Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable senator for his question. It is vital to highlight that China is now the world's largest importer of agricultural food and fishery products, worth well over US$115 billion, and that was in the 2013 calendar year. This means there is fierce competition to supply the Chinese market and, with this agreement, Australia is well placed to meet that challenge.

The FTA is a very good result for agriculture in Australia. It will be good for all the food and fisheries producers and exporters. It closes the gap between Australia and those who already have FTAs with China, such as New Zealand, Chile and the ASEAN nations. The agreement struck by this government provides a significant advantage over our major competitors, such as the US and the EU, who do not have FTAs with China. The signing of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement last week is a significant milestone for Australian agriculture, and now we can work towards this agreement coming into force later this year.

The significance of this market for Australian primary producers lies in the fact that we exported around $9 billion worth of agricultural products to China in 2014 at tariffs of up to 30 per cent, which makes us less competitive and our producers less profitable. This FTA agreement eliminates tariffs on many key products, mostly within four to eight years, including key growth commodities like beef, sheep meat, hides, skins, livestock, dairy, horticulture, wine and seafood. That means that the blockages on the other end of our supply chains are being removed by this agreement. This is proof that this government is truly committed to achieving real outcomes for rural and regional Australia.