Dennis Jensen (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement is an irrevocable return to high friendship in the economic relations of Japan and Australia. JAEPA is the most liberalising trade agreement Japan has ever concluded. More than 97 per cent of Australia's exports to Japan will receive preferential access or enter Japan duty free. At the end of 2013, Japanese investment in Australia was valued at $131 billion and Australian investment in Japan reached $50.2 billion. Let the naysayers know that this relationship benefits us nearly three times as much as Japan. Gone will be the high barriers for trade with Japan, including agricultural tariffs of up to 219 per cent. There will be immediate duty-free access for milk protein concentrates as well as new opportunities for ice-cream and frozen yoghurt exports. Tariffs on macadamia nuts, asparagus, lobsters, crustaceans and shellfish will be eliminated immediately, and there will be immediate duty-free and quota-free access for wheat for feed and barley for feed as well as streamlined export arrangements for some Australian wheat varieties. This is a good move for WA, and it is an especially positive move for all WA wheat growers.

JAEPA is a stepping stone, as it puts in place a framework to achieve an even better deal. Almost 30 years ago, in August 1986, US President Ronald Reagan signed an economic partnership agreement with Japan. In a radio address on 2 August 1986 he stated:

These agreements are examples of positive, result-oriented trade action. Instead of closing markets at home, we've opened markets to U.S. products abroad, thus helping to create more American jobs. … Because, believe me, when Americans are competing on a level playing field, they can outproduce and outsell anyone, anywhere in the world.

I trust and believe in Australia. I trust and believe in our Australian ingenuity and excellence. In trying to help workers in ailing industries, we must be careful that the cure is not worse than the disease, like the infamous Smoot-Hawley tariffs in the US that deepened and prolonged the Great Depression. Our plan is to create high-paying, sustainable jobs in the high-value-added goods and services sector. There is no other game in town. We either all get on board with the new rules of the game or we all lose out together.

I support the global growth targets of 2.1 per cent per annum agreed at the Brisbane G20. FTAs are our future. Tariff barriers are a redundant relic of history. Viewed in the context of our digital age, they are as outdated as other fashionable ideas from that period—and about as useful as an underwater hair dryer. Listen to some of the many pros of free trade: lower costs, increased purchasing power, comparative advantage improves economic growth. We compete in a globally connected, interdependent and competitive world.

In July the Business Council released a report that identified tourism, education, resources and energy, advanced manufacturing, agriculture and food manufacturing, professional and financial services as areas where Australia can be globally competitive. High-quality services are one of Australia's competitive strengths and largest areas of employment. The removal of trade restrictions in aged care, education, tourism, mining and construction, engineering and manufacturing services gives Australia an unprecedented opportunity to benefit from Japan's aged and ageing population.

The combined impact of the agreement with China, the FTAs signed this year with Japan and Korea, and a commitment to complete negotiations with India within 12 months puts Australia at the epicentre of Asian growth. We have achieved these agreements in the region that is set to account for half of the world's economic output. What the Howard government started, the Abbott government is finishing.

There are moral arguments to support free and freer trade among nations. Free trade respects the dignity and sovereignty of an individual. Free trade restrains the power of the state. Free trade brings people together across distance and cultures. Australia was built on foreign investment—first from Britain, then from America and, more recently, from Japan and China.

Japan and Australia are more alike than unalike. We have passed the days of horror. War is too short a syllable, too simple a word, to truly tell of the terrible, thundering terror of daily death, dismemberment and rape. To get to JAEPA has been a journey. Our achievement—our victory—is moving from questions and fears of attacks to questions and fear of a tax. This bill builds hope, reward, and opportunity.

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