Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The government aims to conclude a comprehensive and ambitious trade agreement with the EU as soon as possible. The Prime Minister brought negotiations back on track during his June visit to Europe. In Madrid the Prime Minister and the EU commission and council presidents committed to making progress on an EU free trade agreement. It was also a key focus of the Minister for Trade and Tourism, Senator Farrell, when he visited Geneva. It was great to see our federal trade minister in Darwin at the Australia Indonesia Business Council meeting where we again talked about trade and getting the most out of the AI-CEPA agreement with Indonesia. But I digress.

The deal with the EU is critical. We would like to have an agreement by mid next year. The latest round of negotiations took place between 17 and 21 October. A trade agreement with the EU would help to diversify our trade relationships and expand opportunities for Australian exporters. This would be a significant free trade agreement, as the member for O'Connor, the previous speaker, said. It is our second-biggest trading group. The EU is a massive high-income market of almost 450 million people, with a GDP of around A$23 trillion. As a bloc the EU is already our second-largest two-way trading partner, as I said, worth about A$74 billion in 2020.

A trade agreement would facilitate greater EU investment in Australia, which of course would support jobs and economic growth. Australia is seeking to lock in access for our service exporters and create opportunities in sectors of key commercial interest, like education, financial and professional services. Our negotiators are also aiming to significantly improve market access for Australian agricultural and industrial products. They will seek to do this within the deal by streamlining customs procedures to improve business confidence. Importantly, they'll negotiate hard to make sure that standards and regulations don't deter trade and create barriers to getting our goods and services into Europe.

Our main goods exported to the EU are coal, gold, oilseeds and professional, ICT and education services. European market access for beef, sheepmeat, rice, sugar and dairy will be very good outcomes for our Australian producers. In its EU trade deal signed in June this year, New Zealand secured duty-free access for 163,769 tonnes of sheepmeat after seven years of entry into force. New Zealand also got a better deal on quotas for beef and dairy and secured some hundreds of millions of New Zealand dollars in savings each year. But Australia's current lack of preferential access to the EU means that our exporters are at a disadvantage compared to many of our biggest competitors like New Zealand. Many of Australia's major exports, particularly agriculture, face prohibitively high tariffs. We also want to create more opportunities for our services and exporters and to grow investment. Australian industry and consumers can be confident that we will drive a hard bargain to achieve an overall agreement to the benefit of our nation. An ambitious trade agreement is the best way to improve our access to the EU and rebalance the current trade flows.

Our government is committed to taking ambitious action on climate change and looks forward to exploring new avenues for cooperation on climate and energy through this deal. A comprehensive and ambitious free trade agreement will strengthen trade and investment links with the EU at a time of great uncertainty around the world.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has reinforced the value of partnerships with like-minded countries in Europe, and the trade agreement is an opportunity to strengthen our ties and tackle the economic and geopolitical challenges and supply-chain disruptions that are currently facing Europe. We want to be part of the solution. And we are part of the solution, by donating an additional 30 Bushmasters to Ukraine, as Deputy Prime Minister Marles announced last month, bringing our total donation of Bushmasters to 90 vehicles. It was great, in the House today, to be able to acknowledge Chev Viviers and Mark Eggler, who played a great role in the Bushmaster story. (Time expired)

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