Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Resources) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to support this urgency matter, and I thank Senator Canavan and Senator Ciccone for providing a bipartisan position of reason on this matter. To be clear, this is not about environmental management or protection. This is not about diversity. This is not about habitat protection. This is nothing more than a cheap, non-tariff barrier to trade.

What this will do is ensure that Australian beef producers and, I'm concerned, other agricultural producers, like blueberry and cane farmers, will also bear the brunt of these EU deforestation regulations. We don't have a huge beef market into the EU—it is a very premium market—but what we do have are markets for things like cattle hides, markets that could otherwise no longer exist because of the crazy rhetoric on pleather and other fake leather products, on motor vehicles and on other things. But I digress.

What I am concerned about is that we are going to have a non-elected, non-Australian organisation restricting Australian farmers from being able to export into this market and, worse, that these restrictions will be picked up by other countries. When we start seeing these same standards which are unclear and undefined creeping into other regions and other trade markets, this is incredibly dangerous. We know that, over the last five years, since 2019, we have seen 10,000 pages of legislation on this matter. That equates to about 15 pages a day that farmers are expected to manage.

This is outrageous because food production, fibre production, is the most important that we can do for humans. We eat three times a day, and the quality of food that we produce should be protected. Our farming expertise should be protected and encouraged. As I've already said, this is a non-tariff barrier to trade and is going to restrict Australian farmers. Worse, we're not sure where it stops. This is an incredibly important precedent that has to be pulled up. I think that the lack of definition, of Q&As provided and of advice means that we are trying to manage a regulation that is unclear and complex, and it is an unreasonable regulatory burden to put on people who are doing such important work.

I'm from northern Australia. I also want to flag what this will mean to the development of northern Australia. From Cape York right across the Northern Territory, this will stop any future development of agriculture and, potentially, mining. This is a shocking piece of regulation that we should hold out against at every opportunity. Already we're seeing companies like Woolworths and banks adopt some of these allegedly science based target initiatives, but I'm here to tell you that they are not about environmental management. They are a restriction that we should be very afraid of. I want to call out to Woolworths and any other retailers here in Australia: if you think adopting these measures is going to be in the interests of Australian farmers or Australian consumers, you are wrong. You will restrict their ability to farm, and, worse, the contagion may mean that we will see other regions and other trade areas for Australia also restricted.

This is dangerous stuff. Wars are fought over food production. Food security, food reliability and, particularly, the high standards of Australian produce are things that we should nurture, encourage and protect. To have these EU deforestation regulations that are not about the environment but about non-tariff barriers to trade is dangerous. We should be very afraid of what this could do to both our beef industry and farmers more broadly, and I urge the government to hold out against it and ensure that our farmers are protected at all costs.

Question agreed to.