Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

Along with the agricultural white paper I mentioned earlier, the government has signed many trade agreements in our region—very significant ones with China, Japan, Korea and the recently concluded TPP—all of which have helped expand agricultural access across our region and, therefore, potentially expand business opportunities for the agricultural sector.

We're building on that in this week's budget by providing a further $51.3 million to fund six additional agricultural councillors in our region and around the world. The councillors will be placed in the UK and, of course, many senators would know that we're seeking to negotiate a free trade agreement with the UK but also in Europe, Latin America and key markets of Asia. We have further extended the five councillors that are already in Vietnam, Malaysia, the Middle East, China and Thailand. And all of these investments will help make sure that our agricultural sector take the opportunities that are ahead of them, help them compete against alternative sources of supply around the world and, ultimately, deliver more jobs and economic opportunity in our agricultural and regional areas of the country.