Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I do thank the member for Hume for being amongst those at the Bellvale cattle yards near Yass this morning in his electorate. They were there to talk about the benefits of the China free trade agreement—benefits the agreement will bring to hundreds of thousands of businesses right around our country. Let me just remind the House, and particularly members opposite, that under the China free trade agreement tariffs on Australian beef will drop to zero within four years. Already, in the process of trying to do this free trade agreement, we have seen enormous improvements in our beef sales to China. China has gone from 12th to third as an export market for Australian beef. Meat and Livestock Australia estimates that the China free trade agreement alone will be worth $11 billion to that particular sector by 2030.

We understand that trade means jobs, and more trade means more jobs. Once upon a time even the Leader of the Opposition appeared to believe that, because, when President Xi was in this chamber late last year, the Leader of the Opposition said, 'We believe in open markets and liberalised—

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