Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture. Will the minister update the House on the benefits to the Australian agricultural sector and regional Australia of delivering free trade agreements with China, Japan and Korea?

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Hume for his question. In my answer to the question from the member for Kennedy, I said that I hoped we would be blessed with rain soon. But I did not think it would happen so quickly, and in the chamber! What we have with these trade agreements is the capacity to expand our markets and build on the good work that we are already doing on this side of the House in building these markets and getting a better return back to the farm gate. Only today the honourable member brought a box of cherries around to my office. I feel like putting them in a bowl so that we can have 'a bowl of cherries'! The reason that is topical is that it is one of the areas where we are reducing tariffs. There is a 10 per cent tariff on cherries and, under the free trade agreement with China, that is removed. That helps us build that market.

One of the big markets in the member's electorate is beef and sheep, and we are having great success already and building on that. In the financial year ending 30 June 2014 we had an 80 per cent increase in the value of beef exports to China, with a 54 per cent increase in volume; a 50 per cent increase in the value of meat exports to the EU, with a 23 per cent increase in volume; a 43 per cent increase in the value of exports to Malaysia, with a 16 per cent increase in volume; and a 37 per cent increase of exports to the US, with a 22 per cent increase in volume. We are exporting more and we are getting vastly more for it. We are doing this because we are doing the business. This is how a difference in governments makes a difference in people's lives.

We are going to continue to build on that with our exports to China. Across all rural exports, there has been close to a 10 per cent increase in value since we have been in government. This is the difference a government makes. But the question that has to be asked is: what was the former Labor government's plan for agriculture? I had to sit through the Croplife Budget Breakfast, where Senator Ludwig spoke about what he was going to do for agriculture. You will be interested in what he said, Treasurer. He said:

The need to deliver a surplus, with the need to capitalise upon the bright outlook for agriculture in Australia.

He was going to deliver a surplus; that is what he was going to do for agriculture—

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He mentioned it not only once, but eight times. He said:

This budget has returned us to surplus, on time, as promised … It means a strong economy. It means we have a buffer should the global economy get worse. It means we can protect jobs.

I might say that they did none of that. But since the coalition has been in government we have delivered over 39,000 agricultural jobs. That is what this side of the chamber has delivered. We have brought about the biggest increase in agricultural employment and we are bringing about the biggest increase in the future of agriculture in this nation.