Simon Crean (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Trade and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

The point I was making at the outset is that the wine industry has been a huge success story. Why? Because a Labor government when it was in office laid a framework that enabled that industry to grow its export base. This government has cut back on the programs that assist exporters, and Australia is paying the price as a consequence. That is my point. I would have thought it was totally relevant to the bill before the House. I would have thought that if we were dealing with better governance of the Wine and Brandy Corporation, it would be important to understand what it is they are governing and to understand the framework in which they could be governing and operating a lot better if they had a more sympathetic government—a government prepared to help them rather than hinder them.

My point in drawing attention to the woeful export performance is simply this: that if the government in its 10 years in office had been able to maintain the rate of growth in exports that Labor consistently achieved in its 13 years in office then instead of a trade deficit today of $12 billion we would have a trade surplus of $23 billion. That is a big return for the economy. I think the government needs to understand that it is one thing to pass provisions that improve the governance of corporations. What they really need is governments that pass provisions that help them get into more export markets. That is what we did in the nineties and that is why the industry has increased its export base tenfold. The figures are there, but you have to put them in the context of the overall performance of the economy so far as exports are concerned since this government came to power.

With all the money washing around in the budget on Tuesday night there was not one item of expenditure designed to improve export performance; yet this is a government that in 2001 said it was going to double the number of exporters from 25,000 to 50,000. The number of exporters in this country today still sits at only 40,000, despite the resources boom. Why is that? Because the government has cut back the programs that help new exporters get into new markets. If it does not understand the significance of that, it is not listening to what industry has to say. The Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation is a representive body of the industry and it is a body that, along with others, has been complaining about the government’s cutbacks in the Export Market Development Grants Scheme; yet, with all the money that is around, the government puts in no money. Now I am told that this government was advised that unless more money was put into the Export Market Development Grants Scheme the amount of money in the scheme would mean that those businesses in line for grants under the scheme would not be given the maximum cap. They would all have to take a cut. That reduces their ability to get into export markets.

I understand that the minister approached the Prime Minister with this very graphic piece of news. The Prime Minister knocked him back. Where is the support for our exporters? Do not come along and talk to us about the importance of improving governance if you are not prepared to talk about supporting them as exporters. Where was the money in the budget for the Export Market Development Grants Scheme? Where is the commitment to honouring the target of doubling the number of exporters? I will tell the government why it will not achieve this. It is not just that it has cut the money in the schemes that help us get new exporters; it is that it has debased the whole means by which trade policy in this country was successfully and effectively fostered under a Labor government.

This is not just a bill about improving governance; this is a bill that requires us to reflect on wasted opportunity. The wine industry is a great success story for this country and I am proud to have been part of it having been built. I want to be part of an exercise that helps it grow even stronger. I would not walk away from them regarding the US free trade agreement and sell them short. I would be going in to bat for them. That is what this government has failed to do. Whilst we support the bill, we condemn the government for failing exporters in this country so pathetically over the past 10 years.

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