Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture. Will the minister update the House on how the free trade agreement with China will boost jobs and growth for farmers in the electorate of Mallee and across regional Australia?

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

I thank the honourable member for Mallee for his question. The member for Mallee started his life working as a rouseabout in the shearing sheds and also mucking out stables, so it is very important that he is very involved in making sure that we have the best job opportunities for the people of Mallee.

Mr Champion interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Wakefield is warned.

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

Within Mallee, there is a big dairy industry.

Mr Bowen interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for McMahon I remind is warned.

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

The dairy industry across our nation employs 43,000 people on farms and factories and over 100,000 people in related industries. Under the free trade agreement with China, the tariff on whole milk powder, which is the commodity most related to Mallee, will go from 10 per cent down to zero per cent over 11 years. But, of course, this could be put at risk if the free trade agreement is not passed.

Cattle is a big industry in the Mallee, and across our nation it employs between 45,000 and 50,000 people directly and a further 150,000 indirectly. On meat and offal, the tariff is currently at 12 to 25 per cent into China, and this will go down to zero over nine years. There is only one thing that could put it at risk, and that is if the Labor Party decide they are not going to support it.

Wool is also a big industry in the Mallee, and we are getting very good prices again now in the wool industry. The eastern market indicator is up over 1,300c a kilogram clean. This quota will go up by more than 50 per cent under the free trade agreement. But this also will be put at risk if the Labor Party decide that they are not going to support the free trade agreement.

Let us go to other industries that we might not hear about all the time but that are emerging industries. The biggest horticultural export in our nation is almonds. Almonds last year were worth about $522 million. Within part of the Mallee, they are looking at expansion—the CEO of the Almond Board told me this before I came to question time—of over $1 billion in the next three years. This is an industry that possibly many people in Australia do not even recognise, and it employs 2,000 people directly and 7,000 indirectly. With the free trade agreement, the tariff on this product will go from 10 to 24 per cent down to zero over four years. But this also could be put at risk if we do not pass the free trade agreement.

Last night, I was talking to the NFF. Their major concern is: what is the Labor Party's position on the free trade agreement? The sheepmeat exporters want to know: what is the Labor party's position on the free trade agreement? It is absolutely disgusting to hear in the recollections of the former leader of the Labor Party, Mark Latham, that even the leader of the Labor Party has two positions on the free trade agreement—one for the public and one he holds privately, and neither position agrees with the other.