Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I know, seriously. But it was on. Up popped former senator Marise Payne, who I had a lot of respect for all the years she was in here. I remember her going on about China and the start of the pandemic—I'm going to get to agriculture, make no mistake about that—and it was a real pile-on attack on China. I thought, 'Wow, that's unlike Senator Payne.' I think she might have been the Minister for Foreign Affairs at the time. Coming from Western Australia, where every second person and their kids and the dog have got fluoro shirts, I thought: 'Why are we attacking our greatest trading partner? Why are we acting like President Trump's sheriff in the region with this carry-on?' I'd just returned from a delegation to China not long before that and noticed how buoyed the Chinese were to be doing business with Australian farmers, particularly around barley, wine, timber and crayfish. I'll tell you what, from that day the damage that was done to our country—our agricultural exports to China just stopped. It wasn't until 2022, when the grown-ups were put back in charge of the treasury benches, that things changed.

I'd just say don't forget that—that that side over there didn't give a damn about the damage that that was going to do to our agricultural exporters, particularly in those fields. But I'll also say this. In 2023-24, Australia exported over 70 per cent of its agriculture, fisheries and forestry production to no fewer than 169 markets globally. I can safely say that's the most diversified trade has ever been. I have to say that that's thanks to the grown-ups being put back in charge—the Albanese Labor government.

After the coalition spent nearly a decade eroding and neglecting our relationships with other trading partners as well—and there was the disgraceful mismanagement, as I said, of the relationship with our biggest trading partner—we've put the runs back on the board for our farmers and our exporters. Restoration of market access for several agricultural and forestry products contributed to a record $17.4 billion in exports to China in 2023 alone. I can also say we recorded 88 technical market access achievements in the year 2023-24, including opening 10 new markets and getting 44 improvements to existing access. There were 34 actions to maintain or restore markets which protected markets worth no less than $4.6 billion. And, for the live cattle export industry, this government ensured that over $700 million of Australian animal products could continue to be traded in the event of a lumpy skin disease incursion, through ongoing emergency animal diseases preparedness work.

Let's think about that. I remember we had not long come into government when we had the fear of FMD in Indonesia, and the prompt response of this government—and I applaud Minister Watt, as I know the industry did at the time. We talked to industry, listened to industry and implemented the systems recommended by industry.