PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Ms LAWRENCE (Hasluck) (17:11): Like the member for Gippsland, I, too, celebrate our agricultural sector. I, too, grew up in the regions, particularly in Western Australia's oldest inland town of York. When we talk about agriculture, we should talk about outcomes.
I know the members opposite like to run the line that Labor isn't a friend of the regions, but members on this side of the chamber represent regional Australia too, and, in agriculture, we have runs on the board. Since the election of the Albanese Labor government in 2022, Australian agriculture has gone from facing major trade barriers and growing biosecurity threats to recording some of the strongest export performances in our history.
The Albanese Labor government has backed Australian farmers with practical action. Those opposite may have already forgotten, but let's remind them of the impact of their actions while they had their decade in government and what it resulted in for farmers across the country. The impact of former prime minister Scott Morrison's megaphone diplomacy cost Australian farmers.
Just to give some examples, wine tariffs went up 218 per cent. It cost Australian farmers about $1.2 billion a year. Barley, grown particularly in Western Australia, incurred an 80 per cent tariff under the national coalition government.
It cost us about $1.5 billion to $2 billion a year. Our beef sector suffered severe restrictions, along with our timber, cotton and coal. Our rock lobsters that were worth $750 million a year to our fisheries sector in Western Australia—gone.
The impact for Western Australia and national farmers was around $20 billion as a consequence of the Nationals and Liberals. Now, thankfully—mainly thanks, in fact, to the efforts of Minister Farrell—we've restored that access to our largest trading partner in China. So our barley, wine, beef, cotton producers, hay, timber and seafood have all now benefited from Labor being in government and doing sensible negotiations with our partners overseas.
Labor's also delivered the Australia-India Economic Cooperation Trade agreement. We brought the Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement into force as well, and we've concluded the UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which particularly opens up a significant market for sheepmeat. Then there's the Australia—European Union Free Trade Agreement, which Labor has managed to conclude the negotiations on.
Just as recently as last week, we had the Nationals leader prepared to sink this $10 billion free trade deal with the EU. Just think about the cost of this to farmers. This is duty free access for 97.8 per cent of the current value of all our exports from day one.
This would be a cost if we have the Nationals and Liberals return to government. Seafood would see tariffs, currently sitting around 26 per cent, back on again. Under the EU trade agreement, it would be free.
Our cereals and grain growers are currently getting tariffs of up to $166 a tonne. All of this will be gone and, under Liberals and Nationals, back on again. Sugar, beef, sheepmeat, honey, olive oil, dairy, rice, wine, horticulture, all of them are benefiting from an agreement that is going to be around $10 billion a year, an agreement that the coalition are prepared to walk away from.
That is not responsible, and it certainly sends extremely worrying signals to the market both here domestically and to our partners in the EU. This is the difference between Labor and the Nationals and Liberals: they are prepared to cost our farmers—hugely, significantly, literally—at the farm gate in order to make a political point. Australia has maintained record and near-record agricultural export performances, and we want to see those opportunities continue to grow because that then translates to more opportunities, not just in the production but for jobs as well.
In biosecurity, Labor introduced the National Biosecurity Strategy, a long-term funding model to ensure our system remains sustainable into the future. Why did we have to do that? Because the opposition, the Nationals and the Liberals—to coin a phrase made by one of the people from the department—had turned the finance into 'custard'.
On coming into office, Labor had to do a $127 million bailout because the department was literally looking to become unviable, potentially insolvent, after a decade of mismanagement. This matters to farmers. This is biosecurity.
Australia needs to uphold that, and the Nationals and Liberals are prepared to run that to the ground.