Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Is it not a fact that the removal of the 25 per cent import tariff on utes under the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement is the primary reason—as expressed by Mr Kevin Foley, the South Australian Treasurer—that Holden is now able to export the iconic Australian ute to the United States? Why did the minister studiously avoid mentioning the US free trade agreement in his dixer yesterday about Holden’s impending ute exports? Is it because the minister remains fundamentally opposed to free trade? How can the minister be both opposed to free trade and an economic conservative, as he so laughably claims?