Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Fowler and the members on both sides of this chamber for their comments in relation to this bill. I congratulate the Minister for Trade and Investment, Andrew Robb. He has done an extraordinary job on this free trade agreement, as he has done on the three previous free trade agreements that he has negotiated. He is someone who will leave a legacy in this place that will be indelible. I also thank Senator Wong for her cooperation and negotiation in the deliberations. I have had negotiations in previous lives with Senator Wong, and she is a fair but hard negotiator. It is no surprise to me that she has brought about a compromise.

We all know the statistics and the opportunities in relation to this free trade agreement. Thousands, tens of thousands and, in time, hundreds of thousands of jobs will come from this monumental agreement for the Australian people that we represent. We all come to this place to make Australia a better place. We do not always agree on how we should do that, but we come with that as our basic instinct as we enter this House and this parliament. This is an agreement that will create jobs right across Australia.

My passion has always been regional Australia. I represent the largest inland provincial city in Australia and the rich agricultural area that surrounds that city. When I look at this free trade agreement, I see the gains in dairy, beef, horticulture and even sheepmeat; we have a few sheep farmers and feedlots in my electorate. Then I look at the resources sector, which I was so proud to represent for so long. I look at the coal industry, the oil and gas industry, the copper industry, the lead industry, the zinc industry, the aluminium ore industry, the alumina industry and the lead industry. The things that have made regional Australia great, like agriculture and mining, are the big beneficiaries out of this.

But there is much more, because there is the produce that flows from those regions—particularly the agricultural produce—that is then processed here in Australia and exported to China, which is a market that is hungry for high quality, clean and reliable product. It is there for the taking, so this free trade agreement offers those opportunities. I have two major abattoirs in my region. I have third that is under consideration and potentially a fourth. They are all looking to China for opportunities. I have the most recent and first privately built airport in my electorate, which is soon to have 747 access direct to China. As a result, we will see our region—my electorate—really pick up and prosper from the things that this free trade agreement will deliver for us.

As well as jobs, there will be confidence: confidence that you can make an investment in Australia and hook into what is an enormous supply chain of customers waiting for your product. There is a lot to be gained from this for Australia and there is a lot to be gained from this for China. It continues that long relationship we have had with China where we do things that are mutually beneficial for both countries; but there are some great benefits in this for our country.

I would like, in the short time that I have, to draw people's attention to some of the quotes that have been made by people who represent industries in my electorate or in the resource sector as a whole. Cotton Australia says that the agreement would 'deliver important tariff cuts that would greatly benefit cotton growers and the communities'. For my cotton growers out in the Brookstead plain and to the west of Toowoomba, it is another great opportunity.

Lance Hockridge of Aurizon says that for the coal producers—and I have a coalmine in my electorate—the ChAFTA will bring 'much needed relief to the Australian coal sector by eliminating Chinese import tariffs on Australian coal'. As a minister, I held discussions with Chinese ministers to try and bring that about. The Minister for Trade and Investment has delivered on that in spades.

As an old executive member of the National Farmers' Federation, I am very pleased to see the opportunities that come from this. Their President, Brent Finlay, said that any delay in the ratification of this agreement would cost potentially $100 million for the beef industry, $60 million for the dairy industry, $50 million for the wine industry and $43 million for the grain industry. The list just goes on and on. All those gains will now be realised as a result of the passage of this legislation.

Looking at the resource industry and the big exporters like the iron ore industry, Nev Power from Fortescue Metals said the China-Australia FTA is 'an important plank in encouraging business investment and the jobs and the community development that will follow'. Anyone who thinks that this free trade agreement is in any way detrimental to jobs does not have a realistic understanding of what this will create for us. It will create, as I say, thousands, tens of thousands and, in time, hundreds of thousands of jobs based on investment, based on sales from Australia to China and based on the development of more industries and highly sophisticated industries. That is an opportunity that we need to grab with both hands.

Andrew Mackenzie of BHP Billiton said:

As a nation we rely on access to foreign markets to grow our economy.

Not a truer word was ever spoken. Whether it is in agriculture or in resources, we are a country that produces far more than we will ever consume with our modest population. As someone who has been a farmer for much longer than a politician, can I tell you we produce about four times as much as we consume at the moment, with the potential to even increase that. Markets like China and the other countries covered by free trade agreements are countries we need to look to to grow our customer base. That was highlighted by Mr Takahashi, Chairman of Mitsui Australia, when he said:

Australia has been offered a unique competitive opportunity through the China Free Trade Agreement that it should not miss … It is an important fact that China has not made agreements with any other countries that compete with Australia in beef or iron ore or raw materials and other things like that—

to the standard of this free trade agreement.

The closing quote I would like to use is from Mike Smith, the CEO of the ANZ Bank. He said:

To be clear: this agreement means more to Australia's future than any other of our Free Trade Agreements.

That really says it all. This is an enormous opportunity for Australia. It is an opportunity that I know, having grown up in regional Australia, having represented regional Australia in this House for 17 years, regional Australia will grab with both hands and continue to build this nation into the unique and great nation that it will be in the future.

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