Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

As the new kid on the block, as I am now apparently referred to quite fondly and affectionately—it is like every time I ask a question in question time and the Labor Party start off with the term 'freedom boy'. All I can say is how delighted I am to think that I am so young, but it is a compliment and thank you very much for those views.

The important issue on the table today is trade—trade investment and opportunity for Australian so that we can continue to grow Australia's economy into the future. My question and my interest is on the gains from the coalition's free trade agreements. I have to say I am particularly privileged to be able to talk on this issue as the member for Goldstein, because my predecessor was the former trade minister, the great Andrew Robb. One of his contributions was in negotiating free trade agreements that have helped secure the future of this country and its economy for many years to come for younger Australians so they can engage in exporting products, goods and services to countries all throughout our region and across the globe to improve wealth and opportunity for every Australian. That is the legacy this government has around free trade agreements, and we are only warming up—so many other agreements are going to be secured over the life of this parliament. It is something that I think we should be enormously proud of, and I hear this all the time from businesses within the Goldstein community.

Recently we had a wonderful forum, bringing together exporters from across the Goldstein community who live there or who may have businesses there, to have discussions about what we can do in this space to make sure that our community can continue to lead the nation in driving economic development and investment. The forum brought together about 30 different businesses to have that dialogue with the trade minister, Steve Ciobo. What became abundantly clear was that businesses are constantly seeking out new avenues and opportunities to secure pathways to grow their businesses. We had a local business that exports socks—a high-value investment in socks which are used by competitive athletes all across the world who are concerned about their health and making sure their socks have longevity. There is another business just outside of my electorate, owned by somebody from within my electorate, which produces high-quality packaging for agricultural products which are processed and produced into food products to take to market and to the retail sector—so that they can be in packaging which is necessary to make sure they have longevity, so they can get onto supermarket shelves and then get to the consumer. That is something that we as a country should always be proud of: our capacity to feed the world and to make a contribution through processed foods that enables people to achieve their level of sustenance and dietary requirements. The opportunities from these free trade agreements for businesses either within Goldstein, just outside of Goldstein, or owned by people living in Goldstein are incredibly important, and that is what people are saying to me—how much they value the coalition's legacy but also how much more work they want to see us doing to continue to invest in this space and create those opportunities.

To the minister, I am interested today to ask: what are some of the tangible benefits for Australian businesses we are now seeing come through from the coalition's FTAs with countries like Korea, Japan and China? These are countries that have always been important trading partners of our nation, but hopefully this will continue and will increase into the future, particularly with countries that are either developed or developing—countries within our region that are able to supply and support a large middle class within their own countries. We need to make sure that we as a nation are in the best position to continue to leverage the advantages of these free trade agreements.

One of the unique things about the Goldstein community—and why we have such an interest in this space, in trade agreements and their potential—is that we actually do not have much industry in the electorate. It makes it quite unique among electorates across the country. But we are industrious people, whether it is through financing of investments, working professional services sectors in Melbourne's CBD, or running small businesses out of the electorate which enable people to electorate to export locally and across the globe. That was my experience, in part, before I entered parliament: prior to my service in my former capacity as a commissioner, I ran my own small business exporting professional services to the United States and throughout Europe, to help businesses operate in a globally competitive environment and dealing particularly with some of the challenges they had around government policy and research to make sure they could be competitive and relevant into the 21st century.

The question I have for the minister is: what are the gains from these free trade agreements that the government has negotiated, under the current trade minister and the previous one? And where are the opportunities into the future?

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