Transcript of interview with ABC WA Country Hour
Transcript, E&OE
9 June 2010
SKYE SHANNON: Now as we heard before, the Federal Trade Minister, Simon Crean, does say that agriculture is one of the stumbling blocks in a free trade agreement between Australia and Japan.
Last night he flew into Perth, after spending two days meeting with ministers in Japan. He says that talks are still ongoing and he's trying to find some other positives for agriculture.
SIMON CREAN: They want it, we want it. There are difficulties with it, particularly in agriculture, but they are difficulties that can be overcome in my view.
SKYE SHANNON: Did you have the chance, while you were there, to meet with the new Agriculture Minister, Minister Yamada?
SIMON CREAN: No, no, because he wasn't announced until the day I flew out. He was only announced as we were leaving. But again I make the point that yes, agriculture is a difficult issue in Japan. What we've tried to do is to say; let's not just look at agriculture in the context of trading commodities between the two countries. Let's go beyond that and understand Japan's challenge, food security. Let's look at ways in which we can improve the efficiency and productivity of the Japanese agriculture base. Let's look at ways in which we can address value-added issues and look to third market opportunities. So we can present it as a win-win outcome.
You see too much of the focus in this Free Trade Agreement is let's just look at the problems. We know what the problems are. They…
SKYE SHANNON: What are the problems?
SIMON CREAN: Well, the problems are agriculture. But the opportunities go far beyond it. That's the point I'm making Skye, and what we have to do is to develop the full picture and not ignore the difficulties, but understand the fuller picture.
SKYE SHANNON: The new Minister for Agriculture, Minister Yamada, has been highly critical of a free trade agreement between Japan and Australia, so how much do you think that dampens where you are at with negotiations now?
SIMON CREAN: Well it's a factor in the negotiations, but there's nothing new in the Agriculture Minister of Japan having a concern about agriculture in the free trade agreement. What is different though is that the economic ministers are really challenging within the government, the fact that we cannot be - just have our position determined by the difficulty of agriculture. We can't say nothing else can be done, because of the problems in agriculture.
SKYE SHANNON: Can you tell us in more detail which areas of agriculture and which particular imports we are likely to loose out on, and which ones we are looking in a much stronger position to bargain a little bit harder on?
SIMON CREAN: Well, as I say, except for rice, we already supply. Our position in the market is terribly strong, it's just that we are restricted in terms of what we can send in. So we want to be able to send more beef. We know the Japanese will consume it. They love it. We want to do the same with dairy. Rice, we've got a problem in terms of supply. We still want to get rice into Japan, which is a really sensitive issue up there, but given the problems that we've had with water and the failures of the crops, there's not a lot of surplus of that to supply.
We will be pushing in all of those areas.
SKYE SHANNON: Another issue that I would like to mention to you is that this new Agriculture Minister Yamada is closely aligned with the farm lobby in Japan. Now you mentioned that there are upcoming elections which no doubt means that the farm lobby is in force at the moment and they are against a Free Trade Agreement between Australia and Japan. How is that likely to impact on negotiations?
SIMON CREAN: The Agriculture Minister in Japan, whether he's the current one, or the previous one, has always been opposed to giving up market access. It's not the Agriculture Minister alone that will make the decision about where Japan goes on this free trade agreement. What we have is an Agriculture Minister who strongly represents the farm lobby, but you've got a Prime Minister, a Foreign Minister and a Trade Minister all of whom understand they need a free trade agreement with Australia for a whole range of other reasons. They understand the difficulties with agriculture. But they are not going to stand still, simply because of those difficulties. How we resolve them will be the subject of the negotiations. I'll come back on your program and talk about the success of those when we have them.
SKYE SHANNON : But are you concerned…the strong farm lobby…
SIMON CREAN: No I'm not.
SKYE SHANNON: …is going to dampen…
SIMON CREAN: What I am convinced about is the strength of commitment from Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Trade Minister. I mean when you've got a Foreign Minister gets up in a forum, in front of the business community in Japan, and says the Free Trade Agreement with Australia is our number one priority…
SKYE SHANNON : That may be the case…
SIMON CREAN: Well it is the case.
SKYE SHANNON : …but when we're looking at agriculture specifically, are you concerned that while you do have this commitment from the Trade Minister and the Prime Minister, that the strong lobby over there is going to dampen things?
SIMON CREAN: We've got to deal with that strong lobby over there - of course you do. If I believed that the strong lobby was impenetrable, we wouldn't have tried to get a Free Trade Agreement in the first place. I'm not concerned about it; I'm aware of it. So let's just get on with the negotiations.
SKYE SHANNON : Minister Crean, thanks for your time on the Country Hour.
SIMON CREAN: Thank you.
Media inquiries
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