Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Sterle for his question. He is a great friend of farmers, particularly Western Australian farmers. I was very pleased to announce last Friday that as of 5 August Australian traders no longer face an 80.5 per cent import duty when exporting barley to China. This follows an expedited review by China's Ministry of Commerce of its trade measures imposed in May 2020 on Australian barley imports. China initiated a fast-track review following an April agreement reached between Australia and China to suspend the WTO dispute on barley. The expedited review was the result of the re-establishment of dialogue between the Australian and Chinese governments, following a long period of diplomatic silence under the former coalition government.

From the start, I've said that we would prefer to sort out these matters by engaging in sensible dialogue and negotiation rather than through the courts. Consistent with the terms of the April agreement reached with China, Australia will now discontinue our World Trade Organization dispute. If we had had to continue to pursue this matter through the WTO dispute mechanism, we would not have had a resolution for at least another 12 months.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the Australian grains industry and government officials for all their hard work to get this result and thank Senator Wong for her wonderful efforts in this regard, particularly just before Christmas last year. This outcome demonstrates the importance of the WTO dispute mechanism in defending the interests of Australia's world-class producers and farmers. Without such a mechanism, we would never have gotten China to the negotiating table.