Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

South Australia's exports to China in 2019-20 were worth $3 billion. South Australian wine exports make up over a third of that sum, with local wine exports in China growing from $330 million in 2014 to $1.2 billion in 2019. My electorate is home to several of South Australia's wine regions—Adelaide Hills, McLaren Vale, Currency Creek, Southern Fleurieu, Langhorne Creek and Kangaroo Island. We produce award-winning wines in Mayo—I would say that we produce the best. We have extraordinary cellar doors showcasing our South Australia produce and the industry are major employers in the region. Unsurprisingly, the risk of Chinese tariffs is of significant concern to my constituents, especially in light of the situation facing winemakers where Chinese tariffs on US wine have gone from 14 per cent up to 106 per cent today.

Sadly, the trade risks extend to our other primary producers in Mayo, including seafood and wheat, and right across the horticultural industry. That said, one cherry grower that I spoke to today is optimistic about the future and is eager to take advantage of new and emerging markets, but stressed that, without further government assistance, South Australian producers are likely to miss out. For example, there is currently a weekly International Freight Assistance Mechanism Flight, generally known as IFAM flights, from Australia to Korea. Should trade disruptions continue, exporters say that the demand for Australian fruit is high enough to warrant at least three flights a week. Meanwhile Vietnam and potentially Thailand are emerging as lucrative markets for stone fruit, but at present there are no IFAM flights available for exporters.

I'm calling on both the South Australian government and the federal government to consider what steps they can take to support our primary producers and our winemakers to diversity their exports and to be able to offset the economic consequences of potential export bans with China. We can't just sit and wait and hope that things will be okay. I know that many of the growers in my electorate have put their hands in their own pockets and spent considerable sums of money going over to Vietnam, Korea and Thailand, building new relationships, and I think it really is time for the state government in South Australia and the federal government to be supporting our growers to diversify the markets that we export to. We want our growers to be able to export our produce. It helps Australia's bottom line. But we really do need a helping hand at this time.