Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to rise and inform the House that, as we stand here in our nation's capital, in the parliament, in the Great Hall at this very moment is a formal welcoming reception for none other than the Premier of the State Council of China, Premier Li Keqiang. We welcome him to our country and welcome the benefits that he brings as a result of the free trade agreement.

If I can just indulge and lighten the room, I was not able to stay for all of his speech but in his opening remarks he spoke, in light of last night's atrocities in London, about our willingness to stand together and uniformly fight the fight against terror. But he also spoke about his admiration of and his longing for good Australian steak. Being in the Great Hall, he was looking forward to enjoying a nice juicy rib, or a rump or something, and we gave him chicken. It was quality chicken that nonetheless probably came from my electorate. Most of the stuff on the plate probably came from my electorate—the chicken could have. The vegetables could have come from my electorate.

It is what we want to do in the electorate of Wright: we want to feed the world. It is only the free trade agreements that we have negotiated that will provide opportunities for us, in particular our cattle market. The Brazilian market collapsed last night, and as a result there are enormous opportunities for my local growers.