Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party, Shadow Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I get up with great pleasure to speak on these five bills, the Customs Amendment (India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement Implementation) Bill 2022 and related bills. These bills, together, implement Australia's tariff obligations under the Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement and the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement.

Before I start, I want to acknowledge that these bills here before the parliament today represent the great work that we, as the previous government, did while in government. Just a little bit of a history lesson here: over the course of the time we were in government from 2013 to 2022, we implemented a number of free trade agreements. Goods and services covered by free trade agreements when we came into government covered around 20 to 25 per cent of goods and services that we exported. With the implementation of both these agreements, it will get to 80 per cent. That is a wonderful statistic of the previous government in getting extra markets and extra customers for people in Australia who export both goods and services. He is not here—I wish he was, but he will be here soon—but I want to acknowledge the previous trade minister in the previous government, Dan Tehan, the member for Wannon, who did a wonderful job in negotiating both deals. I also acknowledge the trade minister before him, Senator Simon Birmingham, who kicked off negotiations with the India agreement. Both of them, especially Dan, did a great job. We will come to it in more detail, but the deal with the UK is probably the most comprehensive, most liberalised free trade agreement we've ever done, bar maybe the one with New Zealand. So great efforts by those ministers and great efforts by the previous government. Because of that, there are a lot of extra customers for our exporters in Australia.

On entry into force, just to go back to the UK deal: tariffs on over 99 per cent of Australian goods exports to the UK will be eliminated. That's valued at around $9.2 billion, to get your head around some of those figures. I will go through some examples here: $43 million in annual customs duty will be removed from Australian wine when the UK agreement enters into force; for beef, a tariff free quota of 35,000 tonnes at entry into force will expand to 110,000 tonnes in year 10 and tariffs on beefs will be eliminated after 10 years—so a completely liberalised market after 10 years for our beef producers; for sheepmeat, a tariff free quota of 25,000 tonnes at entry into force will expand to 75,000 tonnes in year 10 and will be completely liberalised after 10 years; and for sugar, a tariff free quota of 80,000 tonnes at entry into force will expand to 220,000 tonnes in year 8 and will then be completely eliminated after that. You get the feel here that, while there's a graduation process for all these markets, it's a completely liberalised market after that period, which is wonderful for all those producers. Young people will also have more time to travel in the UK for working holidays, with the eligibility to participate in working holiday opportunities raised from 30 to 35 years of age, with stays allowed for up to three years in each country. There are a lot of other examples there. It is a great deal. As I said earlier, bar New Zealand, this is the most liberalised trade deal we've ever done—so a great job done by the previous trade minister.

In 2020 India was Australia's seventh-largest trading partner, a two-way trade valued at $24.3 billion, and the sixth-largest goods and services exports market, valued at $17 billion. Tariffs will be eliminated on more than 85 per cent of Australian goods and exports to India valued at over $12 billion a year, rising to 91 per cent valued at $13.4 billion over 10 years. Again, I will give some examples. Sheepmeat tariffs are 30 per cent at the moment; they'll be eliminated on entry into force of the agreement. So, basically, straightaway there is a completely liberalised market for sheepmeat into India. You can imagine the size of that market, with the size of that country and the number of people in that country who have a great love for that product. So that's very exciting for our sheepmeat producers. Wool will have tariffs eliminated on entry into force as well. Australian wool producers will suddenly have a completely liberalised market into the whole of India once this comes into force. So that is very exciting. Tariffs on wine will be reduced. Tariffs of 30 per cent on avocados and tariffs on other agricultural products, including almonds, will be eliminated over seven years. On entry into force, the resources sector will benefit from the elimination of tariffs on coal; alumina; metallic ores including manganese, copper and nickel; and critical minerals including titanium and zirconium. There will also be tariff reductions on pharmaceutical medical products. Very importantly, there will be new access for young Indians to participate in working holidays in Australia, with a thousand places per year in Australia's Working Holiday Maker program.

We have been very encouraging of the new government to get passage of these bills. One of these deals was done late last year; the other one was done earlier this year. With both of these deals there needs to be an exchange of letters between the governments, and there are domestic processes we need to undertake. We really need that to happen by the end of November, because 30 days post that the deals come into force. So we were a little bit disappointed that the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, who have evaluated these deals, were set to sit quite late. They sat last week and have since reported back, which is why we're dealing with the legislation now. We're still hopeful that both of these deals will come into force before 31 December, which means we'd get these tariff reductions to first hit on that day, and then, on 1 January, we'd get the second hit. We had been working with the government to encourage them to do this a little bit earlier. We're optimistic about the deal with India, but obviously the UK deal may not come into force, which would be disappointing.

