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

I rise to support the Customs Amendment (ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Second Protocol Implementation and Other Measures) Bill 2024. This protocol upgrade is modernising the agreement to better align it with the digitised world that we now live in. Protocol adjustments are done on a timeline. It's very appropriate that we do this with FTAs. Every five years or so, we look at the agreement and look at how we can modernise the agreement to upgrade it to make sure it's taking into account new technologies and new things that might be happening in the trading world.

This agreement is going to mean that ASEAN has the highest quality FTA with its partners. It has eliminated tariffs on 96 per cent of Australian exports to South-East Asian markets. We know that ASEAN as a bloc is going to become, by any measure, the fourth-largest trading bloc in the world over the next number of years. They're our neighbours and a very exciting part of the world.

There are upgrades across several areas to ensure the FTA retains its relevance and adds value to developments across the frameworks, including the RCEP. The RCEP itself was signed by the coalition government on 15 November 2020. Was that you, Member for Wannon, who did that?

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

You did a great job.

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

Yes, I'm sure you did.

The Joint Standing Committee on Treaties completed an inquiry into this agreement in May 2024, and a lot of this bill has come from their recommendations. They found that the original agreement has not kept pace with opportunities in education, services, investment, mobility and digital trade. Since this agreement has come into force, the best practice for FTAs has changed because of technological developments in the digital economy, the uptake of ecommerce to facilitate greater ecommerce in the region, enhanced consumer confidence, data transfers and privacy issues—and also to combat fraud.

The original agreement also lacked of a modern FTA what comes in areas such as environmental protection, competition, government procurement and labour rights. The upgrade also solves the problem of the current version no longer meeting the consumer and business requirements for a high-quality contemporary FTA. Key Australian stakeholders including peak industry bodies saw a requirement for this upgrade and supported the things in this bill. They saw a particular need for streamlined rules of origin processes and updated services and investment outcomes to increase certainty for Australian businesses and investors. They also sought trade facilitation measures for positive trade outcomes such as competition and sustainable development to be included in the upgrade.

The amendments in this will enter into force 60 days after Australia, New Zealand and at least four of the ASEAN members have notified of the completion of their domestic processes. We have agreed to this bill as to ensure entry into force of the agreement as soon as possible so exporters can benefit from the improvements and as to enable Australia to celebrate this important milestone in our partnership with ASEAN and to support our business and expand regional economic integration.

I might just transgress a little bit. We, more than anyone, understand the importance and benefit of open and free trade. It's very appropriate that I speak with the previous trade minister here, the member for Wannon too. I remind the House—in fact, the member for Wannon was the person who told me this—when in government, I think, from 2013 to 2022, goods and services exported by Australia increased from the mid-20s, by a deal I know the member did with India and the UK along with some of the last two agreements we did, to almost 80 per cent. In the markets, our exporters had access to cheaper and more competitive rate because of the tariffs that were removed. It has just given our exporters enormous opportunities, from that time. I actually think it goes to one of the great accomplishments of the coalition government from 2013 to 2022 in that area of trade.

I remind the House too—I especially remind our city cousins of this; I know the member for Wannon is a rural MP as well—of Australia's exports. Where do they come from? The four biggest exports from this country are coal, iron ore, gas and food. With all due respect to our city cousins, all of that's from the regions. Regional Australia is driving the economic outcome of our country right now. Just those four alone—let's round them all out to roughly $100 billion each. It goes up and down depending on the terms of trade, but that's roughly about $400 billion, just those four things alone, of the $650 billion that we exported last year. So regional Australia is certainly punching above its weight in generating the wealth of this country. It's all based on the free trade agreements that we did in government, and it's very important. What's interesting too, as I often remind people, is that, when we look at the history of Australia, this wasn't always the case. When we look back to federation, there were two parties. The Labor Party was around, just. We weren't. The Country Party didn't exist until 1920. I don't know if the Liberal Party had a sort of metamorphosis around that. But the two major parties in Australian politics in 1901 who first sat in the federal parliament were the protectionists versus the free traders. That's interesting to remind ourselves. We have some challenges now. I'm old enough to remember things, which may be good or bad—I don't know—but I think, for the last 30 or 40 years, that the world has embarked on an open trading system. I think people saw the benefits of trade, and, for the last 30 or 40 years, global trade in fact has gone from US$6 trillion a year to over US$30 trillion a year, in the last 20 years.

Another figure that's interesting with that is global poverty as a percentage of the world's population. At the same time, it has gone from 30 per cent of the world's population to 10. So I always say to social welfare advocates, who are arguing for the improvement of people's social and economic outcomes around the world, to be free trade advocates, because I think those two are interlinked. We, as Australia, as we opened more up to different countries and economies, like we said with the figures when we were in government, have made us a more open trading economy to our betterment.

Are there any Western Australians in here? I don't know that there are. Some airports don't look like this, but if anyone wants to see how important regional Australia is to our export capacity and performance, I encourage everyone to go to Perth Airport at six o'clock on any morning and look at the people who are filing through the security and baggage systems. They're all in high vis and they all work in export industries. It's quite phenomenal to see because there are thousands there every morning.

It's always good to get up in this place and talk about trade. I do this with great pleasure and privilege, and to do this standing in front of a previous coalition trade minister. The coalition is supporting the update in the protocols within this amendment because we are the free-trade champions in this place.

Debate adjourned.