Interview with Karl Stefanovic, Today Show

Karl Stefanovic, Host: Fair bit going on in the world this morning. Trade Minister Don Farrell joins us now live from Canberra. Minister, good morning to you. Nice to see you this morning. Look, I'm going to start with a pretty simple question for a man of your intellect. Is Adam Bandt living in an alternate universe?

Minister Farrell: Look, I think he is, Karl. I saw what the Greens did in the last Parliament, particularly in the last Senate. They had the opportunity to support some progressive legislation, particularly on things like housing, which would have certainly eased the situation for housing in this country. They decided to line up with the Coalition and block that legislation for almost the entire period of the last Parliament. I think the reason that they've done so badly in this election is because their supporters wanted them to support the Government's progressive policies and they were doing exactly the opposite. This reminds me, Karl, of what happened to the Australian Democrats when they supported the GST. So, called progressive parties have to support progressive policies in the Parliament or they get thrown out.

Stefanovic: Alright, you've got to get on with it. Now, there are few things more important than sorting out or trying to sort out, get to the bottom of what tariffs are going to look like with the US, have you had any contact with the US yet since you've been re-elected?

Minister Farrell: Well, until I'm endorsed as the new Trade Minister, which I'm hopeful that I'm going to be, we haven't had any direct discussions with the United States. We've been in caretaker, you know, in the caretaker convention. So, when we resolve who's in the ministry and who the new Trade Minister is, then we'll get to work straight away in ensuring that we represent Australia's interests in negotiations with the United States.

Stefanovic: That's fairly pressing. I guess some people out there would have thought, well, hang on a second - I don't know why Don's not on the plane or a government representative isn't on the plane already. What is the timeline on that?

Minister Farrell: Look, we have an offer into the United States already. It's not as if we've been doing nothing. We have an offer into the United States and we are waiting for a response from them. So, we've done everything on our side of the equation that we can do. It's now up to the United States to respond and say, look, we accept your offer, we reject your offer, or we think it should be something different. But don't worry, Karl, we'll be onto this as quickly as we possibly can.

Stefanovic: All right. I was losing a bit of sleep. Look, negotiations look positive between the US and China. But how confident are you of a better outcome than where things stand right now? Not just for them, but for Australia.

Minister Farrell: Look, it's absolutely vital that the United States and China resolve their issues regarding tariffs. We're subject to a 10% tariff going into the United States. The Chinese are subject to a 145% tariff and that potentially kills stone dead exports from China into the United States. China is our largest trading partner and we supply them with a lot of the raw material that ends up going into products that are sold around the world, but in particular to the United States. It's absolutely vital for our interests that China and the United States resolve their issues. Australia supports free and fair trade. We will have a discussion very soon with the Europeans about a new free trade agreement. We're talking to the Indians about another trade agreement and within a couple of weeks we'll have a new free trade agreement with the United Arab Emirates. The way of thinking about that is it's like the Woolies warehouse of the Middle East. If you can get your product into the United Arab Emirates, then you get into all of the surrounding countries.

Stefanovic: Yes. Looks the place to be at the moment, doesn't it? Just really, finally, you mentioned India and this trade deal with India. How disturbing do you think this conflict is going to be there? And your warning to Aussies?

Minister Farrell: Well, first warning would be to be very careful. We don't like conflict. We support peace in our region and I'm sure our Foreign Minister, Penny Wong will be speaking to her counterparts to ensure that we are promoting peace in our region. That's, that's what we want to see, you know, in our own region. We want to see that around the world. We want to see an end to conflict in the Middle East, into Ukraine, Russia, but most particularly we don't want to see more conflict in our region.

Stefanovic: Okay, good to talk to you, Don, as always, appreciate your time.