Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, it is shameful, Senator Birmingham. You're dead right there. He may not want to defend South Australia's world-class winemakers but Labor wants to see them keep their competitive edge against New Zealand. We produce much better wine than New Zealand and we want to keep our competitive edge. It's better wine at a better price and we want to keep that advantage. But if this amendment is allowed to be passed we would lose. We would lose that edge, because New Zealand could benefit from tariff reductions that Australia would not. All our exports would miss out on an initial round of tariff cuts.

For the Japanese markets our exporters would miss a second tariff cut on 1 April 2019. That would give Canada and New Zealand an 11 per cent tariff cut on beef, making their rate lower than Australia's and hurting our beef producers. Our cheddar cheese producers would lose out to New Zealand, who would have a tariff rate four per cent lower than Australia's. Canadian wheat growers would be able to export more than 40,000 tonnes of wheat to Japan and Australian farmers would get no additional quota. That's not fair and it's not in our national interest.

Labor will not allow an opportunistic stunt to cost exporters and reduce our opportunities to grow industry. Labor will not support this stunt. It's not in the national interest to weaken Australia's bargaining position in negotiations with other countries. It's not in our interests—