Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee [Part 2], , 2:07:42 to 2:18:40
Minister Farrell defends the EU FTA as being in the national interest, citing projected economic benefits of up to $30 billion, tariff-free access for critical minerals, and the importance of the 27-country market.
Topics: EU free trade agreement, Trade policy, Exports
Speakers: Senator The Hon Don Farrell, Senator Malcolm Roberts, Unknown Speaker
>> Um look, I I I disagree with a lot of um uh what you've said there, Senator if you've got an interest in finding out more about this uh e the practical application of the EU free trade agreement including um all the benefits uh under the agreement then I would be happy to um provide expert advice from many of the people at the table here so you get a full briefing on the implementation of this uh this agreement the agreement ment does represent significant advances for Australian businesses and that's why almost all of uh the Australian business community is supporting this uh this agreement. If you've been here a little bit [clears throat] earlier I talked about the fact that um uh Mr. Craig Emerson, an eminent uh economist, has valued um the early operation of the free trade agreement uh to um uh provide benefits to the Australian economy of about $10 billion. That very quickly uh rises to a figure of $30 billion as a result of the provisions that relate to critical minerals. Um both your state and Western Australia of course um now the Northern Territory uh have been making significant progress on uh uh on uh the development of critical minerals. [snorts] One of the key provisions here, Senator Roberts, is that um for the first time our critical minerals go into the European Union tariffree. um all of our competitors um don't get that same advantage and so that gives us a very very significant advantage in terms of our access to the uh to the European Union. Um I understand that there have been certain uh parts of the Australian economy that haven't been happy with everything that they have received out of this uh this agreement. um beef in particular have made uh some adverse comments about the the agreement. Unfortunately, my job is to represent or fortunately my job is to represent the national interest. Senator Roberts um and overwhelmingly Australian business supports this agreement. So you've got the BCA uh came out again I think today or yesterday in support of it. Uh Aki uh very strongly uh in support of it. The AIG very strongly in support of it. Seafood Council um uh uh uh Wine and Spirits Australia. Uh I can go through all of these organizations that very strongly support it. I have to make a decision about the national interest. Uh and I have to make an assessment as to whether on balance this agreement is good for the Australian economy. Right now, um Senator Roberts, the world is falling into two camps. Uh the camp of uh tariffs and protectionism or in the camp of free and fair trade. Um this government, the Albanesei government has nailed its colors to the mast and we support free and fair trade. Um now if you do that and a country comes to you and says uh look we would like to reduce tariff barriers uh on Australian goods into our economy. uh then I think firstly we have an obligation to negotiate with those people as we as we have done uh and if on balance the agreement is in the national interest to recommend to the Australian people and to the Australian parliament uh that that is is worth doing because if you don't do that in those circumstances uh and you reject the offer of that country or region uh to reduce tariff barriers, then you're not just sending a message to that country, but you're sending a message to all all of the countries with whom you have reduced trade barriers. Australia no longer believes in reducing uh reducing tariffs. The prosperity of of your state, um, Senator Roberts, is very much linked to the removal of tariffs. Australia's prosperity has been built on the fact that we've been able to reach these agreements with all of these countries around the world. Now, [clears throat] why is, excuse me, I'll just uh have a little glass of water. Why is the European agreement um so important to to Australia? Well, at the moment we have about 30 trade agreements with countries around the world. The European Free Trade Agreement is not one new agreement. It's effectively 27 new agreements because there are 27 countries uh in the European Union. So, in one fell swoop, Senator Roberts, we double the number of countries with whom we have a a a free trade agreement. Um, and we're talking about the second largest economy in the world. This is a a region with 450 million consumers um mostly middle class um consumers. Compare that to the population of Australia, Senator Roberts. 28 29 million people. So [clears throat] many times larger uh than us. More importantly, they have a uh a GDP of something in the vicinity of $33 trillion. So this represents um a great opportunity. Um, it hasn't been easy, Senator Roberts, to negotiate an agreement with the Europeans. Um, uh, former coalition ministers tried. Um, Steve Jo, um, had a had a crack. Simon Birmingham had a crack. Uh, Dantian had a crack. And on two occasions, we rejected offers from the, um, European Union. uh to their to their great disappointment. but they made a significant improvement in the offer on the last occasion um in a whole string of areas where uh under the previous um negotiator Valdos Dumbroscus they weren't prepared to give us a a better offer under the current um trade minister Maros Sephovich um significant improvements were made uh in just about every area of the uh of of the agreement. So as I say [clears throat] uh these agreements are a balance of judgment. Um I had managed to get the UK free trade agreement uh through the the parliament. I managed to get the Indian free trade agreement through the the parliament and to negotiate the UAE trade agreement. um in that process. Um Senator Roberts, um last year was a record year for Australian trade. We hit $1.37 trillion. So never in the history of Australia have we done so much trade. And in a circumstance where trade um uh was really unstable right right around the world for a whole range of uh whole range of reasons. Um but Senator Roberts, we can't stop there. If we are going to grow the Queensland uh contribution to trade, we need to find new markets to um um export our our goods to. So if as the European 27 European countries have said to us, we want to buy more of your products and in the process we're going to significantly reduce the tariffs. I don't believe we can say as a matter of national interest, we're going to reject that offer. And as I say, if we send a message to the rest of the world, um, okay, we're not interested in the removal of tariffs, that will have consequences on all of our other agreements. All of the other countries will say, well, look, Australia is moving away from free and free and fair trade. perhaps we ought to be doing the same. Um, and that in my view has real consequences for your state. Now, you can focus on one relatively small part of the agreement. Obviously, you're focusing on the the climate change
>> The ability to put sanctions on our country is not a small small issue. Um,
look, geez, look, um, Senator, I I just don't think you're looking at the totality of the, um, agreement. Uh, and I', I'd urge you to take advantage of my offer, uh, of getting a full, uh, report and, um, your colleagues there, colleague there is also welcome to uh, to attend. I'd ask you for the moment to keep an open mind on the uh on the agreement. Have a look at the totality of the agreement. And I believe when you do that, Senator Roberts, you will come to the same conclusion that I have come to, namely that on balance, the national interest is served uh by us continuing to process this agreement, sign this agreement, and implement this this agreement.