I do note that the previous trade minister is now here. I will just repeat what I said earlier about what a great job he did on both of these deals. I thank the previous trade minister, the member for Wannon, Dan Tehan. As I said, the UK deal is probably the most liberalised deal, behind that with New Zealand, that we have ever done. There will be great new markets for our exporters of goods and services. The Indian deal holds a lot of promise; there are a lot of good things in that as well. So I thank the previous minister and I repeat the stat that he would know, because it's a stat that he told me: when we came into government 20-odd per cent of goods and services were covered by free trade agreements; by the time we left government, that figure was nearly 80 per cent. So I thank him for his work when he was the trade minister.

In conclusion, I'm very proud of the work the coalition did in the whole nine years it was in government, for the great deals and the extra customers we have for our trade exporters in the goods and services area. I am a little bit frustrated with the new government in relation to the processes. I know there's a lot on their agenda, but I'm a little frustrated with the treaties committee process that we had to go through to get these agreements adjusted, but I hope they still come into force.

I know the member for Kennedy is shortly going to move some amendments. I want to touch on that for a moment. One of the reasons we were happy with the backpacker deal with the UK, when they came here not having to undertake the regional work program, was that we were working on the ag visa to supplement that. The ag visa involved working with countries in South-East Asia and making specific arrangements with them to increase our workforce, to help the agricultural sector. I'm sure all the crossbenchers speaking to this amendment today are exceptionally frustrated about the fact that the new government has abandoned the ag visa. While the deal we'd done with Vietnam will be honoured, we had plans to extend that through the whole of the South-East Asian network, and the new Labor government have abandoned that, which is exceptionally disappointing.

In relation to the crossbench amendment, I make the point that the ag sector needs a skilled workforce. There are unskilled roles in the sector, but a lot of the workforce they need is actually a skilled workforce. There's a side letter as part of this deal—and the previous minister may talk more to this—about getting skilled workers into the agricultural sector, which was a very important part of it.

There is also an element of this that we want to speed up, the visa processing ability for people who are skilled to come between the UK and Australia to also work in this sector. So I acknowledge the intention of what the member for Kennedy is saying in his amendment, but it was very specific for us that when this free trade agreement with the UK was done the ag visa was going to overcompensate for that. So again, it's very disappointing that the new government has abandoned the ag visa that we had implemented and started to implement in south-east Asia. Also, don't forget that the ag sector needs a lot of skilled workforce, which that the backpacker provision didn't adhere to.

Just to wind up, this is a really good day for parliament with these bills being here. It's a really good acknowledgement of the record of the previous comment and an acknowledgement of the previous trade ministers that we've had over nine years that got goods and services exported from this country up from 20-odd per cent covered by a free trade agreement to 80 per cent, of which these two deals were significant. That's more customers—billions more customers for our exporters. They're great deals from the great record that the previous government had in free trade agreements.

Josh Wilson (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm very happy to speak in support of the bills, which implement Australia's commitments under the Australian-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement and under the Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement. The free trade agreements with India and the United Kingdom are in their own ways of very substantial value to Australia. They are built upon the depth and quality of the relationship between Australia and India and between Australia and the United Kingdom. Those relationships include considerable person-to-person links. They include complementary trade and investment interests, an important shared history of international engagement and cooperation, and a shared commitment to dealing with a range of strategic economic and environmental challenges, none of which can be handled without concerted and collaborative efforts.

The suite of legislation we debate here today forms a key requirement for the timely ratification of these agreements, which the Albanese Labor government is absolutely focused on delivering. It is a further instalment of Australia's consistent performance as an active and reliable trading partner. I will pick up a couple of things that the member for Page said. In the last couple of months there has been a slightly odd effort by those opposite, some of whom know the process around these things well enough to realise that the effort they have been engaged is faintly ridiculous. The effort has been to somehow suggest that the current government isn't moving quickly enough to see the ratification of these agreements. Of course that's just rubbish. We have in this country and in this parliament a committee process that helps give us the highest quality agreement-making that the Australia community can expect. It does involve the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties. That committee, which I chair, expedited the consideration of these agreements and has ensured that the reports have been tailored in order for the legislation to come before the parliament and for the agreements to be ratified. So the idea that this has somehow been anything less then focused, timely action by the Albanese Labor government is just a made-up fairy tale perpetrated, prosecuted by those opposite.

Both of these agreements are especially timely at a point where Australia needs to enable trade diversification as much as trade growth. The effective ratification of the agreements before the end of the year will mean that Australian exporting businesses will get two closely successive tariff cuts. The first will apply on entry into force, and the second will occur on 1 January next year. That double tariff cut, needless to say, should be a welcome end-of-year prospect for Australian export businesses. They have faced choppy waters in the wake of the pandemic and, unfortunately, in the aftermath of China's geo-economic coercion.

For a range of sectors around this nation the double tariff-cut will provide either an immediate boost or the prospect, in the short order, of opening up new opportunities as we head into 2023 and beyond. In addition to the benefit of tariff reductions and increased tariff-free quotas in some areas, the India and UK agreements serve to diversify and deepen Australia's set of trading relationships. There's no doubt that within our Indo-Pacific region India represents an absolutely critical international partnership for Australia for lots of reasons, with a huge potential to be realised between our two nations in the decade to come.

