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

Sometimes I like to have a beer. Beer is made through a process of brewing a starch source, usually a premium Western Australian barley, into a sugary liquid which is then fermented with yeast. Barley is Western Australia's second-largest cereal crop, being 25 per cent of the state's total grain production and producing over a billion dollars in export earnings each year. Thirty per cent of the barley produced is delivered as malting grade, destined for the international beer industry. In Hasluck we know all about quality WA barley and quality WA beer, and we are blessed with many quality brewers. These include funk 2.0, Valley Social, Mash Brewing, Duckstein Brewery, Bailey Brewing in Henley Brook, Baskerville Tavern and Txoko Brewing in Baskerville, the Homestead Brewery at Mandoon Estate in Caversham and the Swan Valley Brewery in Middle Swan.

There are many people in parliament who also know too well the sweep of quality produce from Western Australia and, in particular, the Swan Valley, having attended the very successful WA showcase in the Great Hall of the parliament this week. There were excellent manufactured products and excellent primary products.

It would be no surprise to me if it is not just Australia that is celebrating the lifting of tariffs on barley and the improving trade relations with China; I'm quite sure that brewers and consumers alike in China are celebrating. The ongoing stabilisation of trade relations with China, our most important trading partner, continues under the constructive, productive stewardship of this government.

The announcement of the reinstatement of CBH and Emerald Grain by China yesterday was the result of ongoing discussions on biosecurity issues, which have come to a resolution, and follows last week's confirmation that China would remove the duties on Australian barley. The skilful and steadfast work done by many ministers—notably, Foreign Minister Wong, Trade Minister Farrell and Agriculture Minister Watt—means that barley growers across Australia, including our growers in Western Australia, can once again benefit from the breadth of the Chinese market, which is measurable. Prior to the disrupting imposition of those duties, China was Australia's most valuable export partner for barley, worth around $960 million in 2018-19, which was about 70 per cent of that export market.

I've no doubt that Australia has also been well served by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in those negotiations, and I place on the record here my thanks to our public servants. This is a great outcome for Aussie farmers and will make a real difference across our economy and for beer drinkers around the world.