Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee, , 3:31:58 to 3:37:04
Officials provide an update on negotiations with China to reopen the market for frozen deer velvet exports, noting delays compared to New Zealand and the impact on Western Australian producers.
Topics: China trade, Exports, Trade policy
Speakers: Speaker 22, Speaker 13, Speaker 5, Speaker 21
>> May I or Senator >> Can Oh, sorry. You have Yes, sorry.
>> I'm moving to another topic. So, I'm happy to come back to
>> um I have been slaves, but Senator >> Brooklyn
>> uh for the opportunity. This shouldn't take too long. Um just want to talk about dear Velvet exports. Uh in particular, I do want to raise the very difficult situation of Mrs. Kea Hoysman. Um Premier Deer Farm in May up in WA in the electorate of Okconor. Uh Mrs. Hoysman lost her husband and business partner last year. uh currently got uh I believe three years now worth of deer velvet in highly expensive storage. Um New Zealand, I understand it, had the market for frozen deer velvet reopened in uh 2024 and we are still awaiting uh the reopening of the Australian market. Now this business is in a very difficult position having to import labor from New Zealand to maintain uh the business in an ongoing way whilst having no market for uh significant part of their product. Uh Mr. Black, I I believe you walked to the table. So I'm going to ask you is there any >> is there any good news? Uh well well
first let me um let me acknowledge that we are very aware of both the difficult business situation but also the the u the sad family situation for for that particular business and um uh we had been um uh doing quite a bit of work with the deceased gentleman. So we pass on our condolences to um to the affected family. Um the negotiation of an export protocol with China is ongoing for Dear Velvet and we have been having an exchange around that protocol for a period of time longer than we would have liked. Um but I um would acknowledge that we have been um I guess working with the industry through that time as we as we answer the questions from our um customs officials colleagues in China. uh and we provided uh a second round of feedback to GACC in December of last year uh around uh that protocol. Uh we have not had uh a uh a follow-up from GACC yet. Um but we will be seeking through our posted offices in in China to be um seeking resolution of our that protocol as soon as we can. So there has been engagement with that with Chinese officials. Um I acknowledge that we have not landed that agreement yet. Um but there the most recent um interaction in terms of us providing our answers was in
December of last year. >> So have you got transparency on on like is it a significantly different protocol than the one New Zealand is operating under? Is there is there a reason why this is taking longer to
negotiate? >> Uh I I couldn't speculate on the reason why it's taking longer to negotiate. We as I understand though New Zealand were engaged um a couple of years ago by GACC on their protocol uh where we were uh not informed that there were um changes being muted around the trade. So as soon as we were it became clear to us that that that was happening we needed to uh to work with our GCC colleagues to see if we could get a protocol finalized but I couldn't speculate as to why. So,
sorry. When was the last time you went back to the GACC? >> December of last year. December 202 post
that. >> Uh, I'd have to take that on notice. >> I I I'm not sure if we we've updated them, but I I would expect that my staff would have let them know that we've provided that updated um information to GCC.
>> Um, is I mean, is this just a black hole? Is there any light at the end of the tunnel? Do you do we
>> Oh, no. I'm I'm hopeful that there is light at the end of the tunnel in the fact that GCC have been engaging with us in terms of we've we've provided a submission. They've responded to that asking more questions and we have now gone back and been able to provide answers to those questions. So, I'm hopeful that it will come. Um and and as I said, we'll we'll um be working with our staff based in the Australian Embassy in Beijing to to see if we can get that response from GCC quickly.
>> Okay. I mean, I I really would and and you know, I completely understand that these negotiations has to happen. uh you need two parties to negotiate but but uh obviously any any um effort we can put into making sure the negotiation proceeds quickly. I know the minister was hoping for a resolution last year and it hasn't happened. So um I mean for for this industry and for for this um family in particular uh a resolution is is absolutely essential. >> Absolutely. Senator. >> All right. I'm happy to leave it there. >> Thank you.