Bruce Baird (Cook, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade I present the committee’s report entitled Review of Australia-New Zealand trade and investment relations, together with evidence received by the committee.

Ordered that the report be made a parliamentary paper.

by leave—On behalf of the Trade Subcommittee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade I wish to make some brief comments on the committee’s report, Australia’s trade and investment relations with New Zealand. However, given the shortness of time allocated for the rest of the session I would also refer members to be printed report, which is being released today.

Australia has historically enjoyed an important and productive economic relationship with New Zealand. New Zealand is Australia’s fifth largest export market and eighth largest source of imports, and the 1983 Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement, the CER, is Australia’s oldest free trade agreement. The committee’s report looks at the relationship and its strength. There are far more achievements than problems still to confront. That shows the strength of our relationship, which has endured through two world wars. The very strong investment record, trade and tourism between the two countries highlight the significance of the CER. This report examines that.

I commend Robert Little, the secretary of the committee, who did an excellent job in preparing the brief, and my deputy, Mr Warren Snowdon, the member for Lingiari, and the other members of the committee. This committee is noted for the conviviality with which proceedings are conducted and for the bipartisan way in which its members look for opportunities for Australia’s international trade. I commend the report to the House.

Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I concur with the member for Cook and say how much pleasure it has given me to be able to participate on this committee. The way in which the committee runs itself is a tribute to the way in which the parliament ought to run in terms of a cross-party effort to advance Australia’s trading interests. This report is evidence of the way in which the committee has been able to work together. We all know Australia has a rock-solid relationship with its Tasman neighbour. Some of us have familial relationships, very close familial relationships in my case. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the shared appreciation for sport and the great rivalry between our two countries. Maybe I ought to mention the parliamentary rugby team, of which I am a member. I note Mr Farmer, sitting opposite, has put on his joggers occasionally and come out for a bit of a spurt.

Pat Farmer (Macarthur, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education, Science and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just occasionally!

Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, just occasionally! You would be pleased to know, Mr Deputy Speaker McMullan, that we played the New Zealanders in Wellington earlier this year and they beat us and then we played them at Ballymore and beat them, so we are ‘eqs’! And we will have further games next year. But this report is about trade, not sport, and the facts back up the quality of this trade relationship. My friend has spoken about the closeness of that relationship. The CER is the oldest of Australia’s four FTAs and is generally described as a world-class trade agreement. In a 1998 trade policy review, the WTO described it as ‘the world’s most comprehensive, effective and multilaterally compatible free trade agreement’. In its submission the New Zealand-Australia Connections Research Centre stated simply:

CER represents the model for other free trade agreements.

This trade agreement helps to facilitate what is a very close and very extensive trading relationship between these two countries. In 2005 trans-Tasman merchandise trade topped $14.4 billion while services trade was $4.7 billion.

New Zealand is Australia’s fifth largest export market. There are a whole lot of details within the report, but I will not pursue those for the same reason given by the member for Cook. However, we need to understand how important this trading relationship is to us. Frankly, it is underestimated by many people and taken for granted, and I think we need to acknowledge it a lot more. One of the issues which arose—now is probably not a bad time to talk about it—during our inquiry was what we thought was the real need for Australian parliamentarians to work a lot closer with New Zealand parliamentarians. One of the thoughts we had while writing this report was the need for Australian parliamentary committees to have a closer working relationship with their New Zealand counterparts and, to facilitate that, to treat New Zealand as a domestic airfare for the purpose of parliamentary travel so that official business could be done on the basis of committees flying to New Zealand as though they were flying to Perth. There is no reason why that should not happen, given the objective of a closer economic relationship. That is a recommendation within the body of the report.

The report itself looks at many aspects of the trading partnership, and I will not go into that any further. I do just want to say again that the report is the result of some quite dedicated work done by the committee. Rob Little, who drafted the report for us, did an excellent job. I would like to voice my appreciation to all those who provided submissions and also to the New Zealand government ministers, officials and industry leaders who made the time available to share their knowledge with the delegation during its trip to Auckland and Wellington in July this year. I also acknowledge the support given to us by the Australian High Commission in New Zealand and the hospitality of John Douth, the high commissioner, whom many of us knew previously as Head of Mission to the UN. But has worked in this place, in the first instance, as chief of staff of Gareth Evans, as I recall, before obviously continuing his long and very professional career in the foreign service. I would like to thank him and the high commission staff in New Zealand for their support as well.

Bob McMullan (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House take note of the report.

The debate is adjourned. The resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next day of sitting.