Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Canavan for that contribution and also for working constructively with Senator Ciccone on this motion, because this is an important issue for our country and for our cattle industry and beef producers in particular. As a Queensland senator I understand the importance of the cattle industry to my state, and, in my new role as Assistant Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, I have enjoyed the engagements I've had with the cattle industry across Australia at the same time. It is an issue that is important to our economy, but it's also important to many regional places. I was in Cloncurry and Mount Isa last week, and it was a topic that came up for discussion amongst the mayors and community members that I engaged with whilst I was in that part of the world, which obviously has a really proud history in terms of beef cattle, particularly the export trade.

This specific issue is important. It is something that the government are taking seriously, and we understand the role that we have to play in supporting our industry in this country. We are committed to combating deforestation, and we understand the European Union's concerns about the rate of deforestation globally. Like the European Union, we understand the critical importance of forest biodiversity and sustainable land use. The European Union is a close trading partner of Australia's, and we look forward to working with them on areas of mutual interest. As Senator Canavan said, that is something that we have a strong history on in the past and that we would seek to continue on this matter.

The government is committed to halting and reversing net forest loss and land degradation by 2030. Australia and the European Union are both signatories to the Glasgow Leaders' Declaration on Forests and Land Use, the Forest & Climate Leaders' Partnership and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. We have a well-established institutional framework to support the conservation and sustainable management of forests. However, we are concerned about the complexity and regulatory burden that the European Union Deforestation Regulation will place on our agricultural exporters, in a market that already has high costs of entry—a concern that is shared strongly by industry.

As we have continued to do since coming into government, we will support and advocate for our agriculture sector when it comes to arbitrary measures imposed by trading partners. The Albanese Labor government has undertaken significant advocacy with the European Commission on the European Union deforestation regulation since forming government. These steps have included a submission on Australia's forest status provided to the European Commission on 30 June 2023 supporting our advocacy for a low-risk-country rating. On 6 May 2024 Senator Watt, in his former capacity as Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, wrote to the European Union environment commissioner calling for a delay of commencement beyond 30 December 2024 and outlining a range of issues with the European Union deforestation regulation, including a lack of clarity, slow development of European Union information technology systems and insufficient preparedness among member state competent authorities, all of which could potentially have an adverse impact on Australia's agriculture trade.

There have been a range of government officials meetings and exchanges of correspondence with European Unions counterparts to seek clarity on specific destinational issues to ensure that the European Union understands Australia's agriculture and forest management practices, including our national forest maps, to increase the accuracy of the European Union global forest cover dataset, although the European Commission confirmed that they are preparing additional formal guidance for trading partners with respect to agricultural use, grazing intensity and frequency, set-aside land and plantation forest, among other topics that Australia has raised with them directly. We are still waiting, and our advocacy will continue.

The government continues to engage with the European Union on the regulation to seek clarity and to support our agricultural industry's efforts to comply with the regulation. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry recently completed work to assess the implication for Australia's trade, which involved industry stakeholder engagement, in-depth trade analysis and ongoing engagement with the union. Separately, we continue to work closely with like-minded countries to raise specific concerns about the European Union deforestation regulation, including with the WTO. We are supporting Australian led industry initiatives to respond to the European regulation, including an ag trace project led by the Food Agility Cooperative Research Centre. We call on the European Union to delay implementation of the European Union deforestation regulation until the uncertainties around its implementation are resolved.