Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to support the Customs Tariff Amendment (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership Expansion) Bill. The coalition are absolutely delighted with the accession of the United Kingdom to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

I will note today in the House we saw former British Prime Minister Liz Truss. She was the trade minister for the UK when she and the member for Wannon, Mr Dan Tehan, negotiated the UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement, which has been of great benefit to this country. The UK is a great trading nation. It has a long history of trading around the world and a strong track record of compliance with the trade commitments that all CPTPP members must abide by.

The CPTPP is a plurilateral free trade agreement—that's a word I haven't come across previously, but I'm sure Hansard will confirm that it is actually a word—between Australia, Brunei, Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam. This is one of the world's most comprehensive and ambitious free trade agreements, eliminating 98 per cent of tariffs in a trade zone that represents a combined GDP of US$14.6 trillion and a population of 580 million people. The original agreement was signed on 8 March 2018, and entered into force for Australia on 30 December 2018.

The United Kingdom is the first non-original member and European country to join the CPTPP and is now set to become the 12th member, and the agreement is expected to enter into force in the second half of 2024—I believe December is the target month. Their addition builds on the foundations of the Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement, which entered into force on 31 May 2023. The UK are a welcome addition to a network of countries committed to free and rules based trade. The accession of the UK will most benefit countries that do not have their own FTA agreement with the UK and there are strategic benefits of the UK's greater engagement in the Indo-Pacific. JSCOT received only three submissions to its inquiry, and they were all supportive.

I want to touch on the coalition's record on trade. While acknowledging that most of the free trade agreements have been bipartisan, it was certainly the coalition that negotiated the bulk of our free trade agreements. We're very proud of our record backing Australian businesses to sell their goods and services to the world. We have long led an ambitious trade agenda. Of 16 free trade agreements signed, 13 of them were entered into force under the coalition government. One in five Australian jobs is trade related and, on average, export businesses employ more staff, pay higher wages and achieve higher productivity compared to non-exporters. Between 2013 and 2022, the Liberal-National government finalised 11 trade agreements, including the FTA with the UK and the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement.

We implemented nine trade agreements in government, lifting the share of trade covered by FTAs from 27 per cent in 2013 to over 70 per cent by 2022—and this figure lifted to almost 80 per cent when India and the UK FTAs were ratified in 2023. We ratified the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the world's largest free trade agreement. The 15 RCEP signatory states account for around 30 per cent of the world's population and GDP. We signed FTAs with Korea, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Peru and Indonesia as well as regional agreements across the Indo-Pacific and a comprehensive agreement for the trans-Pacific partnership, which we're discussing here today. We've actively supported our exporters to diversify export markets to create jobs and economic activity in regional, rural and remote communities, many of which are in my electorate of O'Connor. The rules based multilateral trade system underpins the global economy and bonds country-to-country relations.

Moving on from the customs tariff amendment bill that we're discussing here today, I want to touch on the Australia-United Arab Emirates comprehensive economic partnership agreement, which Minister Farrell is in the process of finalising. It's scheduled to be signed off in mid-October and scheduled to come into force in mid-2025. Of course, it has bipartisan support, and the coalition congratulates Minister Farrell and the government on bringing this deal to a close. We also thank our good friends in the United Arab Emirates for their cooperation and assistance in finalising this deal. It is worth $9.96 billion in two-way trade, which is very significant. The main beneficiaries will be alumina producers and farmers from my electorate in Western Australia. That is a great result and, as I say, I applaud Minister Farrell for his work. There is also $20.6 billion in two-way investment—that's from the year 2023—which is a very significant investment between our two countries. I have less applause for the progress on the Australia-Gulf Cooperation Council free trade agreement which has stalled and has not moved in any particular direction recently. That includes the countries of Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Kuwait is important. I visited Kuwait in May of this year and had some very interesting conversations. I visited the Al Mawashi feedlot, abattoirs and showrooms, and was hosted by the CEO, Osama Boodai. Mr Boodai showed me their state-of-the-art facilities—their feedlot and abattoir—all ESCAS compliant of course. As the largest importer of Australian live sheep they were very concerned, of course, at the trade implications of the impending—at that stage—government ban and the future of the industry.

Of course, it's not just sheep that the Kuwaitis import from Australia. We visited Kuwait flour mills; Australian grain dominates. There's not a loaf of bread or any flour based product in Kuwait that doesn't contain Australian grain. The bulk of that grain comes out of Western Australia, most probably out of my electorate of O'Connor. So, there were great concerns. The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Mr Ziad Abdullah Alnajem, met with me and expressed his concern about the current government's policy in relation to the import of live sheep for Kuwait. It's a major issue for their country in terms of food security. Of course, they were very concerned about that.

While I was in Kuwait I was able to pass on a letter signed by the two largest farm organisations in Western Australia—the Western Australian Farmers Federation and the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of Western Australia—to the Kuwaiti government saying that they did not support the Australian government's position on live exports and that, as the representatives of the Western Australian livestock industry, they were keen to continue what had been a long and prosperous relationship between our two countries. Of course, that message was well received by the Kuwaitis. However, subsequent to that visit, legislation was passed in this place to restrict that trade, a very important trade to the farmers of Western Australia.

On that note I will conclude that some progress has been made and the government has achieved some positive outcomes, particularly in relation to the UAE free-trade agreement, live exports and the greater Gulf Cooperation Council. Most of the countries I listed previously are currently importers of live sheep from Western Australia. Of course, Saudi Arabia, which is the largest live sheep export market in the world, earlier this year started to receive Australian sheep for the first time since 2011. So there is enormous opportunity which is potentially going begging in those Gulf countries. The relationships that we have built up, particularly with Kuwait, over many years of that trade stand us in very good stead, as I said. They almost exclusively import Australian wheat for their breadmaking and Australian barley to feed their livestock. These important trade relationships are being put at risk by the current government.

If the coalition is successful at the next election to be held in May 2025, we have made it very clear we will be reinstating that trade. I know that the shadow minister, who is with us here today, will be leading the charge to visit those Middle Eastern countries, reinstate that trade and rebuild our trade relationships.

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