David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

A free trade agreement with the European Union is sought by all members of this parliament, not just by the government. As members all know well, negotiations were very advanced during the 46th Parliament. There were some sticking points on geographic indicators for things like feta cheese and other European goods, and it was complicated at one stage because the United Kingdom was still in the EU. We concluded 11 free trade agreements in the space of three parliament returns. When we came to the government benches in 2013, 27 per cent of our trade was covered by free trade agreements. It's now just short of 80 per cent. That's not bad for three terms and 11 trade agreements signed in that time. When we finally conclude the agreement with the EU, the amount of trade coming in and out Australia under free trade agreements will increase to 90 per cent. We are a trading nation. We always produce far more goods than we, a nation of 25 million, need. Whether it's agriculture or minerals and resources, we 25 million feed the energy demands of Japan, Korea, India and other countries in Asia. Our gas goes around the world. Our iron feeds the growth and increasing wealth and sophistication of many countries. In fact, we have powered places like Japan since 1864. Australia does an amazing amount of trade.

The agreement with the EU is a historic legacy agreement that was complicated by several things. We had a huge market for sheepmeat and beef, but Europe at the time also had that amount of beef and sheep production. Things have changed. Europe has grown exponentially, and we are keen to do deals with it. I understand that the geographic indicators are being sorted out as we speak. We are that close to concluding it. Compared to our neighbours—New Zealand, India, America and Argentina—everyone seems to have got a better deal than us. So we are putting the pressure on our colleagues on the other side of the chamber to make sure they match the efficacy and the number of free trade deals that we signed up to.

At the moment, we still have a 32.3 per cent tariff on any Australian dairy that goes over there. Sugar has a 27 per cent tariff. Meat faces a 19 per cent average tariff. The volume that we get in there is minuscule compared to the 127,000 tonnes that New Zealand gets—my goodness! So the pressure is on, colleagues. You've got to get it done, and we will all benefit from it.

Just the other day many members of the parliament visited the Czech and Austrian ambassadors' residences to celebrate their joint national days. It's their turn to lead the EU at the moment. The discussions we had with the ambassadors were very encouraging. They're saying things like, 'We're nearly there,' which in diplomatic terms is really quite significant.

The coalition has an enviable record on trade negotiation. This will be a test of how good this new government is. It's no good bagging us. We had some hiccups with our French partners in the Indo-Pacific, but we've resolved that and we want to do business with them. They have all these processed goods coming into the country as well as chemicals, banking, insurance, cars, aircraft and exotic foods, and we have got plenty of dairy, quality beef, sheepmeat and all sorts of goods that we can now do deals with them on with much better terms than we have. I commend this motion.

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