Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence Industry, representing the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. Will the minister update the House on why the government believes in an ambitious trade agenda that creates jobs and new opportunities for Australian businesses? What are the risks from alternative approaches?

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today is a good day for trade. It's a good day for trade because the coalition, the Liberal and National parties, have delivered on our vision of making sure that we are driving economic growth in this country and driving jobs in this country.

We believe, as Liberals and Nationals together, in the benefits to all Australians of free trade. We believe in creating more economic opportunity for small businesses and we believe in backing-in those small businesses. We, as Liberals and Nationals, fundamentally understand that trade is good news for Australian workers and good news for Australian exporters. That is the reason why, as a government, we have been so deeply committed to opening up trade agreements. In fact, since 2013, the Liberal and National parties have opened and concluded eight free trade agreements, including the North Asian FTAs with China, Japan and Korea; the comprehensive update that took place with Singapore; PACER Plus; the Peru-Australia Free Trade Agreement; the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which we delivered; and, of course, the TPP-11.

But I've got to throw a flower towards Labor—one flower—and that is for the fact that Labor did support the enabling legislation in the Senate. But I have to say that when it comes to trade we really don't know what Labor believes at all. Fundamentally, the Australian Labor Party on trade is a complete house of cards. Should Bill Shorten ever become the Prime Minister—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No! The—

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sorry, Mr Speaker. Should the Leader of the Opposition ever become the leader of this country, we know the collapse of that house of cards will see a collapse in trade policy in this country. We don't know what Labor believes on trade. We know, and Australians know, that we believe in creating economic opportunity. We know, and Australians know, that we believe in creating jobs for Australians through trade. In fact, more than a million have been created in this country on our watch.

But Labor's policy still remains so unclear. That confusion manifests in lots of different ways. We see it because the Left have become so rambunctious—because they're unhappy with where the leader is going. And we also see it in others who know the fundamental importance of trade and who are displeased that the Australian Labor Party has no consistency and no clear compass for where they're going on trade.

The simple fact is that Labor's policy on trade is clear: in six years they were unable to start and conclude a single trade deal. So compare and contrast that with a government that knows what it believes, that puts in place export opportunities, that drives economic growth and that creates jobs. Compare it to an Australian Labor Party, that is completely lost when it comes to trade in this country.