Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question as to the Minister representing the Minister for Trade and Tourism. What were the key outcomes from the minister's recent visit to India and how will this benefit Australian exporters seeking to diversify their trade?

Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

ING (—) (): I thank the member for Reid for her question and recognise that in her electorate there is a vibrant and growing Indian Australian community. When I travelled to India with the Prime Minister and the minister for trade recently, our message was clear. A stronger India-Australia partnership is good for the stability of our region. It also means more opportunities and more trade and investment and mutually strengthening our economies and directly benefiting our communities.

India is a key trade diversification market for Australian exporters, and India sees Australia as key to their trade diversification aspirations. Today, Australia and India have around $46 billion of two-way trade each year and we have a shared ambition to boost our trading relationship to around $100 billion each year. The Albanese Labor government is working hard to make this happen. Labor's trade minister, Senator Farrell, ensured the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement was ratified by this parliament in November last year. The urgency of this Labor government to put AI-ECTA in place means that tariffs on around 85 per cent of Australia's exports to India have been cut to zero. In the month of January this year, Australian businesses benefited from tariff cuts on over $2.5 billion worth of exports to India.

But we can and we must go further. A key outcome from our recent visit to India was to make further progress on our next free trade agreement with India—a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement. Both Prime Minister Albanese and Prime Minister Modi agreed to make swift progress in negotiations for an early conclusion of this ambitious trade agreement, and both our trade ministers did the same thing.

Another outcome was an excellent meeting with the honourable Minister of Commerce and Industry, Mr Piyush Goyal, alongside the trade and tourism minister. I thank Minister Goyal for his wholehearted engagement. Minister Goyal joined the Taste of Australia event and introduced me and the trade minister to the world famous dabbawalas that deliver tiffins right across Mumbai, while we had the important opportunity to introduce and promote Geraldton crayfish to the massive market that India represents. It's a very important market, and I acknowledge how important this is to the member for Durack and the fisherpeople in her electorate. This is a very important outcome indeed.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Barker and the member for Forrest will cease interjecting.

Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

By working together, the two nations will grow employment opportunities, raise living standards and improve the general welfare in both countries while we deepen economic ties. Deeper economic ties with India mean more opportunities for Australian business to diversify their trade. More trade means more and higher-paying jobs for Australian workers. The Albanese Labor government will continue to work with India to progress our trade relations well into the future for the benefit of both of our nations.