Trade Minister Andrew Robb is heading to China to reassure its leaders that Australia is committed to a free trade deal despite a "racist dog-whistle" campaign by unions.
Several unions are strongly opposed to parts of the deal they believe will allow Chinese companies to bring in cheap labour at the expense of Australian workers - something the government denies.
Mr Robb will lead a business delegation to Shanghai and Beijing this week to pursue opportunities created under the deal, which was signed in June but is yet to be endorsed by parliament.
He says he will assure his Chinese counterparts the federal government is absolutely committed to the deal.
"The urgency to get this agreement into force this year (is) because major benefits will flow from day one," he said on Sunday.
Cabinet colleague Mathias Cormann accused Opposition Leader Bill Shorten of not being strong enough to pull unions into line and said he should stop the "racist dog-whistle" campaign against the trade deal.
"By saying nothing, he's effectively supporting this racist and dishonest union campaign against what is a very important free trade agreement for our country," he told Network Ten.
"I suspect that the union movement is essentially just trying to take a generally protectionist approach, trying to hold back our economy in some sort of misguided view that this is better for their members. But it ain't better."
Labor wants a better explanation of the provisions under which companies can bring in workers, arguing the text of the deal does not explicitly lay out the safeguards the government says are included.
The government insists all the usual working visa "checks and balances" remain in place for work Chinese companies do in Australia under the agreement.
Senator Cormann and Labor trade spokeswoman Penny Wong took the spat online on Sunday, arguing about the labour provisions via Twitter.
Senator Wong pointed out the minister had not labelled as racist his own government's crackdown on foreign investment, particularly in real estate.
"Looking fwd to @MathiasCormann now denouncing his govt's discriminatory investment rules which impose greater barriers on Chinese investment," she wrote.
He retorted that she should actually read a DFAT mythbuster, giving her the link.
The Abbott government has stepped up the attack on Labor in parliament over the past week, with Prime Minister Tony Abbott accusing the opposition of wanting to bring back the White Australia policy.
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