Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to commend the member for O'Connor for his contribution, particularly the part at the end about live sheep export. Serving on the Standing Committee on Agriculture, I have seen the work he has done advocating for his local community. A true fighter for his industry and his community, I want to commend the member for O'Connor. Trade is such an important part of our country and all of our industries. Agriculture is a large part of my community in Casey and trade is key to that.

Australia has a population of around 27 million people. We are a small market in the world. There is a lot of conversation about that small market. When you look at supermarkets and at the 67 per cent market concentration between Woolworths and Coles, there is a lot we need to do. The risk of divestiture is a key part of holding the supermarkets to account, but the government is not prepared to take strong action. Another opportunity we must exploit is trade and that's why this agreement is such great news, because, by having strong free trade agreements, we open up the world. We give suppliers, farmers and businesses an opportunity to diversify and move away from that reliance on the majors. But one of the key elements of trade that makes Australia such a great producer for the world is the clean, green products that we grow and produce here, and a key element of that is our biosecurity regime.

One issue that many communities in Victoria have is the risk of fruit fly. As I said, we are well-known for our high-quality foods, we are well-known for being pest free, but we are at risk Queensland fruit fly coming into our community. Just recently, the Victorian Labor government made a decision to abandon the fruit and vegetable industries across our state, putting many families and many farms at risk not only in the short term but also in the long term. The reason that they have put the program at risk is that they have decided to defund the program that was to manage and control Queensland fruit fly until June 2025.

Queensland fruit fly is a major pest of concern for our trading partners, particularly those where there are specific biosecurity protocols. Queensland fruit fly, like all other pests and diseases, needs to be effectively managed at the source. If we are not able to do that, if we are not able to control the fruit fly at the source, if it gets into regions like the Yarra Valley and out into Shepparton and other parts of Victoria, it will put those export opportunities at risk. It would diminish the value of free trade agreements and would diminish the value of adding the UK to a free trade agreement. We need to protect it, and that is why I'm calling on the Victorian government and the federal government to work with industry to ensure the future management and control of the Queensland fruit fly, to ensure our horticulture industry continues to grow and export our world-class produce.

Make no mistake: this is a test for the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. Is the minister going to step in and support the fruit industries of Victoria to ensure they stay fruit-fly free? Is she going to hold the Victorian Labor government to account? Is she going to look to fill the funding gap that now exists to ensure that our agricultural industries can take advantage of these agreements? This is a test for the minister. Many on our side will be watching what action this minister takes closely. Will she proactively step in, or will she leave it to the Victorian Labor government, who have failed the agricultural communities of Casey and of Victoria? We will hold her to account to see whether she really understands the agricultural industry and the importance of agriculture in our community.

The importance in Casey is more than just the economic importance. I'm proud to say that my family made their lives in Australia when they came from Italy in 1953, establishing a farm in Silvan, in the electorate of Casey. I wouldn't be here today. I wouldn't have the opportunities I have, not just as the member for Casey but as a person, without farming. My uncle Sam recently sold the farm and got out. He's retired, although farmers never retire. His new house looks just like a farm. He spent decades as the president of the Victorian Strawberry Growers Association and the national strawberry growers association. He understands and my community understands that this isn't just about farming and economics. This is about community, and this is about family. Many Italian families created a life for themselves in the Yarra Valley, particularly through strawberry growing but also many other produce markets.

Last week we gathered at St Patrick's in Lilydale to pay tribute to one of those leaders in our industry, who tragically passed away. He passed away after a life well lived. We paid tribute to Antonio Molluso. Antonio Molluso was born on 1 January 1934. Like my family, he arrived in Australia in 1953. He passed away on 16 September 2024. While there was some sadness as we paid tribute to Antonio, it was a celebration of a life well lived and a life that continues on through his children and through his grandchildren who I have the honour of knowing and working with. One grandchild in particular, Paul Molluso, works in my office. The Molluso family have made a significant contribution to the community of Casey—the farming community and the wider community. I want to pay my respects to Antonio Molluso for everything that he has given to our community in Casey and everything he has given to his family and the farmers of our area.

