Portfolio — 26 March 2026
The Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Mr Thistlethwaite, used a Cairns Group ministerial meeting in Cameroon to restate Australia's position on WTO-based agricultural trade reform [TA-260326-dfat-e67ad7b6bc6b]. The Cairns Group — a 40-year-old coalition of 20 agricultural exporting nations that together account for more than one-third of global agricultural exports — gathered to reaffirm collective support for rules-based reform and the reduction of trade-distorting subsidies [TA-260326-dfat-e67ad7b6bc6b].
Mr Thistlethwaite framed Australia's core interest as sustaining a fair and open trading system, arguing that domestic agricultural competitiveness is structurally dependent on predictable international trade rules. He also acknowledged that farmers face ongoing vulnerability to market uncertainties, positioning the Group's reform agenda as a direct response to that exposure.
No parliamentary segment was present for this period; the record is drawn from the ministerial media release alone.
The official records this note draws on — the raw primary documents themselves, as published.