Tom Venning (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to address the recently signed Australia-European Union Security and Defence Partnership. While the government boasts about our strategic alignment and international cooperation, this agreement raises some serious flags. It threatens to impose heavy European energy and compliance standards on local operations. Local industry should not carry the costs of global deals without guaranteed local benefits. This deal creates uncertainty for key industries during an already tense industrial transition. If we adopt European green targets, we risk lifting overhead costs for places like Whyalla steelworks and the Nyrstar smelter in Port Pirie. This directly risks local jobs and threatens our economic future—and why? Constituents in my electorate might also reasonably ask the government why the government is spending time on EU defence alignment instead of investing in regional roads, health and jobs. This lack of regional focus is a clear pattern for this government.

While we are on defence, I'd like to address the cuts to Invictus Australia. This government has cut all funding from this program. This is a program that provides vital support for injured and mentally ill veterans who gave everything for our nation. It is a shameful decision, and the government must reconsider its cruel funding cuts to Invictus Australia immediately.

But a lack of care for our people and our economy is nothing new for this Labor government. We have only to look at the total failure of their new EU free trade deal. I mean, who are we kidding? There is nothing free in this free trade deal. Our hardworking farmers, our wine growers, were completely sold out by negotiators who did not understand their needs. The trade minister gave up and stayed at the table when he should have walked away. No deal would have been better than this bad deal.

The numbers show how badly we were beaten. On beef, this agreement allows just over 30,000 tonnes of access over a decade. Our industry experts said 50,000 tonnes was the bare minimum to stay competitive. On sheepmeat, the result was insulting. We got 25,000 tonnes, while New Zealand sits on over 160,000 tonnes. Did our negotiators forget to get a calculator? Every major red meat group in this country is devastated by this subpar deal, and our primary producers will pay the price for decades.

This government also cut the Wine Tourism and Cellar Door Grants Program. It's a vital lifeline for regional wine businesses. Then they flooded our market with cheap European wine, directly harming our local premium producers. They seem more focused on pleasing their friends in Brussels and Bordeaux than supporting local regions like Clare and the Barossa Valley. Minister Gallagher publicly posted how this would allow her to get cheaper wine from France. Again, this Labor government is putting Australia second.

First, the regions got a terrible deal with the EU and this wonky defence deal. Then came the budget, and things get better: $4.7 billion cut from infrastructure spending—two per cent of that is for regional Australia; $21.4 million cut from regional communications; $103 million cut from the National Water Grid; and $191 million cut from the pest and diseases fund, regional trade and drought funding for farmers, with $52 million cut from the Future Drought Fund. The Prime Minister gave his word to regional Australia, but, as we know, his word is his bond, and that bond is pretty damn flimsy.

I want to finish by speaking directly for the workers of regional South Australia. The hardworking men and women in the smelter, in the steelworks, in the vines, in the fishing boats, in the fields and, of course, in our towns do not want deals with Europe or heavy green tape costs handed down from Canberra or, indeed, Brussels. They want a government that fights for their jobs, protects their local industries and backs their local communities completely. I will always stand up for regional South Australia, and I call on this government to do the same and stop abandoning our regions and start delivering the real support our industries need to survive.

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