Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. You would think that any person in this country would understand the opportunities of the future in which we have to export. But we have an alternative Prime Minister of this country who, back in 2005 when the China free trade agreement was first put on the table, wondered, 'What else are we going to sell to them that we are not selling them now?'

Well, I will give you a few examples to show how wrong the current Leader of the Opposition is. Let us take citrus, which mainly comes from the Murray-Darling region; back in 2005, we sold China zero citrus. Apart, perhaps, from a few Chinese tourists who snuck a few mandarins or a few tangelos or oranges or lemons in their backpack to take home with them on the plane, our exports to China of citrus fruit in 2005 were zero—a duck egg. The Leader of the Opposition asked, 'What else can we sell them?' Well, last year Australia sold to China $30 million worth of citrus product—from zero to $30 million—and that was made up of about $13 million worth of oranges, $8 million worth of mandarins and so on in other fruits. That is just the tip of the iceberg, because, once the China free trade agreement comes in, we will see a substantial reduction of tariffs on citrus fruit going into China. This is a golden opportunity.

Here is another example—again, something that the Murray-Darling region produces a lot of: our table grapes and wine. Back in 2005, we sold to China $9.8 million worth of wine. The current Leader of the Opposition asked, 'What are we going to sell them in the future that we are not selling them now?' Well, from 2005 to today, Australia has increased our exports of wine from $9.8 million to $224 million. That is a 20-fold increase. Another $210 million of wine was exported from this country to China—that is the increase. And the current Leader of the Opposition thought, 'What else can we sell?'

But that is only just the start. This is just the tip of the iceberg because, once the free trade agreement with China comes in, tariffs on Australian wine that are currently at 14 to 20 per cent—which, by the way, puts Australian exporters at a competitive disadvantage against New Zealand and Chile, who have much lower tariffs—will be reduced. So we have had that 20-fold increase, even though we have had that competitive disadvantage on the tariffs. Those tariffs of 14 per cent to 20 per cent are reduced to zero in four years—zero. These are the opportunities ahead.

I will mention some of the other reductions. In the dairy industry we are seeing the elimination of a 15 per cent tariff on infant formula in Australia in four years; the elimination of the 10 to 19 per cent tariff on ice-cream lactose; the elimination of the 15 per cent tariff on liquid milk within nine years; and the elimination of the 10 to 20 per cent tariff on cheese, butter and yoghurt within nine years. This will create wealth, opportunities and tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of jobs in the Australian economy. And it goes on. The current tariff of 10 to 25 per cent on macadamia, almonds and walnuts goes down to zero within four years. We also see with all other fruit—mangoes, nectarines, cherries et cetera—the elimination of the current 10 to 13 per cent tariff within four years. It is the same for fresh vegetables, with the current tariff of 10 to 13 per cent going down to zero in four years.

We produce some of the greatest quality products in the world. This is a once in a century golden opportunity for our nation to grab this free trade agreement—to have faith in our nation's exporters; to have faith in our people—and allow those exporters to get onto that Chinese playing field and compete at least on a level playing field if not with a competitive advantage against other countries. We have that opportunity but, sadly, this is all at risk from a union campaign that is not based on any factual information but is simply based—

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