Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

Okay. This question is about beef exports to China. In March last year, the Prime Minister signed an agreement with the Chinese Premier, here in Canberra, that will increase the number of meat processors in Australia that can export chilled beef to China. It's an important agreement. The minister issued a statement at the time—I think with the former Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce—saying it was worth, potentially, about $400 million to Australian industry. Unfortunately, now, 15 months later, no additional Australian meat processors have been able to export chilled beef to China. When asked about this at estimates a couple of weeks ago, it was made clear that the agreement that was reached last year in March to expand access is still being worked on by the department.

I understand that representatives from the Australian beef industry have been in China in the last few weeks, that China has accepted the relevant protocols necessary to import Australian chilled beef and that the agreement could be implemented in a staged and graduated way, but there are political issues between the countries that the Australian government has to resolve. Minister, I know that the beef companies have written to you about this, and they've told you this, and they've also written to the Prime Minister, so my question is: what action is the minister taking to resolve this issue?

See this speech in context