Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Competitiveness) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Banks for the questions. This is a negotiation that was initiated by the previous government in 2005. Having come to the portfolio of trade in September or so of 2010, it came to my attention that no progress had been made during the period of the previous government from 2005 through to November 2007. A whole series of negotiations or meetings had occurred, but, in fact, no progress had been made.

We have continued to press China on this. There are some terribly vexed issues in any negotiation of this sort between countries such as Australia and China, which has 1.32 billion people. Frankly, in order for this to be progressed successfully it would need a level of bipartisanship, and it does not enjoy that. This is a fundamental problem because the coalition, having initiated these negotiations, is now saying in respect of foreign investment by China in agricultural land that it wants to drop the threshold for private foreign investment from $244 million to as little as $30 million. That would be the end of any discussion on a free trade agreement between Australia and China because China would see that as very discriminatory against it. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition, on 19 October last year, had urged that we accelerate negotiations for the successful completion of an Australia-China free trade agreement and the very next day her leader said no, that it should be put on the backburner and Japan should be prioritised. In order for this agreement ever to materialise, we cannot have Senator Barnaby Joyce and others running around with anti-China rants and then, with the prospect of a discussion paper coming out, suggesting that we drop that threshold, which I am quite sure from discussions with my Chinese counterparts would mean the end of any possibility of a free trade agreement.

What the Chinese have done is approached us about a free trade agreement but with a real emphasis on agriculture. Again, you would think that the coalition would support that, at least the National Party side, because China did give access to New Zealand to the agricultural demand of a massive country and have said to us, 'We would contemplate giving you New Zealand style access.' That would be a huge boost to Australian farmers, particularly beef and dairy farmers.

There are great prospects here, but then we have part of the coalition actually working in the opposite direction. To the credit of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, she has been quite consistent on this, saying, 'Let's do it. It's an important deal.' But other parts of the coalition to which the Leader of the Opposition listens every day—and that includes Senator Barnaby Joyce—are saying, 'We're not very happy about China. We're very anxious about it. We don't necessarily think bringing a free trade agreement to a successful conclusion is a good idea.' So that bipartisanship is lost.

It is not lost upon the Chinese, I must say. They know that there is an alternative government in Australia that is saying that they are not sure about the wisdom of completing free trade negotiations. It would not just be in agriculture, I say to the member for Banks. It would be the diversification that we are seeking in services. We have so many Australian companies looking to diversify. A hundred of them accompanied me to China in August of last year on the biggest delegation to leave Australia's shores, I think. There is no better time, I say to the member for Banks, who has a very great fondness for Gough Whitlam, than the 40th anniversary of the official recognition of the People's Republic of China. It was one of the first steps that Gough Whitlam took when he was elected. He was elected in early December and by 21 December we had recognised officially the People's Republic of China.

Mr Melham interjecting—

That is right. There is now this sense that we should use this opportunity. Let's use the fondness that exists between our two countries to complete those negotiations. But I have to say it would be very difficult to complete them when we have a divided coalition. I would urge the Deputy Leader of the Opposition to use her authority within the coalition to bring to heel the Barnaby Joyces, the anti-China rants, and see if we cannot actually get a true level of bipartisanship instead of people of good intent, such as the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, saying the right thing but her leader and the aspiring Prime Minister of Australia saying exactly the opposite.

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