Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the House for the opportunity to speak on the Customs Amendment (ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement Implementation) Bill 2009 and cognate legislation. I commend the Minister for Home Affairs, the Hon. Brendan O’Connor, for his work in this particular area. I note that in the remarks of the opposition member who previously spoke on this bill, it was seen that we have somehow rushed this legislation through. That is a bit incredulous given that this process started in the Hawke-Keating years and continued all the way through the Howard years. Now, after 18 months in government, we have taken action and implemented something that was probably long overdue. As the shadow minister understands, there are a number of imperatives in getting this legislation signed off and approved by this parliament to enact those agreements that we have in place that cover a whole range of countries.

I am very pleased to have the opportunity to speak on what is a historic milestone for Australian trade negotiations. The agreement is in fact the largest free trade agreement Australia has concluded. It will provide Australia and the other 11 parties to the agreement with, among other things, preferential access to each other’s goods—something that is well understood in terms of free trade agreements and something that is successful in ensuring that Australian producers are not disadvantaged in any particular way through the tariffs that are placed upon our export goods. It will reduce or otherwise eliminate tariffs across a region that is home to some 600 million people and that has an annual GDP of A$3.2 trillion. This presents a huge opportunity to Australian exporters and to Australian industry.

The agreement will deliver new opportunities right across the board. ASEAN and New Zealand together account for 21 per cent of Australia’s total trade in goods and services—something which was worth $103 billion in the years 2007-08. ASEAN as a group is a larger trading partner for Australia than any single country, accounting for 17 per cent or $81 billion of Australia’s goods and services trade in the period 2007-08.

The ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement, the AANZFTA, is a free trade agreement established between Australia, New Zealand and ASEAN, whose member countries are Burma, Brunei, Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam—all countries within our immediate region and countries that we already trade with. Of course, moving to this sort of a platform will be a huge advantage to many Australian exporters. There is of course a cost to Australia, which is something I will talk about in a moment.

This is the first free trade agreement Australia has signed since the onset of the global financial crisis. This is a perfect example of Australia and its neighbours’ strong commitment to opening up markets in the face of the global recession. It is clearly the right course of action given our knowledge and experience of history and the knee-jerk reaction that you might expect when there is a global crisis—people close the door. We have done the opposite. It is commendable not only to Australia but also to our partners in the region, those countries I have mentioned, that they still see the opening up of trade in difficult economic times as a worthwhile act. It bodes very well for their progress and development as well as ours. It also shows that progress in trade can be made if there is political will to do so.

The Rudd Labor government has shown the will to progress Australia’s interest despite the global challenges that we face today and despite the cost of this action to the budget. It is a cost that is worth while and a cost that will be recouped over time. In fact, there will be a net benefit to Australia. While we heard some comments in relation to this from the previous speaker, I would say that, like in so many other areas, this action is in stark contrast to what we saw under the previous administration. We have chosen to act quickly and, as you have heard many times, Madam Deputy Speaker, decisively to make sure that we do the things that are necessary in Australia’s national interest and in the interests of our region.

What this means for us and for Australian exporters is an opening up of markets in a range of areas where there were some significant issues and disadvantages faced by Australian exporters. This agreement, I note, is the first plurilateral free trade agreement that Australia has signed and, as I said earlier, it is also the largest and is quite significant. It will commit those member countries that have signed it to either eliminate or reduce tariffs applied to goods and services imported from other countries that meet the agreed rules-of-origin criteria. It will mean that more than 90 per cent of goods and services traded between those countries can expect to be tariff free by 2013. It is a worthwhile and worthy goal and something that we are working towards. There are some exceptions in that there is a longer transition period for a number of countries. It has been agreed that there will be a longer transition period for Vietnam, Burma, Cambodia and Laos to reflect some difficulties and challenges that these countries face in meeting their obligations. They will not remove tariffs altogether until 2024 but will be progressing towards that goal.

There is a cost to Australia. Treasury has estimated that we will lose $971 million in revenues from tariff reduction up to the 2012-13 financial year—something that we will recoup, though, in increased exports, better access to markets and more opportunity for Australian exporters. The report from the treaties committees is, of course, commendable. They received a number of submissions. The bulk of those submissions were supportive of Australia ratifying the AANZFTA and, in particular, a submitter supported the creation, through this, of greater transparency and certainty for Australian investors in the region—something they did not have up until the signing of this particular agreement, when you look at the vagaries in some places with tariffs, tariffs that could have been raised at any particular point in time. It binds those countries to a path of certainty through either reduction or elimination of tariffs or through holding of tariffs in place at the 2005 levels. It is a worthwhile process and commitment.

The submitters also supported Australia ratifying the agreement in areas such as intellectual property. We have heard in this place many debates about intellectual property rights. Australia is a large player on the global stage. This will go towards providing more certainty and better understanding of agreements and legal obligations between countries in terms of intellectual property. (Quorum formed)

I do find the unacceptable behaviour of the opposition and the member for Aston in calling for a quorum in the middle of what is an important debate most childish and tedious—something that both sides of the House support—and it is quite sad to see that the members are forced to follow the dictate of their tactics committee in terms of upsetting the time of this House. But I will continue.

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