The Australian Union movement is pushing to raise awareness among Australians of what it believes will be the adverse effects of trade liberalisation on Pacific Island states.
A workshop in Melbourne was attended by representatives of Australian unions, churches and NGO groups.
Alison Tait, the international director of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, says Australia's own experience with economic liberalisation shows that free trade is not an entirely positive story.
"Whilst the economic properity of Australia has improved over many years, there are many people who lost their job, industries changed etc, and we know that is the future for the Pacific."
