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

I invite the honourable member to listen rather than just chortle on. The last FTA of this quality with an agricultural producing country was the CER agreement also concluded by the Labor government in 1983—25 years ago. This is the sort of FTA that will be applauded in Geneva and rightly so; it is truly WTO-plus. It introduces a high-quality FTA, importantly into the APEC region, and it will be open, through its accession clause, to other APEC members to join.

I look forward to bringing this agreement to the attention of my APEC counterparts when I travel to Peru later this week for the APEC meeting of trade ministers. This agreement establishes a model for other bilateral and regional trade and economic integration efforts among APEC members. In doing so, it sends a signal to our APEC partners, reinforcing our efforts to revitalise regional economic integration in the APEC region.

In addition to working closely with Peru, I am working closely with the next three hosts of APEC: Singapore, Japan and the US—all countries that have been original members and strong supporters of APEC in the past. We want to garner that support again, strengthen it, build on it and develop a forward agenda in the region. That is another mechanism for the WTO-plus strategy—WTO at the multilateral level, the regional agenda and then quality FTAs. This is one of the building blocks of our strategy.

This agreement also builds on a rapidly growing relationship with Chile. Two-way trade between Chile and Australia has increased in the last 12 months from $675 million to $856 million and, importantly, the investment relationship is very substantial. Australia is the fourth largest investor into Chile, with investments worth around US$3 billion. Chile is Australia’s third largest trading partner in Latin America. Chile buys our coal, civil engineering equipment, specialised machinery and vehicles. Chile buys Australian services exports in a range of sectors. It is an investment base for over 70 Australian or Australian affiliated companies, mainly mining technology, services, gas distribution and power generation.

This agreement will be a key component of the broader strategic relationship this government wants to build with Chile. It will also provide a framework for an expansion of our engagement with Latin America. Importantly, this agreement will strengthen a trade policy alliance between Chile and Australia that is grounded in a belief in the value of free trade for economic development and prosperity. That alliance has been very effective in promoting our respective trade reform agendas internationally. Chile is an active and supportive member of the Cairns Group coalition, which Australia chairs. It is a coalition which is continuing its campaign to end discrimination against agriculture in the world trading system. We are both strong contributors to the multilateral trading system.

Within the Cairns Group and beyond, Australia and Chile are working together very closely to contribute to efforts to bring the Doha Development Agenda to a successful conclusion. Australia and Chile are leading efforts at the WTO to secure a high ambition outcome across the board on market access and subsidies through the Doha Round. We are committed to a Doha agreement that produces real and effective reforms to global markets. As I have said a number of times, Australia is committed to a successful outcome to the round this year, and FTAs such as this will help to continue to build the momentum towards ambitious global trade liberalisation.

The government will be working towards the entry into force of this agreement by 1 January 2009. We want exporters to enjoy duty-free access from that date for the vast majority of trade opportunities in goods. Sectors that will benefit include energy, coal, LNG, renewable energy, agriculture, dairy, meat, bovine and bovine genetics production and production technologies, and food and beverages, including wine. On services and investment, the FTA will offer Australian businesses new opportunities across the board, including in mining and energy, technology and services, engineering and consulting services, franchising, education and training services, information technology, tourism and infrastructure.

These opportunities will be locked in from the entry into force of the agreement. And, on government procurement, the agreement provides greater certainty for Australians looking to participate in the Chilean government procurements market. The agreement will provide access to a non-discriminatory regime which puts Australian suppliers’ goods and services on an equal footing with competitors from other countries. Through the provision on intellectual property, our IP rights holders can be assured that their rights can be protected and enforced in Chile. I expect the text of the agreement to be introduced into the House within the next few weeks for review by the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, and I will be writing to my federal ministerial counterparts and to the states and territories to convey to them the text of the agreement.

This agreement is an important contribution to Australia’s trade and economic future. It delivers on Labor’s policy to negotiate truly liberalising FTAs that enhance and build on our multilateral and regional objectives. It abolishes tariffs on all existing goods trade and it delivers an outcome on services and investment over and above that achieved in the WTO. It is an agreement of which we can be proud, and I look forward to working with the Chilean government to bring it into force and to encouraging Australian businesses to take full advantage of the opportunities it will provide.

I ask leave of the House to move a motion to enable the member for Groom to speak for 14 minutes.

Leave granted.

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the member for Groom speaking for a period not exceeding 14 minutes.

Question agreed to.

See this speech in context