Barry Haase (Kalgoorlie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Trade. Would the minister advise the House of recent developments in the government’s pursuit of a better deal for Australia’s exporters?

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I recognise that the honourable member for Kalgoorlie probably represents the biggest exporting electorate in the country. The critics on the other side of the chamber ought to acknowledge the fact that Kalgoorlie contributes enormously to our nation’s export performance, particularly of resources. His real interest in this subject is quite obvious. Only a few weeks ago I visited a number of the facilities in his electorate and it is not possible to not be impressed by what is being achieved in Western Australia.

In this context, I welcome the recent announcement by the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Pascal Lamy, that officials should restart critical talks under the Doha Round. I met last week the chairs of many of the groups, and they are looking forward to getting back to work. Clearly, a lot of things need to be done to put together something that might be acceptable as a new round of international trade agreements, but at least we are back at work.

There are many key issues. The Americans need to do more in relation to their farm subsidies. The Europeans need to do more in relation to their exports, particularly their subsidies. The developing world also needs to do more to open its markets. But at least some discussions are going on, and it can only be hoped that this will lead to a fruitful outcome.

The Prime Minister and the other leaders at APEC made a very important contribution to the debate in Hanoi. In their leaders’ statement, they called for an ambitious outcome to the round and urged all the partners in the negotiations to go beyond their current positions. I think that is a key element. The leaders at Hanoi indicated their willingness to go further and called on other countries to do the same. It has to be that kind of spirit if there is going to be a successful outcome to the talks. Australia’s own ‘five plus five’ proposal is the only constructive new idea on the table at the present time. That is also a key element in the discussions, but a lot more work needs to be done.

The fact that the discussions are under way again gives the lie to the honourable member for Griffith. In July he put out a media statement saying that Doha was ‘dead as a Dodo’ and then went on to criticise the former Minister for Trade for being responsible for it all. So, once again, the statements of the honourable member for Griffith are coming back to haunt him. I suspect that demonstrates to all Australians that, if the Labor Party were ever given responsibility for trade policy, there would be no ambition, no desire, to do anything to help improve the lot of our exporters and to help build our nation’s economy through stronger exports.