HOST, MICHAEL CONDON: Well, in the light of that news that China has licensed a number of red meat processing plants for export and the relaxation of those Apple export protocols, Assistant Trade Minister Tim Ayres says Australia is on the right. He says comments from the Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, that China is our biggest threat are unhelpful domestic political rhetoric coming straight out of the Morrison playbook. Tim Ayres says the ALP makes no apology either for its move to phase out of the dwindling and cruel live sheep trade. And he says processing meat here makes much more economic sense, increasing value and employment in country towns. He says the Trump trade tariffs have upended world trade principles, but the Albanese government had planned for that likely scenario.
SENATOR TIM AYRES, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR A FUTURE MADE IN AUSTRALIA AND TRADE: We really don't see these things from that political prism in the government. It's one of the defining features of the Albanese government's approach to international affairs and to prosecuting Australia's national interests overseas. The Morrison government, and the signs are Peter Dutton is the same, seeks to use these issues for domestic political advantage and domestic political campaigning, that is a fatal mistake because it means that you stop acting in government in the national interest and start trying to seek domestic political advantage. So, you make bad calls. And I think that's been in the interests of Australian exporters and it's been the interests of Australian farmers. Secondly, the Trump administration's tariff decision, unwelcome as it is, has been a predictable development.
HOST. So, not a surprise. But I guess maybe the scope of it was a surprise because no one really expected him to, you know, set up a full blown trade war.
SENATOR AYRES: Unwelcome 10% tariffs, but no country has achieved a better result.
HOST: Yeah, but I'm really talking about China.
SENATOR AYRES: Oh, yeah.
HOST: I mean, no, no, no—
SENATOR AYRES: I absolutely appreciate that point, but just to make the point that at the bilateral level that's the case. It's certainly the case that in terms of, you know, the knock on effects, the second round effects from high tariffs, whether it's on China or some of our other neighbours in the ASEAN region, these are damaging for international trade, damaging for the norms and rules around international trade and Australia relies upon that. Australian farmers rely upon an open rules-based trading system and that is what we are fighting to preserve.
HOST: I was speaking to a few farmers about this issue in the debate where Peter Dutton said that China is the biggest threat. And then Anthony Albanese was saying, well, they're also our biggest trading partner. And a number of farmers got very nervous. They were reminded about barley, they're reminded about the barley embargo, they're reminded about the wine embargo, they're reminded about the meat embargo. If we say things that are negative about China, they don't like it.
SENATOR AYRES: Well, it absolutely reminds Australians of the way that the Morrison government conducted itself, where they were using megaphone diplomacy internationally and then campaigning, then campaigning for their re-election. Putting the interests of Australia behind the partisan interests. That's the problem. And it just looks like Peter Dutton hasn't learned the lessons of that. When we were elected in 2022, where there was $20 billion worth of barriers to Australian trade, we've worked our way through those, led by Don Farrell and Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong, in a structured way to remove all those impediments. Just yesterday, new announcements in terms of access for Australian apple farmers to the Chinese market. So, you know, the area that I used to work in, in Batlow, and very welcome developments for the apple industry. More than 17 red meat facilities exporting to China. And that's not assisted by hyperbolic partisan rhetoric, it's assisted by a calm of what is in Australia's interest, and then working assiduously to achieve the right outcome for our exporters as well as the right outcome for the Australian national interest.
HOST: And do you think that's a byproduct of the Trump trade war with China, that that's why we're getting these new markets?
SENATOR AYRES: It's certainly the case that this disruption in global trade markets offers risk, but it also offers opportunity. And that is why it is very important that we've got a government carefully prosecuted in the Australian national interest. Not being blowhards, not bellowing about international affairs, but precisely working in Australia's interest, always being on the Australian side of the argument, whether that's whether that's for our beef exports or whether it's for people who run apple orchards or who are making decisions about what crops to plant next year.
HOST: Should I plant more barley or wheat?
SENATOR AYRES: Yeah, well, that's the practical decisions that, that farmers have to make.
HOST: What do you say to those farmers that are still very angry about the live sheep trade finishing up? And, you know, they're worried that we'll have this influx and price reduction from all this lamb coming, all this sheep coming over from WA into New South Wales.
SENATOR AYRES: This is a decision that was flagged by the Labor Party in opposition. And there is a strong consensus even in Western Australia that the live sheep export trade had to come to an end and could not be sustained. It's much smaller than it's historically been already. There's a very significant package there on offer for the industry. It does mean that there is an opportunity there for industry to diversify and to move up the value chain into boxed meat products and processed meat products overseas. For those farmers who were completely invested in sheep live exports, it's been an unwelcome development. We appreciate that. They've absolutely got a right to have their say.
HOST. So, those abattoirs and are now open to sheep meat and lamb processing and goat processing that were announced. That's not a coincidence. You know, the live sheep trade and more processing of sheep and lambs here in Australia going to China.
SENATOR AYRES: Well, that's where, as a government, Agriculture Minister Julie Collins and Don Farrell, the Trade Minister, have been working with the sector to advance more opportunities for red meat exports opening up for those facilities that had been banned in China. Diversifying the markets to which we sell and diversifying the products and services that we offer the world. And that includes in Australian agriculture. I want to see more moving up the valley value chain. More good jobs crowded in country towns processing Australian agricultural products for overseas.
HOST: Because I mean there's not a lot of jobs in the live sheep trade but there are a lot of jobs in meat processing.
SENATOR AYRES: There are good jobs in meat processing. I’ve recently been in Tamworth and Bourke. It creates good high quality manufacturing jobs for people who live in country towns and the surrounding areas. And more value-added products, more diversification for the Australian economy, which makes agricultural communities, regional Australia and Australia more broadly more economically resilient. That's what we—That's the government's objective here.
HOST: That's Assistant Trade Minister Tim Ayres. You're listening to the Country Hour.
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