QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator CANAVAN (Queensland—Leader of the Nationals) (14:44): Minister, the Australian Dairy Industry Council has said that this deal is unfair on many fronts. Most notably, it expands access to heavily subsidised European dairy imports while failing to secure reciprocal access for Australian exports. The EU provides $17.8 billion dollars of subsidies a year to its dairy farmers, and the average European dairy farm receives 30 per cent of its revenue from government support, yet the minister has removed Australian tariffs on EU cheese in this deal.

Minister, why has the government sold out Australian cheesemakers in this terrible deal?