Dave Sharma (Wentworth, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. Will the minister please update the House on the Morrison government's progress in backing Australian jobs and supporting industry through our negotiations for free trade agreements with the United Kingdom and the European Union?

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Wentworth for his very important question. He brings to this place a deep knowledge of foreign affairs and trade policy and he's already making a significant contribution in that area to this parliament. Since we've come to office, we've finalised eight free trade agreements. The share of trade covered by FTAs has grown by 26 per cent to 70 per cent, and we're working to grow that even further. Why are we working to grow that even further? Because trade creates jobs. One in four jobs in regional and rural Australia is created by trade, and that number is one in five right across this nation. That is why we are continuing to pursue free trade agreements. What's on our agenda at the moment? We're pursuing an EU free trade agreement. We've had the 10th round of those negotiations. We made more progress in the 10th round of those negotiations than we made in the previous negotiations. The 11th round will be held in early June. More recently, I met with Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU trade representative, and we had a very, very good discussion about how we could seek to shape and finalise this agreement after the 12th round of these negotiations. I look forward to continuing those discussions with him.

We're also pursuing a free trade agreement with the United Kingdom. Just so we understand: the European Union, 450 million people, a GDP of US$14.9 trillion; the UK, 65 million people, a GDP of US$2.8 trillion, so they're both incredibly important FTAs. With the UK FTA, we are now in a sprint to try to finalise that free trade agreement. Both countries want to make sure that we have an ambitious and comprehensive agreement, and that's what we're working towards. I had another negotiation with Liz Truss, the UK trade minister, last night. We'll meet again on Friday. The Prime Minister has spoken to his counterpart, Boris Johnson, about the Australia-UK free trade agreement. Why? Because it would be a win-win for both nations. It would help and support the agriculture sector here in Australia and in the UK. It would help and support the services sector here and in the United Kingdom. It would improve and facilitate further investment between both countries, and all that will lead to more and more jobs. That's what this government is about, using our trade policy to create jobs because we know that benefits all Australians.