Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I can only hope that I can aim to be as alert as Senator Williams is. It is with a great deal of pleasure that I will answer this question. The signing of the historic China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, ChAFTA, will unlock significant benefits in export opportunities for the Australian energy and resources sector.

Our exporters will benefit from greater certainty, with ChAFTA locking in zero tariffs for major resources and energy products, including iron ore, gold, true petroleum oils and liquefied natural gas. Other energy and resources products will be duty free within four years. At present, tariffs on these products are as high as eight per cent.

Australia's third-largest export to China, coking coal, will have its three per cent tariff eliminated on day one of the agreement. This represents exports worth around $6 billion. Tariffs of six per cent on non-coking coal, an industry work $3 billion, will be eliminated within two years. Transformed resources and energy products will also benefit massively under ChAFTA. A large number of tariffs will be eliminated immediately on the agreement coming into effect. These include tariffs on unwrought refined copper and all alloys, an industry worth $2 billion; alumina, an industry worth around $1.3 billion; nickel metals and oxides, an industry worth $662 million; unwrought zinc, worth about $300 million; unwrought nickel, worth about $154 million; titanium wires and titanium dioxide, with exports worth $154 million; and copper waste and scrap, with exports worth $295 million.

The Australian aluminium industry will also enjoy far greater access. Indeed, ChAFTA gives our energy and resources sector an unprecedented and unrivalled level of access to the Chinese market. (Time expired)