Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you again, Senator Pratt, for your interest in these issues. While these developments on barley are certainly very positive signs, there is more work to be done to remove the trade barriers that were imposed a couple of years ago by China on Australian wine, beef and lobster. I know this is an issue that Ministers Wong and Farrell have repeatedly raised with their Chinese counterparts, as did I when I met with the Chinese agriculture minister in Rome a few weeks ago.

Our government truly believes it is in both countries' interest to see these impediments removed, just as we have seen with barley. In all of the discussions between our government and our counterparts in China, we've always made clear that we see wine and these other impediments as being just as urgent as barley. Our position has always been that we'd much prefer to see these matters resolved through dialogue and negotiation, rather than having to undertake WTO cases. That's the approach that's worked in relation to barley, and we're very hopeful that we'll come to a similar arrangement in relation to wine. The Albanese government is stabilising our relationship with our major trading partner, and that is great news for Aussie farmers.