John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Whish-Wilson is happy to sell local. Well, perhaps he does not realise that we have had a huge oversupply of grapes, for about a decade—a huge oversupply of wine. That is why in some cases you will see wine—the cleanskins—cheaper than bottles of Coca-Cola, or about the same price. So, let's not grow that! That is their attitude: let's shut it down, let's all go and live in caves again, get three sticks of wood to keep ourselves warm and cook our food for the week! So, you keep your carbon emissions down, and don't worry about the rest of the world. We produce about 1.3 per cent of the world's emissions, so we will do what the Greens say and go and live in a cave! That is about the attitude. The farming community is furious with the Greens. But they are looking for the cheque. They have the unions backing them and they are just waiting for the cheque to come to them from the CFMEU with their scare campaign.

The scheduled tariff cuts are based on the calendar year, which means that entry into force this year will deliver an immediate round of tariff cuts, followed by a second round of cuts on 1 January 2016. More than 85 per cent of Australian goods exports will be tariff-free upon the agreement's entry into force, rising to 93 per cent in four years. Some of these goods are currently subject to tariffs of up to 40 per cent. This agreement will eliminate tariffs on many key products, mostly within four to eight years, including beef, sheepmeat, hides and skins, livestock, dairy, wine—Senator Whish-Wilson, wine—seafood, sorghum and barley. Let's talk about the beef industry. Seventy per cent of the beef we produce is exported. As living standards grow in huge-population countries such as China, they can afford to buy good-quality, high-quality beef—and they want to buy it from Australia.

I took Chinese buyers to the Bindaree Beef abattoir only a couple of months ago. They were keen to buy beef here because of our reputation: clean, green, top-quality, safe to eat. That is the reputation we have overseas. It was amazing: Mr John McDonald, the founder of Bindaree Beef, told me some time ago now that in December 2012 Bindaree Beef sent six containers of beef to China and in December 2013 they sent 60 containers of beef to China. That is the growth. That is what is happening. And at last we have decent money at the farm gate for the beef producers, which is good for our rural communities, good for our regional towns, good for our environment. If you want to look after the environment, how can the farmers be green when so many—

Senator Waters interjecting—

You ought to listen to this, Senator Waters; you might learn something.