It's worth noting that for India this agreement is the country's first free trade agreement with a major developed country in over 10 years. That goes to show how significant it is for India and how precious this kind of agreement is. It shows you the extent to which it is a long sought after and hard-won achievement. The negotiations on which it is based began back in 2011, more than a decade ago.

It has been the commendable work of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and ministers on both sides over many years which has led us here today. Putting the silly partisan games aside, I would like to acknowledge the work by the member for Wannon, the former Minister for Trade, who signed this agreement. He signed it in April this year and, indeed, he signed the UK agreement. He signed that agreement virtually in 2021 in the circumstances of the pandemic. I am sure that the member for Page, if he had his time again, and other people, would stand up and note that the negotiations began under the former Labor government back in 2011. They're being delivered, of course, by this Labor government—

Opposition Member:

An opposition member interjecting

Josh Wilson (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I don't remember that being mentioned, but I'm sure from this point on that will be mentioned.

This agreement eliminates tariffs on over 90 per cent of Australian goods exports by value to India. It provides new opportunities for Australian services, companies and professionals who seek to access the Indian market. It has already shown the way towards a more ambitious agreement between Australia and India in the form of the comprehensive economic cooperation agreement, which we hope will continue to advance towards completion.

This agreement is very, very significant. It is the first that India has settled with a developed nation inside of 10 years. It is something we have worked on for more than 11 years. It is very, very significant. But it is, nevertheless, what's regarded as an early harvest agreement, a stepping stone towards that full agreement, which we look forward to and certainly Australian businesses look forward to.

There is no question that India is embarking on a new approach, an approach that does involve greater trade ambition. It has set its sights on free trade agreements with the UK, the EU and Canada, among others. Crucially though this agreement ensures that Australia will not be excluded or left behind from any improved trade and market access that might follow from new agreements that India negotiates themselves in the future. This agreement will open up more opportunities for trade, services and people to people connections for us here.

The Labor government has been clear in its first six months of operation—six months today—that building our relationship with India is a top priority. Next year the Prime Minister will visit India twice to build closer economic ties and take part in the G20, which will be hosted by India. Our positive security partnership will also develop when Prime Minister Modi visits Australia for the Quad partnership meeting in 2023. Steps like the AI-ECTA—which is the slightly awkward acronym we're giving to this agreement—will contribute to bridging gaps between our two nations as trading partners but also more broadly as communities within the Indo-Pacific.

As a Western Australian, I'm really glad to represent the state that feels a natural connection to the Indian Ocean rim. It's important that we recognise the significance and enormous potential of our cultural, diplomatic, defence and trade relationships with not just India but also Indonesia. On the current trajectory, it's likely that by 2045 India and Indonesia will be the third and fourth ranked global economies respectively. While we, understandably, talk a lot about the economic significance of China as our largest trading partner, I think we sometimes forget the significance, or we undervalue and under-emphasise the significance, of both India and Indonesia. The reality is we've only just begun to explore the trade and investment opportunities between Australia and both of these critical Indo-Pacific partners.

Just to take an example, the export of wine. We had a wine export to China that was in the hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars, which, unfortunately, has been affected by the approach that China has chosen to take—a self-limiting and self-harming approach from the point of view of their consumers but obviously harmful from the point of view of Australian wine exporters. At the moment, total wine exports to India total only $20 million, as compared to more than $500 million to China. That's why ensuring that we do even better than the agreement negotiated by the previous government with respect to wine is so important, because, frankly, wine exporters in this country will tell you that it hasn't really opened the door for them in the way that they would like, and that's a market of enormous potential.

I'm happy to say that India has been a shaping influence in my life. I lived in Maharashtra with my family for a year when I was eight. It was the first place I travelled under my own steam when I was 20. An aspect of Indian history was a focus of my masters work at the University of Melbourne. I was fortunate to be an Asialink scholar in New Delhi in 1999 and to visit again 20 years later, in 2019, as the deputy chair of the energy and environment committee. Indian migration is one of the strongest threads of new multicultural vibrancy in my electorate; there's no doubt about that. I'm glad that, in the Western Australian parliament, the McGowan government includes four members with Indian heritage, including Kevin Michel, Dr Jags Krishnan and Yaz Mubarakai, a very good friend of mine whose seat falls partly within the federal division of Fremantle.

I want to turn briefly to the Australia-UK FTA and its enabling legislation. This agreement is Australia's most ambitious free trade agreement with any country other than New Zealand. It reflects the longstanding importance, quality and depth of the political, cultural and economic relationship between Australia and the UK, while setting a framework for future trade and cooperation. It comes at a significant time, obviously, considering what's happened between the UK and the EU. As the UK made the decision to Brexit—if that's the appropriate verb—it's given us the opportunity to settle this deal. Obviously, we have the trade agreement under negotiation between ourselves and the EU, which will also be very significant.

