Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister inform the House how the China-Australia free trade agreement will boost growth and create jobs in the red meat and livestock sector, including in my electorate of Capricornia?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is great to have a question from the member for Capricornia, the beef capital of Australia, which I was pleased to visit just the other day. This government has delivered over the past 12 months. The carbon tax is gone. That is a saving of $550 for the average Australian household. We have all but stopped the boats and that means that lives are being saved. We are building the roads of the 21st century and that is giving the people of Australia who would otherwise be stuck in traffic jams their lives back. And we are getting the budget back under control because that means that taxes can be cut.

Almost nothing that this government has done will make as much difference to the long-term future of our country as the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement. Again, I congratulate the Minister for Trade and Investment for his extraordinary work. This free trade agreement will be good for jobs, good for consumers and good for growth, and it sets up our country for the future. The Howard government started it, and the Abbott government has delivered it. It is good for jobs, it is good for consumers and it is good for our exports.

The OECD says that beef will become the fastest growing import into China. As China becomes more middle class, its diet will become more middle class. Under the free trade agreement, beef tariffs, currently up to 25 per cent, will, when it is fully implemented, drop to zero. The 12 per cent on beef offal will be entirely gone; sheepmeat tariffs of up to 23 per cent will be gone too; and the 10 per cent tariff on live cattle exports to China will be gone as well once the free trade agreement is fully implemented. It is no wonder that Meat & Livestock Australia said:

The Australian red meat and livestock sectors will benefit by $11 billion from the elimination of tariffs negotiated under the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

All these people shouting—you would think they would be pleased. Meat & Livestock Australia also said:

Few other initiatives pursued by the Australian Government could do more to improve supply chain returns than a true free trade agreement with China.

Opposition members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There will be silence on my left, particularly the member for Hotham.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I guess all this shouting means that members opposite are against it—that is the only conclusion we can come to.

Mr Dreyfus interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Isaacs!

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Trade means jobs; freer trade means more jobs—that is why free trade agreements are at the heart of our agenda for a strong and prosperous economy.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is impossible to hear answers being given in this place with the cacophony coming from my left. It is to cease. If it means a whole lot of people have to be removed in order for that to happen, so be it.