Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture. Will the minister outline to the House what the historic Australia-China free trade agreement will mean for our horticultural and viticultural industries, particularly in my seat of Barker?

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to thank the member for Barker for his question, a member who is right at the epicentre of the horticultural industry and the biggest citrus growing area. He has invited me down there to Mt Gambier to see the livestock selling centres. The electorate of Barker also has the Murray land and the river land. But what it is about the seat of Barker is that it is the area where you can turn water into wine. We must remember that it is where the Barossa Valley is and obviously Coonawarra as well. It is good to be able to inform the people from the seat of Barker about some of the benefits that have been brought about by the great work of the trade minister. We are all endorsing the work of the trade minister.

The tariff on oranges will go from 11 per cent down to zero per cent over eight years, so the people in China get the capacity to enjoy our oranges from the seat of Barker. The tariff on grapefruit will go from 12 per cent down to zero over eight years. It was good work by the trade minister and the people of Barker can supply those products. The tariffs on lemons and on limes will go from 11 per cent down to zero. I once more commend the Minister for Trade and the great work he has done to help the people from Barker.

The tariff on grapes—fresh and dried—will go from 11 to 13 per cent down to zero. I am very happy to see the great work the almond company in Renmark has done with one of our fastest growing exports, with the tariff on almonds reduced down to zero to try and grow our economy, to make sure that more money goes back through the farm gate, to make sure that the mums and dads who suffered under the previous government actually start getting a fair return.

I am happy to see that in the wine industry the tariff on wine for less than two litres will go from 14 per cent down to zero over four to five years. The tariff on wine greater than two litres will go from 20 per cent down to zero over four years and the tariff on spirits and liqueurs will go from 10 per cent down to zero.

You could have actually guessed that this was going to be a good outcome, because Chile got a free trade agreement back in 2006 and they have had a sevenfold increase in their wine exports. Any person who was wise would have been able to look across the Pacific and say, 'We should do what they are doing.' But what were we doing instead of looking across to the Pacific? What we had was the Labor Party involved in this nefarious imbroglio of the Labor Party's leadership, which has been ably discussed by the Prime Minister, and chopping and changing between leaders. Instead of looking at Chile they looked at the East Timor solution, where they forgot to tell East Timor about it. Instead of looking across at Chile and seeing what they were doing, the Labor Party had the computers in schools program with a $1.4 billion blow-out. Instead of looking across at Chile to see what they were doing, so we could get a better return to our farmers, they were worried about set-top boxes. Do you remember that—$350 for a set-top box when you could buy it from Harvey Norman for $168? They were not looking across the Pacific; they were just looking at themselves.