The bills before the House that we're debating here implement customs and tariff commitments made in both the trade agreements and also, critically, the administrative rules; penalties in respect of the export and import of goods; and the agreed tariff rates. When this legislation passes—as I hope it will, first here and then in the other place—and the agreement enters into force, it will mean, as the member for Page observed, that 99 per cent of Australian goods by value will be able to enter the UK duty free. Farmers and agricultural exporters to the UK will benefit in some areas—not in all areas but in some areas—from a progressive reduction in tariffs and barriers, making our exports more competitive. The liberalisation of access in a range of areas will be much stronger and more attractive for Australian exporters.

Beyond the welcome reduction of trade and investment barriers, there are a number of other outcomes which I will indicate. This agreement has a world-first chapter dedicated to promoting innovation and an Australian-first chapter that looks to enhance women's access to the full benefits of trade and investment. These are features of what we call WTO-plus agreements. They go well past what was traditionally included in trade and investment agreements. They include commitments on tackling modern slavery and also on labour standards, which are important.

Above all, an element of this agreement which I think shines through and is distinctive is that there are provisions in the agreement to advance Indigenous interests and open new opportunities for First Nations exporters, and that was certainly a focus of the conversation in the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties. It's notable that the highest proportion of eligible resales of art, particularly First Nations art, in the UK has lacked the protection or the benefit of the kind of resale royalty arrangements that the previous Labor government put in place domestically here, and this agreement puts us on the path to ensuring that those reciprocal arrangements will be in place so that Australian artists benefit when their work is resold. Other provisions include commitments from the UK to recognise the importance of genetic resources, traditional knowledge and cultural expression. These provisions are important for the agreement, but there's more work to be done. I welcome, and I'm sure everyone here will welcome, the fact that the foreign minister has set out the Labor government's intention for there to be a specific First Nations foreign policy, with the recruitment of an ambassador for First Nations people who will lead efforts to embed Indigenous perspectives, experiences and interests right across the full range of our external affairs engagements.

In closing, these two agreements have been years in the making through patient determination by Australia and through strong collaboration between Australia and our partners, both India and the UK. They are the result of successful negotiations which have taken place over many years by hardworking officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and by ministers past and present; I acknowledge the member for Wannon here in the chamber. Their progress in negotiation through government, parliament and the treaties committee and now the enabling legislation in this place has enabled multipartisan consideration, which is proper, and, hopefully following this debate, support in this House and support in the other place.

As I noted earlier, the federal election in May caused a pause in the consideration of the agreements, one of which was only signed in April, but it's been appropriate that the government actually sought for the agreements to be dealt with properly and expeditiously through the JSCOT and through the treaty agreement. There have been some people suggesting that's not been the case. That's absolutely what's happened, and it means that Australia delivers on its commitments, and it signals to our partners that this government is serious and committed to seeking far-reaching, ambitious trade agreements.

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Fremantle for his contribution to this debate. It's incredibly important that we as a parliament are debating these bills today, the Customs Amendment (India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement Implementation) Bill 2022 and associated bills, because free trade is under threat right across the globe and we have to be doing everything we can as a parliament to ensure that we continue to defend free trade principles. One of the unique things about these two agreements, the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement and the Australia-UK FTA, is that they were both negotiated and concluded in an environment where protectionist pressures because of the pandemic were alive and building, and, also, where the global push was to be looking at more protectionist pressures rather than moving on further liberalisation.

I want to start by thanking the ministers that negotiated these agreements. With the Indian agreement, my very good friend Piyush Goyal was absolutely determined to negotiate the first major free trade agreement that India had done with a developed country in over a decade, and he was prepared to put in the time and the effort to see that through. At a time when India was dealing with the pandemic and with enormous other challenges, he wanted to strengthen the relationship with Australia. For the time and effort he put in to make sure we reached agreement, all of Australia should thank him. We owe him a great deal of gratitude. He had to negotiate and navigate the Indian bureaucracy to get us to the point where we could sign the agreement. And he had great support from Prime Minister Modi, who is a huge fan of Australia. It was that combination of Prime Minister Modi and trade minister Piyush Goyal that got us, from the Indian side, where we are today. We need to thank them but we also have to understand and make sure that we continue to grow that important relationship, which, strategically, is going to be crucial to us going forward. There are many more things that we're going to be able to do with India over the coming decades to enhance and strengthen the relationship. I'll go into some of the details of what we achieved with India through that agreement in a moment.

I also need to thank Liz Truss and Anne-Marie Trevelyan on the UK side. Having come out of the EU, they were absolutely determined, with the support of Prime Minister Johnson, to make sure that they negotiated free trade agreements which set a benchmark for the United Kingdom—and they absolutely did that. Liz Truss, in particular, had a passion and an understanding of the importance of free trade and it was her stewardship, on the UK side, which got us to the point where we can say in this parliament today that that agreement is the best free trade agreement that Australia has done outside of the one that we've done with New Zealand. It fits perfectly with the closeness of the relationship that we have with the United Kingdom. Once again, it was done at a time when strategic headwinds were blowing in very different ways compared to a decade ago. Yet they ensured that we got a free trade agreement that will benefit both economies and both peoples in the years to come.

