David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

What a fantastic day today is for Australia, because today is the day when through this parliament will pass the enabling legislation for Australia to implement the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement: the Customs Amendment (China-Australia Free Trade Agreement Implementation) Bill 2015 and the Customs Tariff Amendment (China-Australia Free Trade Agreement Implementation) Bill 2015. A world of opportunity is about to open as a consequence of this tremendous deal. The Minister for Trade and Investment has done a remarkable job on the deal with China, as well as the deals with Japan and South Korea and the TPP. He has excelled to a most significant degree in closing these very large deals.

The deal with China does not just benefit one or two industry sectors in Australia; it benefits so many parts of the Australian economy. There are hundreds of thousands of businesses in Australia that today will know opportunity is just around the corner, in increased sales into China. You might be in lamb, beef, nickel, titanium, legal services, accounting services, construction, uranium, horticulture, seafood or wine—the list goes on and on; dozens of industry sectors will benefit from the abolition of tariffs, the reduction of tariffs and the increased market access for services companies that are currently denied the capacity to operate in China or are heavily constricted in so doing. This deal changes all of that and it will create immense value for the Australian community.

Let us back up a step and ask: why are we in this situation where we need to remove all these trade barriers? The reason is that historically governments—no doubt well meaning at the time, decades ago—set up a whole bunch of trade barriers that made products more expensive for consumers. That is what they do: they basically make things more expensive for consumers. Even worse than that, sometimes they even make it impossible for consumers to buy certain things. The net result is that people pay more for products. Instead of paying $10 for something, they might pay $12 or $13. If we are spending $12 or $13 on something that should have been $10, that means that there is less money available for other forms of investment and for other things that should be happening in the economy. Imposing trade barriers is an utterly counterproductive and destructive policy, and the economic history of the 20th century tells you that loud and clear.

This government is not just about some sort of theoretical discussion about free trade agreements. This government is about actually getting things done. It is very easy to say theoretically that we should reduce barriers to free trade, but this government and this minister have delivered in spades. Remarkably, in 1999 Australia's trade with New Zealand was bigger than our trade with China. 1999 is not that long ago, Mr Deputy Speaker. I am sure you remember those days. Back then the small island nation of New Zealand had a bigger trade with Australia than China did, which is extraordinary. But by 2013-14 China represented $160 billion of our trade in goods and services, 24 per cent of our entire world trade and was more than twice as big as our second-biggest trading partner. It is difficult to fathom that sort of growth. That growth occurred despite the fact that, in that 15-year period, there were still very significant barriers to trade.

Trade with China is a freight train going at a rapid speed, creating growth in the Australian economy. Through removing the remaining trade barriers, we supercharge it, we give it an extra boost and we open more and more doors. If you are in Hurstville, in my electorate of Banks, and you have a business that is involved in tourism services, for instance—taking people back and forth from China—there will be huge benefits for you in this deal. You might have an accounting firm in Hurstville that does business in China. There will be tremendous market access benefits for you in this deal.

I want to thank the Southern Region Chinese Business Association, based in my electorate, for their strong advocacy for this deal. I want to thank the member for Dunkley for his strong advocacy for this deal and for his visits to my electorate to champion it. This is a fantastic day for Australia. It has occurred despite the disingenuous, dishonest and wrong opposition that we have seen from the union movement. We are pleased to welcome those opposite in supporting this deal. It is a good thing that that has finally been achieved. This is a great day for Australia. It is a fantastic opportunity opening up today for many hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Australian businesses.

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