Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. How is the Albanese government working to normalise our trade relationship with China? And what results have we seen so far?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hasluck very much for her question. I've said for a long period of time now that we will co-operate with China where we can, we'll disagree where we must and we'll engage in our national interest. The decision by China to remove the 80.5 per cent antidumping and countervailing duties on Australian barley should be welcomed by all Australians. This is a decision that is good for Australia, but it's also good for China, because they get access to the best barley in the world—the best barley in the world. These duties had effectively blocked barley exports worth over $900 million. This is a decision that's good for our economy, good for agriculture and good for jobs—and I'm sorry that it's opposed by some of those opposite. One in four Australian jobs are in exports. Jobs in export industries have higher-than-average pay. Trade contributes 30 per cent of GDP. And China is by far our biggest export market.

The result is the culmination of more than a year of work, and I want to pay tribute in particular to Don Farrell, the trade minister, and also Penny Wong, our foreign minister, for their calm, consistent, responsible approach, standing up for Australia's interests. They have had a sustained engagement. Our approach has been serious and sustained. We have continued to speak up for Australia's national interests and we will continue to do so—on human rights and on the need for economies and the rule of law to properly operate.

But we do say that there is an interest in China receiving our goods, just as there is an interest in Australia exporting those goods. It is in Australia's interest to have a stable bilateral relationship with China, and we made it very clear that we were open to dialogue. I met with Xi Jinping in November last year, and I'm sure we will potentially meet again on the sidelines of the G20 meeting that is coming up in the future. I have also overseen a ministerial engagement, including between foreign ministers, trade ministers, defence ministers and others. We have made progress without shifting any of our fundamental positions on trade, on security or on regional stability. We'll continue to do so, by having respectful dialogue. That's in the interests of Australia's farmers. It's in the interests of our national economy. It's also in the interests of security in the region that we have constructive dialogue.