When it comes to the India free trade agreement, one of the things which is incredibly important is how it enabled us to diversify our exports where we were particularly vulnerable to those who might seek to use coercion against us to force us to change our policy approach. It enabled us to strengthen our exports when it came to areas like coal; to seafood, in particular lobster; and to wine where we had seen economic coercion used against Australia. I know that there has been some criticism about what we were able to achieve on wine when it comes to India. But the most important thing is, it has given us a foothold into the Indian market that no other country has. We get preferential access into the Indian market that no other wine producing country has, so it enables us to build Australian wine into the Indian market. Hopefully, over time, we'll be able to do that and then we will be able to argue the case for getting greater preferential treatment. It enables us to get those critical minerals and rare earths into the Indian market and that will enable us to diversify supply chains in those key areas. As we all know, at the moment those supply chains are dominated by China and it is very, very important for the globe that we are able to diversify those key supply chains in critical minerals and rare earths into the future. This agreement with India will enable us to do it and that should never be underestimated.

When it comes to LNG, we've got a bound tariff of zero per cent. Tariffs on pharmaceutical products and certain medical devices will be eliminated over five and seven years. On sheepmeat the tariff goes on entry into force. When it comes to avocados, onions, broad and kidney beans, cherries, shelled pistachios, macadamias, cashews in shell, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries all tariffs will be eliminated over a period of seven years. We have to understand that this is giving us preferential access to a market of 1.4 billion people. It is the largest country in the world, by head of population, and it is the fastest growing large economy in the world.

The opportunities and potential of this agreement are enormous. It sits in the background of what we've been able to achieve with India through the Quad, and it now backs that up with a strengthening of the economic relationship. I can't wait for the day that this agreement goes through the parliament and enters into force because it will tick the box on something that Australia has been trying to achieve with India for over a decade. As I discussed on the phone recently, with my good friend, Piyush Goyal, we look forward to, when this agreement goes through the parliament and the deal comes into force, having a quiet celebratory virtual drink so that we can acknowledge the hard work that has been done by both sides to get this agreement to where it is.

I want to conclude on the Australia-India FTA by thanking the hardworking officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and right across the Australian bureaucracy who put countless hours of work—days and months—into this agreement, but Frances Lisson in particular: the way she led the team at DFAT through the last six months of this negotiation, where we were working long into the night, night after night after night, to ensure that we got this agreement, being prepared to travel to India through the pandemic, making sure that we left no stone unturned in ensuring that we got an agreement that was very much in Australia's national interest. To Frances and her team, I thank you very, very much.

When it comes to the UK FTA, this is something that, once again, personally, I was very keen to achieve, because this agreement rights a wrong that occurred in 1973. I remember clearly, as a young boy growing up on a farm in Australia—it's one of my earliest memories—the time when the UK turned their back on Australian agriculture. They headed to the European Union and left Australian agriculture high and dry. The UK had been our major market and was where we'd sent most of our agricultural produce. When the UK headed to the EU they left Australia high and dry. So, to be able to get an agreement now that rights that wrong is incredibly important for Australian agriculture. What were we able to achieve? Tariffs on Australian wine are reduced. They are removed when the agreement enters into force. That is a $43 million benefit to the Australian wine industry. For beef, we have a tariff-free quota of 35,000 tonnes on the agreement's entry into force and, over time, that goes to free trade. For sheepmeat, there is a tariff-free quota of 25,000 tonnes, which over time goes to free trade. For sugar there is a tariff-free quota of 80,000 tonnes, which then goes to free trade. Dairy tariffs are eliminated over five years.

Right across the agriculture sector we see benefits: short- and medium-grain rice, olive oil, honey, nuts, wheat, barley and other cereals, fruit and vegetables. All are beneficiaries. Also, the UK benefits from access to the Australian market, which also means that our consumers benefit when it comes to cars, whiskey and machinery parts. We all benefit, because we get cheaper access to those very high-quality products from the UK, which is important.

This agreement also helps build the bonds between Australia and the UK by ensuring that young people in both countries are able to travel and work in each other's countries. This is incredibly important, because we've got to make sure that young Australians and young Brits know and understand the importance of the relationship between our two countries. Being able to travel, work and holiday for up to three years, for those under 35—it's been lifted from 30 to 35 and from two to three years—means that young Australians will get to know and understand the importance of these agreements, and that should not be underestimated.

This agreement will also help the UK as it looks to trade more with the Indo-Pacific, and it opens up the enormous opportunity for them of joining CPTPP, obviously the gold-standard agreement of the Indo-Pacific. The UK will, through what it's been able to do with us, be able to ensure that it gets access to the CPTPP, which mean it will be able to trade more freely into the Indo-Pacific.

