Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

It's no accident that Australia has enjoyed 27 years of consecutive economic growth. It's no accident because that's been underpinned by the fact that, through a range of economic reforms undertaken by both sides of politics but, importantly, one of them being the market access guarantee that Liberal-National governments have secured with most of our major trading partners, we have created more opportunities for us to earn more income for Australia by selling more goods and services around the world.

In terms of the benefits of those agreements, just ask our winemakers, who have seen their exports to China almost quadruple under the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement. Also, dairy farmers have seen phenomenal growth across the Japanese and Korean markets. What do those increased exports mean? They mean more revenue for Australia, higher taxes paid in Australia, more jobs for Australians and the ability for government to invest more in the essential services whilst keeping our taxes lower, which is what our government is doing by reducing tax for small businesses and for hardworking Australian families. (Time expired)