Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Babet. As you know, as a consequence of Senator Farrell going to China also on trade issues—and I'm happy if you go to that in a supplementary question—I will update on the EU as well as the UK, and thank you for your recognition of the UK agreement.

Securing an ambitious trade deal with the European Union would obviously be a significant step towards creating more opportunities for Australian exporters. One of the points that we have made since coming into government is that diversification of our export markets, which we recognise is a diversification of what we export as well as where we export to, is an important part of improving our economic resilience. We benefit greatly from bilateral trade with many countries, and we are better off and more resilient as a nation if we can diversify our export markets, which requires, in turn, not only trade agreements but also a diversification of the goods and services exported. Obviously, the European Union is a very large part of the global economy. It's a high-income market with about 450 million people and a GDP of around $24 trillion.

I know Minister Farrell is seeking to progress the EU trade agreement. I think there's already been quite a lot of media and discussion about it, including under the previous government. There are issues that will have to be resolved, around provenance and so forth. I know Minister Farrell is working very hard to try and ensure there is progress on that for the reasons I have outlined.