I conclude by saying these bills are important because they set our economy up with two major global economies: the Indian economy and the UK economy. They also strengthen the bonds between Australia and India and between Australia and the UK, and they build on incredibly important relationships which have been developed at the personal level, between Prime Minister Morrison and Prime Minister Modi and, before that, Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Abbott. I hope that Prime Minister Albanese and Prime Minister Modi will be able to build a similar relationship. Similarly, when it came to the UK-Australia FTA, that close personal relationship between Prime Minister Morrison and Prime Minister Johnson helped us to be able to get this outcome. Once again I hope that Prime Minister Albanese and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will be able to build a similarly close relationship, because in the current geostrategic climate our relationships with India and the UK are incredibly important.

I'll finish on this note. One of the things that I would love to see our government build on going forward—and when I say 'our government' I mean the Australian government, because I've always seen trade very much through a bipartisan lens—is for us to look at where we go next. One of the things that I would like to see us begin to sow the seeds of is developing a free trade agreement between Australia, India, the US and Japan. A Quad free trade agreement, I think, is the next big picture in our trade policy going forward.

Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, I wish to move amendments. Do I do that at this stage or later?

Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Kennedy will have an opportunity later.

Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's a great pleasure to be able to speak to the Customs Amendment (India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement Implementation) Bill 2022 on behalf of the electorate of Kooyong. India is the world's largest democracy, and it has the world's fastest-growing major economy. In 2020, India was Australia's seventh-largest trading partner, with two-way trade valued at over $24 billion.

Victoria contains more Australians of Indian origin than any other state—almost 277,000 in the 2021 census. Kooyong includes many families in which one or both parents were born in India, and it has a large number of students and single people hoping or planning to make their permanent homes in this country. Many have told me that greater closeness and cooperation between our countries would give them a stronger sense of inclusion and acceptance in our community and, ideally, facilitate their own trade relationships and business dealings with India. They have also, though, described real challenges with paperwork and regulation in trying to establish businesses in India from Australia.

This legislation will strengthen our relationship with India, while making Australian exports to India cheaper and creating new opportunities for workers and for businesses. The legislation will eliminate tariffs on more than 85 per cent of Australian goods exported to India. Conversely, 96 per cent of Indian goods imported to Australia will be rendered duty free by this legislation. The bill will reduce tariffs on products such as Australian wine, sheepmeat, fruit and vegetables. This is clearly an advantage for primary producers.

Before the pandemic, India was Australia's second-largest source of international students, with Indian students contributing about $6 billion to our export market. The Australian Group of Eight member universities have welcomed this trade agreement, given the exciting opportunity to facilitate educational exchange opportunities with Indian students. The legislation includes provision for a $25 million project to deepen space cooperation with India, which is particularly pertinent to my electorate, and $28 million to launch a centre for Australia-India relations.

The research relationship between our two countries is strong. Between 2017 and 2021, there were more than 14,500 Australian-Indian research co-publications. Important areas of research collaboration between India and Australia include medicine, engineering and social science. Swinburne, a university located in my electorate, has multiple student exchanges with India and accepts many Indian students, particularly to its robotics and space programs. Extension of these Australia-India research collaborations should include innovations to expand these research pipelines.

Under this legislation, both countries will facilitate local recognition of professional qualifications and their registration. Having heard my Kooyong constituents describe the paperwork and administrative challenges in trying to register their overseas businesses, and having personally experienced at first hand the challenges in trying to register overseas trained doctors in my previous career, I'm able to testify to the frustration and delays inherent in that process.

The resources sector will benefit from the elimination of tariffs on critical minerals and metallic ores in this trade agreement. We have reserves in Australia of at least 21 of the 49 critical minerals identified by the Indian government as being necessary for its industries: cobalt, zircon, antimony, lithium and rare earth elements as well as tantalum. In the southern Indian states such as Tamil Nadu, which is well known for automotive manufacturing as well as its renewable energy capacity, these critical Australian minerals could pave the way for the transition towards electric vehicle manufacturing and clean energy production respectively.

I have to say, though, that one area of concern is how this legislation will affect our fossil fuel exports. Australia's fossil fuel energy exports in 2021 included $63 billion worth of coal, $10 billion worth of oil and $50 billion worth of gas, with India accounting for $14 billion of our coal exports. This represents 11 per cent of Australia's total fossil energy exports and 22 per cent of Australia's coal exports. Under this new legislation, liquid-gas tariffs will stay at zero per cent upon entry into force. The 25 per cent tariff on coal will also drop to zero. Under this free trade agreement, the prospect of zero tariffs on coal and gas, and no tariffs for five years on oil, will likely increase our exports of coal and gas from Australia to meet increased energy demand in India.

