Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

True' I am not. If you were here earlier, Member for Wakefield, you would know that I indicated that he is in fact my hero. I would love to be half the man he was. He was someone who had the courage to come into this place and argue against protectionism when, quite frankly, it was not the popular cause du jour that perhaps globalisation is today.

Member for Wakefield, I wonder what Bert Kelly would think about Labor's current approach to the free trade agreement with China, ChAFTA. He would be sidling up to Bob Hawke and Bob Carr and doing everything he could—whether it was by anonymous letters to the paper, signed off 'modest member', or any other way—to dissuade you from your course. He knew a very long time ago—and you should have learned the lesson by now—that the economic future and security of this country was tied directly to trading with the rest of the world.

I have the privilege of sharing a border with the member for Wakefield. When the member for Wakefield goes to the Barossa, I would like him to speak to some of the producers in the Barossa and say to them that he does not want them selling wine to China, that he does not want to encourage the sale of wine from the Barossa into China, and that he thinks that is a bad thing. I know he does not think that is a bad thing. He is far too sensible for that—and I cannot believe that I have made that concession—but, unfortunately, we have too many people in this place on the other side who come here effectively tied umbilically to the union movement. Today there was a letter in the Border Watch, of all things, in the Mt Gambier paper from Brad Coates, lead organiser for the CFMEU, saying that trade with China is a bad thing. Please; our future is tied up with Asia! Our future is about exporting to Asia. The prosperity of farmers throughout Barker is tied to that. The member for Wakefield knows this. I know it, Bert Kelly knew it and Ian McLachlan knew it. I hope when the member for Wakefield next visits a winery in the Barossa he confirms for them that he knows it.

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