Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, it's interesting to follow the contribution from the member for Moreton. He's normally better than that. There was very little substance in that: he repeated the same line about 50 times. So, for the edification of the member for Moreton, in the electorate I represent, manufacturing industries are up in arms about the risk this creates to their businesses, not just to New Zealand but to many parts of Asia.

I join my colleague and thank the member for Brisbane for bringing this motion to the House. I join my colleague today in condemning a ridiculous and provocative policy, adopted by the Queensland state Labor government.

This Buy Queensland policy's a sham. It implies support for Queensland workers and their industries, and it sounds as though this government is putting Queensland first, but I'm sad to say this is not even close to the truth. The heart of this bogus proposal is Labor's contempt for trade agreements that boost our economic activity every year and the very arrangements that have made Queensland—my home state—a star in the export industry. As a sitting cabinet minister of the Queensland state Labor government said recently, this state Labor government 'couldn't give a toss' about Australia's free trade agreements. Potentially throwing away 500,000 Queensland jobs that depend on trade just shows the contempt they have. The state government have said they'll 'no longer be constrained or bound by free trade agreements'. They say they are proud of muddying Australia's name and its reputation at an international level.

The crux of this matter is that Queensland makes more from exporting than it does from importing. Walking away from trade would cost the Queensland economy over $21 million a year—our trade surplus. Perhaps state Labor are still feeling the need to come up with something that sounds good just as they hit the downhill run to the next election. For the member for Springwood, who made the comment that he doesn't give a toss, I hope that the LNP candidate in Springwood, Julie Talty, holds him well and truly to account for his contempt for export jobs in his electorate. I know we see this approach from Labor all the time at a federal level, but when we see it from state Labor, who demonstrate once again their incapacity to govern Queensland, Queenslanders have a right to be dismayed at the views of this government.

I was speaking last week to Teys Australia, who employ 800 people in my electorate of Forde. With export markets in Japan, Korea and China, they are concerned that this will lead to a loss of confidence in export markets for their products. As I said, they employ over 800 people. Teys' corporate affairs manager called the proposal 'simplistic politics' that fails to show even a basic understanding of how trade works in this country. He said the business relies on the removal of non-tariff trade barriers, which are the biggest impediment to the Queensland company's global competitiveness. I regularly go to other companies that are exporting to the globe and manufacturing top-quality products that compete anywhere.

We can't stand by and let this Queensland state government continue to pursue a policy that is not in the interests of Queenslanders. If the Palaszczuk government proceeds and breaches Australia's free trade agreement, our trading partners will have the opportunity to take retaliatory action and increase barriers to trade. Imagine if one of our trading partners, like Korea, decided to follow Labor and embrace protectionism over trade and apply a 30 per cent penalty on sugar coming from Australia. This would be catastrophic to our cane farmers. The New Zealand trade minister, when he travelled to Australia, raised his concerns personally with this government.

Furthermore, it's not just our exporters who will lose out if this goes ahead. Organisations in my electorate who trade globally are concerned that jobs will be lost. This policy is a complete sham.

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