In recent years, we've seen that the effects of climate change in India have included extreme events such as heatwaves and floods. These have caused several Indian states to experience power outages in recent years. Depending on the weather and on the availability of alternative energy sources, demand for imported thermal coal may well rise too. We have a responsibility here. Emissions from coal mined in Australia but exported and burnt overseas were almost double our domestic greenhouse gas footprint in 2020. While that might work for the purposes of dodgy accounting, we all end up breathing the same atmosphere. We need to take responsibility for the climate impact of our exports. The only reference to climate in the 111-page explanatory memorandum of this bill said:

Both countries committed to continue to collaborate on climate change.

There are no references to climate impact in the bill itself. This is grossly inadequate. The details of trade agreements like this one have to be examined with a climate filter—a climate trigger—in the same way that we look at their compatibility with human rights.

The Australian-India energy partnership can play a larger role in a low-carbon world. To meet its growing energy requirements, India has set ambitious clean-energy targets, including meeting 50 per cent of its energy requirements through renewable energy and the rapid expansion of electric mobility to 30 per cent of all its vehicles by 2030. Those targets, we can note, are more ambitious than our own. Australia is in a prime position to assist India to achieve its clean energy goals through the supply of critical minerals. Renewable energy investments, particularly in solar, wind and green hydrogen, are expected to grow and gain traction in India in the coming years. Australia should help meet this demand.

Our relationship with India needs to be built on trust, common interest and mutual benefit. This legislation is a move in the right direction towards a stronger and more cohesive relationship with one of our most important trade partners. But we need to look actively for ways to accelerate India's development of a clean energy infrastructure to meet its growing energy demands in the short term and to prepare in the long term for a transition that does the right thing by both countries and for our climate.

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

I won't detain the House long. There are two matters I wish to speak to with respect to the Customs Amendment (Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement Implementation) Bill 2022. The first is the unfortunate removal of the 88-day farm work clause for backpackers, and the second is the failure to remedy the longstanding unfair treatment of UK pensioners living in Australia.

Australia's unemployment rate remains at historically low levels—3.5 per cent. It is the lowest rate in 48 years and is effectively full-time employment. That's a good thing in many respects, but it has created an increasingly tight labour market with high demand for engaging and retaining workers, particularly in the regions. Consequently it's become increasingly difficult for employers to find and attract staff. Agriculture in the regions is particularly affected. This information is not new; there are many news stories. Just recently I was hearing about a mango farm in the Northern Territory that could not get workers. All this fruit is rotting on the ground.

I and others in this place have talked time and time again about the difficulty farmers experience in trying to get people to come and pick their fruit and vegetables. To me, it's beyond comprehension that, despite the overwhelming awareness of the need for workers in the region, we've removed one provision that assists our farmers right now—that is, those who are backpackers are required to spend some time on farm. I also think it's brilliant because otherwise we have people come and visit Australia and they spend all their time in the cities and they never get out to the regions. In my electorate, this is going to affect my strawberry farmers, my apple farmers and my pear farmers. It's going to certainly affect the cherry farmers as well as aquaculture and oyster farmers, particularly on Kangaroo Island. In South Australia, Mayo is very much the food bowl. We grow some of the best brussels sprouts and the best leeks in Australia, but we need people to pick them. This provision will make it even harder for farmers to get hands to pick the work.

The other issue I would like to talk about is UK pensions. I'm reminded every month by constituents who receive a UK pension but who live in Australia and have lived in Australia for decades—they have worked in the UK and are entitled to a UK pension—that the moment they receive that pension it is stopped; it does not increase at all as the years go on. I meet with people who receive just $20 of a UK pension because there are no increments. This is really unfair. For more than 70 years pensioners who qualify for the UK age pension but live in Australia have had those pension payments frozen at the level the first pension amount was made. British Pensions in Australia Inc have calculated that the result of the UK freezing the pension entitlement to recipients who live in Australia is estimated to be around $500 million in lost foreign currency transfers into the economy every year, and $180 million in extra payments made by Centrelink because of it.

The policy to freeze was introduced in 1964 when a new UK insurance scheme was set up with improved benefits. Pensioners who had already moved overseas would not contribute to the new scheme, so their pensions were frozen. All UK pensioners now in Australia have compulsorily contributed to the new scheme, but the policy remains. However, there are exceptions. If you emigrated to the United States or the EU, Israel, Philippines, Serbia or Turkey, your pension would continue to lift. This is unfair and should have been remedied by the free trade agreement. Those are the two comments I would like to make: it will make it much harder for farmers, and we really missed an opportunity for Australians receiving the UK pension.

Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I really want to thank the parliament for the genuinely thoughtful contributions, including those that I've heard in the chamber this afternoon from the members for Page, Fremantle, Wannon, Kooyong and Mayo.

I'm not known for quoting the member for Page, but this is a really good day and a really important day for the parliament, and it might be the only time I do. We've heard from a real variety of members of parliament this afternoon, and, notwithstanding some issues raised by the member for Mayo and the member for Kooyong, there is support for the agreements that are coming before the parliament, and it's really important that we make a note of that.

