Sarah Ferguson, Host: The Trade Minister is Don Farrell, he joins me from Canberra. Don Farrell, welcome to 7:30.
Minister for Trade and Tourism, Don Farrell: Nice to be with you Sarah.
Ferguson: Just a question about the fuel crisis first of all, the Energy Minister announced today changes to diesel standards. Is this an indication of how worried the government is about supply, particularly going into next month?
Minister Farrell: Sarah, look, we did something similar with petrol a few weeks ago. Obviously, we want to ensure that motorists continue to get supply, this is one lever that Minister Bowen has, and he's exercised that lever to put more diesel into the system, just as we did a couple of weeks ago with petrol.
Ferguson: Yes, but is this an indication of concern about what's coming down the track, particularly in April?
Minister Farrell: I think this is an indication, Sarah, that we recognise that there are serious issues here, that the government needs to do things that can ameliorate the system, the situation, and as we did with petrol, we've got some levers that we can exercise in respect of diesel, and that's exactly what we're doing.
Ferguson: As we just saw in Jacob's package there, the European Commissioner Ursula van der Leyen, described the world as brutal and harsh. Is it Donald Trump and the excesses of his second term that have pushed both sides into wanting to make this deal now?
Minister Farrell: Look, we've been trying for this deal a long time before Donald Trump even contemplated becoming President of the United States.
Ferguson: Yes, but it's been It's been signed now. Is it the world that he has created, that brutal and harsh regime that Ursula von der Leyen referred to today?
Minister Farrell: Well, I'm not sure she was referring to him when she made those comments.
Ferguson: The world.
Minister Farrell: The world. Look, the world has become far more difficult to deal with and that's why the policy of this government has been to diversify our trading relationships. When I came to the job four years ago, we had $20 billion worth of trade impediments with China. Bit by bit, we managed to remove all of those. We've signed a free trade agreement just recently with the United Arab Emirates and before this trouble began, our exports had doubled to the UAE. We signed a free trade agreement with the United Kingdom, and again, our exports are doubled – in the case of beef, they went up three times – and we signed an agreement with India. So, this sort of completes the picture.
We now have 90% of the world's trading partners, with free trade agreements. So, it's all about looking to the future and right now, Sarah, it's really Important that we, as a small trading nation, send a message to the rest of the world that there are countries and regions that still believe in free and fair trade. Our country, for its prosperity, so much relies on trade, and we have to send that message. I think today, with President von der Leyen and the Prime Minister, we sent a very strong message to the rest of the world, that yes, Australia and Europe both believe in free and fair trade.
Ferguson: Now, you did walk away from earlier negotiations with the European Union in 2023 because of a failure to strike a good deal, in particular a good enough deal on agriculture. So, we heard that there have been some angry responses today, particularly from the beef, from the beef and red meat sections, sectors, of agriculture. To answer this, how is 35,000 tonnes, which is the quota that you've got of beef good enough for a population of 450 million people in the European Union?
Minister Farrell: So, the undertaking I gave to the beef industry and in fact to the rest of agriculture, was that we would get a better offer than had previously been offered to us the last time we met, that the conditions associated, particularly with beef would be reduced so that we could meet all of the requirements to get that 35,000 tonnes to delivered into Europe, and finally, and I think most importantly, that we get a second crack at the tonnages.
Ferguson: Well, let me just ask you this. Let's make some comparisons. You referred to the deal that we have with the United Kingdom, that is 60,000 tonnes of beef. Canada sends 50,000, Brazil, almost 50,000 tonnes of Europe. So, how is our 35,000 tonnes for Australia a win for Australia?
Minister Farrell: Well, can I talk about the Canadian numbers there?
Ferguson: I'd rather you talk about why ours is only at 35,000.
Minister Farrell: OK, but can I explain to you, and I do need to explain this, Sarah. So, if you read the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, sure it says that Canada has got the right to export 50,000 tonnes of beef into Europe. But in the 10 years that free trade agreement has been in existence, not one kilo of Canadian beef has been delivered to Europe. On the other hand, because we've changed the conditions attached to our 35,000 tonnes, we will get every single kilo into Europe. So, over two years, 70,000 tonnes which is going to be worth about $1.2 billion.
It's a very significant amount of exports into the European Union, and can I explain this, Sarah - when we came to government four years ago, our total beef exports were $9 billion, last year they were $18 billion and they're growing. They'll be higher again this year, and that $1.2 billion over two years will significantly add to our beef exports right around the world. But importantly, we need to send a message that countries shouldn't go down the protectionist road, that they should continue to open their markets. That's what we've done with Europe and if you have a look at all of the other agricultural products that we have managed to get increased volumes for ---
Ferguson: Yes, let me just step in so I can ask you a couple of those. So, as we understand it, Australian growers get to keep European food names for some products so we can keep buying Australian Parmesan, Kransky and Prosecco but will those names be eventually phased out for export into Europe?
Minister Farrell: I'm not aware that we export any of those products into Europe.
Ferguson: So that's not the issue. So, will we get to keep calling Parmesan, Australian Parmesan, Prosecco, Kransky, will we be able to do that in perpetuity?
Minister Farrell: Yes.
Ferguson: So, we don't need a new name for Prosecco in Australia. We can just call it Prosecco forever?
Minister Farrell: No, one of the arguments I used, particularly with my counterpart, the Trade Minister, Maroš Šefčovič was that after World War II, we accepted millions of migrants from Europe. They bought themselves, they bought their family, they bought their culture, but more importantly, they bought their food. And for them, the connection to, say, Parmesan, if you're of Italian heritage is not just an economic connection, it's a cultural connection, and we managed to convince the Europeans that those sorts of names were a way in which Australians of European heritage continued to have that connection with Europe and that we should keep them and that was an important part of the overall agreement. You've got to look at the totality of the agreement.
Ferguson: Understood.
Minister Farrell: My job is to make a national interest assessment of the deal in totality, and the assessment I made, that given the improved offers that we had received from the Europeans, and given the timing and the need to demonstrate that we still believed in free and fair trade, now was the time to sign that agreement. Can I point out that the agreement that the Europeans have just signed with India has no agricultural access, so there'll be no future agreement that the Europeans reach that will have agricultural access. If we had not reached agreement yesterday, then any future discussions with the Europeans would not have included any agricultural access.
Ferguson: Don Farrell, thank you very much indeed for joining us. I understand it's a huge deal and we could only scratch the surface, but thank you for joining us.
Minister Farrell: Thanks Sarah.