Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I to rise to make a brief contribution on this package of free trade agreement bills. As I've said in this place on a number of occasions, Australia is a trading nation. My home state of Western Australia is a trading state. Western Australia exports something like 90 per cent-plus of its wheat—its largest agricultural commodity. Obviously, we are the single most significant exporter of iron ore and a significant exporter of gas into the international market. Western Australia in particular relies on trade and on agreements between nations to make trade flows work. That is why it is my pleasure to rise and speak on these bills. I'm very happy to say these are bills that are aimed at liberalising trade flows between Australia and the UK, on the one hand, and Australia and India, on the other, both very important markets to my home state of WA.

In terms of trade, things like gold and agricultural commodities are significant exports to the UK. We receive our largest number of overseas visors from any nation in Europe from the UK. We are thankfully beginning to see the return of, colloquially, the backpackers, the working holiday visa makers, to Western Australia from a variety of nations, including the UK. That's really good to see because they're such an important part of the workforce, particularly in many rural and regional areas.

In congratulating former minister Tehan and former minister Birmingham for their work on the trade agreements, I wish to sound a word of warning. As has always been the case, in the moniker 'free trade agreement', the term 'free' is perhaps a little bit questionable at times. Often they are trade agreements that seek to control and limit. Yes, they put in place tariff reductions, but they can also, particularly when they're being negotiated without perhaps the commitment to liberal free trade that the coalition have, end up being regulatory agreements. That is something that I would urge those who are now in the government seats to be very cautious of as they move forward with future trade agreements.

In particular, we see in trade agreements being negotiated by the Europeans a desire to impose European regulations on other jurisdictions. If we allow trade agreements to go down that path, we will weaken our economy, we will undermine the very nature of trade and trade agreements and the benefits they give to the international community and we will impose costs from an overseas jurisdiction on Australian producers. In particular, the area where this will hit hardest is the area closest to my heart—and I freely admit this—which is the agricultural sector. There are many ways that you can impose regulation via trade agreements on exports that don't involve tariffs. We're seeing that now in some of the reaction to the negotiations and the agreement signed between Europe and New Zealand in terms of their agricultural producers and how it is impacting upon them. The devil is always in the detail in trade agreements.

The reason why I congratulate Senator Birmingham and former minister Tehan is that I know they had a commitment to liberal trade agreements. They had a commitment to open, fair and free trade as a way of increasing the wealth of Australia. Will that remain the case or will we get bogged down in labour force examinations, the export of various rules around methane or carbon in trade agreements and various restrictions on chemicals that aren't needed in higher rainfall jurisdictions like Europe but which are needed in low-rainfall areas, particularly, say, in my home state of WA, where a chemical like glyphosate is essential to no-till farming, which locks moisture into the soil and stops erosion? If we lose access to those very important chemicals, with no replacement, then we will also decimate the agricultural production in this country and we will also no longer be able to feed millions of people around the world. Australia as a trading nation is not just exporting food for the fun of it. We are exporting food because there are people out there that need food. If we go down the path where our trade agreements enable other jurisdictions to dictate how our farmers and our businesses operate in this country, that will be a sad day indeed for Australia.