A lot of coverage of Australian politics would suggest that we spend all of our time, as members of parliament, at war with one another, but, actually, the quiet work of this parliament is crucially important. The member for Wannon made some generous comments about the genuine bipartisanship that the two major parties have generally around trade matters. That's really important, and I think we've seen that in the way that a lot of the negotiation and work that was done under the previous parliament has flowed seamlessly into this parliament, and, even under a new government we've been able to take very quick action and get closure on these agreements. I'm very lucky in my role as home affairs minister because all of the hard work of free trade is done by other people, but the bills sit in my portfolio, so I get to do the nice bit at the end, which is bringing closure to the debate and talking a little bit about why these agreements matter so much for our country.

There is no question that Australia's future prosperity depends on our economy staying internationally competitive. One of the most important things that the Australian government can do, for our economy and businesses, is provide brilliant opportunities for them to sell into new markets. The agreements that are before the House are agreements between Australia and the United Kingdom, and Australia and India. Both are enormously important partners of our country as we progress into the future decades. It's really important, too, that the parliament notes that the environment for Australia, from a security and an economic point of view, as we look to the decades ahead, is going to be much more challenging than it has been in previous decades. One of the best things that we can do for our country, one of the best things we can do to make our country stronger, is help our trade diversify into new markets and into new products. The agreements that are before the parliament today are going to assist us to do this.

On the UK agreement, there are two customs bills before the House, which implement Australia's obligations under that agreement. This agreement is a gold-standard trade agreement. We already have a very healthy trading relationship with the UK, and this agreement will enhance that strong economic partnership. It will drive increased trade, two-way investment, economic growth and job creation. It will build on the very strong and, of course, very lengthy people-to-people links through measures designed to increase the mobility of skilled workers and young people in both directions. It will contribute to Australia's export diversification and economic recovery from COVID-19. When it enters into force, over 99 per cent of Australian goods exports will enter the UK duty-free, a huge achievement for our country. That includes sheepmeat, beef, dairy, sugar and wine. Australian consumers will also benefit from increasing access to competitively priced goods and exposure to new technologies and innovative practices. It will boost efficiency, reduce cost and cut red tape. It also sets out the framework for cooperation on a much broader range of environmental issues, which is, of course, very important to the Australian people. That includes support for transition to lower carbon and more climate-resilient economies on both sides of the agreement.

India is, of course, a very, very important partner for Australia as we look ahead to the future. The India-Australia Economic Co-operation and Trade Agreement will be a very important driver of deepening that relationship. It will secure Australia's foothold in the world's fastest-growing major economy and, again, represents significant new trade diversification opportunities. It will enable Australian businesses to unlock or expand their operations into a market of nearly one 1½ billion consumers, with a GDP of $4.3 trillion. Under the IA-ECTA, 90 per cent of Australian goods exports by value to India will enter without tariffs, and high tariffs will be slashed on additional products, such as wine. This is a very commercially significant agreement for us, worth up to $14.8 billion in merchandise trade destined for the Indian market each year. The agreement also provides certainties to support Australian services suppliers and professionals who are doing business in India, currently our third-largest export services market.

I want to just make a quick note, while we're discussing India, that, as the member for Kooyong pointed out, this is an enormously important community for us in Australia, especially in my home town of Melbourne and even in my electorate of Hotham. Our vibrant, thriving, growing Indian community is one of the biggest assets that our country has. What I see in my Indian community locally is a group of incredibly passionate Australians who are pushing us to recognise, see and deliver on the huge economic benefits there are to closer collaboration with India, so I am thrilled to be playing a small part in an agreement which will see some of that come to life.

Finally, I want to acknowledge the work of very many people across this parliament and the Australian government who have helped bring the agreements that are before for us to this point. We had the member for Wannon, who was previously the trade minister here in the parliament, and I acknowledge the amount of work and effort that went into preparing these agreements. I want to acknowledge, of course, Senator Don Farrell, in the other place, who is our current trade minister and has done a power of work in the last six months, bringing a number of agreements to closure—and I know there's a lot more work to be done on that front.

I also want to acknowledge the member for Fremantle. He spoke as chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties. We have a really good way of dealing with free trade agreements in this parliament. Of course, everyone in this chamber would acknowledge that free trade brings winners and losers, and costs and benefits, and the treaties committee is a really important way for us to examine these agreements and make sure that they do deliver for the country. The ones before us, without question, are going to be enormously beneficial, and I'm very proud to present these bills to the House.

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

on indulgence—I forgot to mention Elisabeth Bowes. I mentioned Frances Lisson, who was the chief negotiator on India. I would just like to take this opportunity to mention Elisabeth Bowes as well, and her team on the UK FTA, because she also did an outstanding job. Given the bipartisan nature of this debate, I thought I would just take that opportunity.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.