As we gather this weekend on Friday and Saturday at the Wandin Silvan Field Days, I know many people that were at Antonio's funeral will also be there. We will make sure we pay tribute to him. This Friday and Saturday are the 55th annual Wandin Silvan Field Days. We'll be at the Wandin East Recreation Reserve, which is a wonderful event for locals and farmers to come together. For many in the strawberry industry and the wider fruit industries, it's the last weekend while they're still working that they can have a bit of downtime with their friends before the season actually starts and it's seven days a week 24 hours a day, because strawberries and other fruits don't care if it's Christmas Day. When they need to be picked, they need to be picked. It's an opportunity to get together. We'll also look at farming machinery, technology and industry developments. There's something there for the whole family as well. My kids love coming down. I'll be there with my team to talk to locals, so, if you are there, please come and say hello. I look forward to catching up with many of the farmers of our community, because it is a crucial part of the electorate of Casey and it is a crucial part of my family and many other families in Casey.

That's why we're delighted that the United Kingdom has joined the CPTPP, because the UK is a great trading nation within the rules based multilateral trade system and it has a strong track record of compliance, as have all other CPTPP members. This free trade agreement will spread and open new opportunities in the UK for Australian farmers, Australian businesses and Australian food producers, and it builds on the foundation of the Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement, which started on 31 May 2023 but was entered into and established under the coalition.

The coalition has a strong, proud record of backing Australian businesses to allow them to sell their goods and services all over the world, and we've long had an ambitious trade agenda. Of Australia's 16 free trade agreements, 13 were entered into under the coalition, and we know as a trading nation how important that is. As I said at the start, we're a small market, with one in five Australian jobs being trade related. On average, businesses that export their products employ more staff, pay higher wages and achieve higher productivity than non-exporters, and they also have the amazing opportunity to diversify away from the small market and the duopoly in the supermarket business. For many small market players, exporting allows them to build diversification into their business and secure their financial future.

Between 2013 and 2022, the coalition finalised 11 free trade agreements, including the FTA with the UK and the economic cooperation and trade agreement with India. The other nine agreements lifted the share of trade covered by FTAs from 27 per cent in 2013 to over 70 per cent. If you include India and the UK, that takes us to 80 per cent, and it's a tribute to that government that it was able to achieve long-lasting economic opportunities for Australia. It shows Australia's standing in the world. If you look at these free trade agreements, at the AUKUS agreement, at the Quad and at the many other global agreements established and maintained under the coalition, it shows the standing that Australia has in the world. We ratified the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the world's largest free trade agreement. The 15 signatories account for around 30 per cent of the world's population and GDP. As I've said, we've actively supported our exporters to diversify export markets and create jobs and economic activity in regional, rural and remote communities.

While I've spoken about the importance of trade and free trade agreements, let's be very, very clear: we should never enter into a free trade agreement for the sake of saying we have done so. The conditions that we agree to have to be in Australia's interests and the interests of our farmers and our businesses. I talk not exclusively but specifically about geographic indicators, and I'm going to talk specifically about the issue of Prosecco. I had many in my community and many in the King Valley reach out to me, devastated and outraged about the threat that they were under from Prosecco being included in the European free trade agreement. We as an opposition, and I personally, lobbied the minister for trade not to do that agreement if it included GIs, geographic indicators, that would not only cause challenges to our industry but also create a precedent that would continue to cascade for generations to come. I want to pay tribute, in a genuine and bipartisan way, to the minister for trade for standing strong in those negotiations to make sure we didn't sign that agreement, because it wasn't in the best interests of our country. It wasn't in the best interests of the wineries of the Yarra Valley or the King Valley or any winery across our country, or any agricultural product within our country, because of the precedent it would set.

So, while we must always look to expand our trade opportunities as a country, we should only ever do so on the proviso that it is in our best interests. We cannot afford to sell our farmers out for the sake of a free trade agreement. We didn't do it at this time, and every day that I am in this House and in this role, when free-trade agreements come up, I will continue to make sure that the issue of geographic indicators is given the scrutiny it deserves, because they can have such significant ramifications in the short and long term for our community.

I am glad we have added the UK to this agreement. Trade is the lifeblood of so many businesses in our country. We need to continue to do more, and I'll make sure I'm always backing greater trade opportunities for Australia and for Casey, as long as it's on our terms and we benefit.

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