Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to follow the shadow minister for agriculture after his considered contribution to this debate on the Export Control Amendment (Quotas) Bill 2015 in the year of big ideas. It is wonderful to see another policy statement tabled here this morning on Labor's position to abolish the agri threshold as we go to the next election. I think that is a fundamentally flawed position. Nevertheless, that is the policy you will take to the election. It is completely within the rights of those who sit on the other side of the House in the year of the big ideas.

I do accept that this is not a controversial bill, and my intention is to give a brief outline of the intent of the bill and then address how it flows into our red-tape reduction overview and the policy we took to the last election. I want to touch on how this bill affects growers, processors, farmers and those who have capacity to reach out to those newer markets in the export sector. And I want to acknowledge the contribution of the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, who by all accounts has done an outstanding job in pulling these efficiencies together, along with the Minister for Trade and Investment, helping to secure these free trade agreements that will unleash a world of new opportunities in beef, horticulture, investment services et cetera in my electorate.

The Export Control Amendment (Quotas) Bill 2015 consolidates four acts that govern tariff rates. When we enter trade negotiations with countries, we will say, 'Allow us to send 1,000 widgets to your country.' But once we hit that quota and go over that 1,000 widgets, a tariff may be introduced. The intent of the bill is to introduce a schedule. The act currently has four different parts to it: dairy, beef et cetera. This amending legislation seeks to consolidate those into one act that is more user-friendly. From a compliance perspective, it makes us nimbler, and nimbleness from the department creates efficiencies. Earlier, we spoke about a value figure that we can attribute to that. That value figure potentially gets passed down to our growers and makes us more competitive globally. The import countries usually manage the quotas, but, by simplifying and making our system nimbler, we are flagging that we would like to manage the quotas by centralising them. The savings that will come by our managing the quotas give us the capacity to be more acutely aware of what our trade relationships are and where we are with particular volumes on line items. Where export tariff rate quotas are established by trade agreements, Australia seeks to manage the quotas in order to offer exporters the maximum concession possible on agriculture.

The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources currently administers up to 33 quotas that save exporters millions of dollars of tariffs in each year. It will continue to do that and look for new markets. For example, there are eight new quotas which have been introduced under the Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement, saving exporters approximately $3 million in tariffs between January and May 2015 alone. Quotas to the EU and the United States have saved Australian exporters between 20 and 100 per cent in applicable tariffs, which is a considerable amount. Based on the consultations by the department, both internally and externally, with stakeholders, there has been an overwhelming push by the industries involved to reduce the burden of red tape.

This is completely in line with the government's position to reduce the burden of red tape and green tape on our small business sector and on large businesses in Australia. These are the issues that we took to the last federal campaign and said that we would fight on. I can inform the House that, to date, this coalition government has reduced regulation by no fewer than 50,000 pages. We have dedicated a day to red-tape reduction in the parliament once a year. We have set a target of approximately $1 billion in savings each and every year that we are in government. By all accounts, we are exceeding those expectations.

The real benefits of reducing red tape in this particular bill will flow on to businesses. It allows them to spend less time sitting out the back of their shops or in their offices and, instead, spend more time at the front line with their customers or, in this case, with their animals or with their product in the paddock. They can make sure that they get the best possible outcome for their product and the best possible value for their product. We fundamentally believe in less government. We fundamentally believe in fewer taxes. This bill demonstrates, along with many of the others that we have introduced, that government needs to get out of the way of business and, instead, support and partner with business to provide a framework of administration that allows them to maximise their profits.

The current legislation schemes for quotas are specifically for meat and dairy products and are not sufficient to address the range of quotas arising under the recent free trade agreements. For example, the Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement introduced quotas for honey and juices. What that predominantly speaks to is that honey and juices were in one of the acts that have been consolidated. Dairy and beef were in other acts that have been consolidated under this amending legislation. It is quite a simple process. As I said in my opening comments, it is not a contentious issue. I have spoken at some considerable length about the overwhelming intention of the peak bodies to embrace the ideology of this bill.

