Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

That is actually a very serious supplementary question from Senator Sinodinos because there are very significant costs related to a potential delay in this. If we do not get the agreement signed by the end of the year, the NFF, for example, says the delay will cost the agricultural sector alone $300 million in 2016 and that will have untold flow-on effects to both rural and regional economies. If they are not interested in agricultural, maybe the Financial Services Council might get their attention. They have warned that if the ChAFTA is stopped, it would cost our economy more than $4 billion and almost 10,000 jobs in financial services alone by 2030. That is what the unions, currently backed by Labor, are apparently campaigning to stop. It is incomprehensible. As Jennifer Westacott says, this is one of the greatest trade opportunities this country will ever have. If we do not take it now, if we miss it now, we will have nobody else to blame but those opposite.