades that are potentially lethal if practised by workers who do not meet Australia skills standards, such as electricians".

They also cite the removal of labour market testing from the non-concessional 457 visa program for Chinese workers and the inclusion of an investor state dispute settlement mechanism, which gives the Chinese the right to legally challenge decisions by the Australian government.

But the National Electrical and Communications Association (NECA), the industry group which represents electricians, disputed the union claims.

"Based on our discussions with both [Trade] Minister [Andrew] Robb's office and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, NECA is satisfied that under this proposal, there will be no dilution to licensing or safety standards," it said.


On Friday, shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh said Labor also had concerns about investor state dispute clauses.

"The Howard government managed to negotiate an agreement with the United States without those provisions, so it's not clear to us why Andrew Robb hasn't been able to get to the same place with the China free trade agreement. And he's just stonewalling on those basic questions," he said.

Mr Robb was livid at the prospect of the deal being held up. He said none of the concerns were valid and were spurred by xenophobic unions.

He noted Labor in government had cut a special deal with Gina Rinehart to allow her to import Labor for the Roy Hill iron ore project.

"This is a significant test for Bill Shorten's leadership," he said.

"It's an agreement which has widespread support across various industries so Shorten should call off his union attack dogs."

Mr Robb said the deal was done and there could be no changing it.