The benefits of a comprehensive general quota legislative regime are that they will enable a more secure and flexible legal framework for the implementation of existing and further quotas negotiated in pursuit of export opportunities under the Agricultural competitiveness white paper and free trade agreements. In addition, in my electorate there are an enormous number of people such as growers, beef producers, saleyard operators and the value-added chain—Dinmore meatworks, operated by Swift just on my electorate's northern boundary, and the Teys meatworks on my electorate's north-east boundary at Beenleigh—who have made contributions to the benefits of reducing red tape in this sector.

Deloitte in Brisbane have recently announced that they have a very bullish outlook for the agricultural sector over the next 10 years in the forward outlook. Their bullish outlook for the agricultural sector is predominantly based on the emerging middle-class in China and their demand for protein. Even with the softening growth rates in China, the amount of growth based just on population has secured our partnership with that country for many years into the future. But we should not think that China is the be-all and end-all. There are other emerging markets that we are now shifting our attention to. I mentioned that the minister is spending energy looking at opportunities in India as they look to shift into an emerging middle-class economy

After that, we have Africa, which will keep us busy as a nation in the way of food production for many, many years to come.

When Deloitte stand on the global stage and say that they have a very bullish outlook for the Australian agricultural sector, it is not hard to understand why international companies who are looking to invest in long-term gains in and around the agricultural sector have expressed such an interest. We heard the previous speaker, the shadow minister for agriculture, speak about foreign investment and its importance here in Australia—and I agree. Since the First Fleet arrived here in Australia, we have traditionally been an importer of net capital in this country. In order for us to reach our absolute maximum output, we rely heavily on foreign capital. Having said that, I think from a government perspective we need to have a conversation domestically about why we have foreign investment companies lining up from here to the War Memorial, looking to invest in our companies, yet we have $2 trillion of our own superannuation money. We do not see Australia in the same light as other countries who are falling over themselves to get here do.

I welcome foreign investment. We cannot be our best without partnering with foreign investors. But I do struggle with some of the limitations in the make-up of the boards of the superannuation firms. We need a more entrepreneurial, more independent look at the way that we invest in our own future. Why is it that we have international companies who want to make that journey but we struggle to make that transition with the superannuation money of our own mums and dads? These projects will benefit our nation. They are nation-building projects in which the world sees benefit.

Closer to my electorate, Peter Hayes from the Silverdale Saleyards, Roy Bartholomew, who has the Beaudesert and the Moreton saleyards, as well as Neil Goetsch, from Goetsch & Sons, Kalbar saleyards, have seen an enormous increase in beef prices more recently. We have seen prices increase over the last 12 to 18 months to two years. They are prices that I have never seen before in my lifetime. There are a number of factors involved when we talk about this bill and quotas internationally as to why we have seen upward pressures in our cattle markets. Obviously, we should never forget the horrific effects of the drought that has grasped many of our cousins in country Australia. I was reminded only last night of this by a friend of mine, Boyd Curran, who has got country in Longreach, Queensland. He has totally destocked. Unfortunately, the future for some of those operations is very bleak. Whilst we talk about the bullishness of the industry, we must remember that there are parts of our economy that are struggling as a result of the drought. The drought is having an enormous effect on lowering herd numbers and is factoring into that basic demand and supply push for cattle.

One of the other factors as to why our cattle prices are firming and holding is without a doubt our ability each to increase our export volumes of cattle internationally. No-one will ever forget what was probably the single, most damaging policy decision in the cattle sector when Labor were in office. Overnight, they shut down the live cattle trade into Indonesia. The ramifications of that single policy decision rippled through the economy of North Queensland and in my electorate, as cattle numbers got pushed back down into the southern markets. Hopefully, it is something that we will never again see as a result of a knee-jerk decision.

I mentioned that in my final comments I would pay tribute to the Minister for Agriculture for taking over the portfolio. He was starting from a very low base. He has done an excellent job in rebuilding the relationships with those economies. Each year since that live cattle debacle policy decision, we have as a nation continued to find new markets and increase our live cattle export numbers around the world. There are currently challenges for us around the globe with low cattle numbers. America's herd numbers are down. Brazil's herd numbers are down. India's herd numbers are down. We are looking at least 18 months to two years before those herd numbers recover. Challenges lie ahead of us. The Minister for Agriculture has done an outstanding job in partnering with the Minister for Trade and Investment in brokering these efficiencies and in bringing to completion the free trade agreements, and they should be commended for it.

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