Margaret May (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Trade. Would the minister advise the House how global trade is assisting businesses in the Australian services sector? Are there any alternative policies? What is the government’s response?

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

I thank the honourable member for McPherson for her question. I am pleased to report to the House that the latest figures on Australia’s services exports show a record $41.9 billion worth of service sector exports, up a significant six per cent on the previous year. That is a pretty solid answer to the Leader of the Opposition, who tries to pass off Australia’s export performance as just being China’s mine and Japan’s beach. The reality is that the services sector, which makes up about 80 per cent of our economy and 85 per cent of our employment, is also 20 per cent of our exports.

Many people may not think that an electorate like that of the honourable member for McPherson is a major contributor towards Australia’s exports. But it is an important tourist destination and therefore a vital part of our services sector exports. Indeed, two services categories are in our top four national exports, including personal travel, which comes in at No. 3, and education services, which comes in at No. 4. Those services exports are making a very significant contribution to Australia’s export performance.

It is also interesting to note that our most important market for export services is the United States. There were many critics opposite of the US-Australia free trade agreement, but it is one of the sectors that has benefited significantly from that agreement. I notice that one of the major critics of the free trade agreement a couple of years ago was none other than the Labor left-wing union leader Dougie Cameron. He had plenty to say about the free trade agreement. He said, on 2 August, that the free trade agreement with the United States was going to cost the Australian economy $56 billion. I have not noticed any of that cost being built up so far.

It was also going to cost 50,000 to 60,000 jobs. Mr Cameron obviously has not caught up with the Leader of the Opposition’s new political correctness. It would now be 50,000 to 60,000 units of production that would be lost. This great economic luminary and free trader, who is trying to write Labor’s free trade policy for the upcoming Labor convention, is also likely to be rewarded with a post in the Senate, we are now told. If this is the kind of approach that Labor is going to take towards a trade policy then indeed our potential as a major exporter of services to the world will be dashed. The reality is that services are an important part of Australia’s export performance, and they are helping to boost our exports right around the world and particularly into the United States.