Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I recently had the pleasure of meeting with the Cattle Council of Australia's president, Andrew Ogilvie, in Mt Gambier. I was very pleased to be joined at that meeting by my friend and colleague Senator David Fawcett, who was visiting the lower south-east of South Australia on that day.

Predictably, Australia's freshly minted free trade agreement with Korea was among the topics of discussion on that occasion. Mr Ogilvie is an active partner and owner of an extensive family-owned beef cattle enterprise situated in the south-east of South Australia and the western districts of Victoria. Thanks to the agreement, Australian farmers will see prohibitive tariffs of up to 550 per cent eliminated across a vast array of agricultural products. Korea is Australia's third-largest market for beef, importing $703 million in 2012-13. So that improved competitiveness in the Korean market is a huge boost for Australian beef.

The agreement is good news for not just the Australian beef and sheep meat industries but also Australia's dairy, wheat, wine, horticulture and seafood sectors, which will all also benefit. All of these industries have a significant presence in Barker and are similarly boosted whenever improved access to key export markets is carved out, as has been achieved by the coalition government via the KAFTA.

I thank Mr Ogilvie for his time and insight and look forward to having an ongoing and productive relationship with the Cattle Council of Australia.