Kieran Gilbert: The coalition led by Matt Canavan, in his arguments, the Shadow Trade Minister have come out very strongly against the Government's EU FTA. I caught up with the Trade Minister, Don Farrell. I asked him about the Marrickville Golf Club grant and the debate around that. But I began by asking him about his response to a letter from Shadow Foreign Minister Ted O'Brien with his concerns.
Minister for Trade and Tourism, Don Farrell: I've made very clear that we need to get this EU free trade agreement up in the national interest and I'm happy to talk to anybody, including Ted. I'm a little bit surprised the letter didn't come from their Shadow Trade Minister, Matt Canavan. But look, whoever on the coalition side would like to engage with me about how we get this agreement through the Parliament, I'm happy to do it. I said on Andrew Clennell's show last week, I'll clear my diary if they want to come and talk to me. So, the offer is there. The offer is there. We desperately want this agreement to go through the Federal Parliament. It's billions of dollars worth of new trade to Australian businesses. The trade situation right around the world is very uncertain at the moment. We want to provide more certainty for Australian farmers, Australian miners and Australian businesses.
Kieran Gilbert: They're saying that the access for agriculture, firstly, is not good enough. They're saying that it's too tied to European demands on climate on both those fronts. Are you willing to renegotiate?
Minister Farrell: Don't forget, for 10 years we've been trying to get an agreement here. Mathias Cormann tried to get an agreement, Steven Ciobo tried to get an agreement, Simon Birmingham tried to get an agreement, and Dan Tehan tried to get an agreement. We've got an agreement now. It took us five years. I accept that it took us five years.
Kieran Gilbert. So you can't renegotiate it? This is done.
Minister Farrell: Can I ask you to have a look at what's going on in Europe right now Kieran? There's protests in France, people have occupied the Colosseum, and in Germany, the far right are winning elections in many of the states. This agreement stands. But. But look, if -
Kieran Gilbert: When you point to that instability, though, are you saying it would be too risky for us to start re-litigating this?
Minister Farrell: It's not a case of being too risky. This is 10 years of work by various Australian Ministers. Mathias Cormann and Simon Birmingham have very strongly, over the last couple of weeks, come out and backed this agreement. They couldn't get an agreement. We did get an agreement.
Kieran Gilbert: But when you talk about chaos, though, that's happening in Paris, in Germany, in Italy, elsewhere... Can you elaborate on that for me? What do you mean by that?
Minister Farrell: Look, the opportunity to accept or reject this agreement is right now. The instability in Europe just makes it harder to get an agreement. The choice that Matt Canavan is offering Australian farmers is this: reject this agreement, and I'll get you on a better agreement sometime in the future. But the real choice here is, Kieran, is reject this agreement or get no agreement in the future.
Kieran Gilbert. So, what do you say to the cattle producers who say they don't have enough access or lamb or the other producers?
Minister Farrell: Can I make this point about the cattle producers? When we came to government five years ago, they sold $9 billion worth of beef into the international market. Last year, Australian cattle producers, a wonderful product, sold $18 billion worth of product into the international market. They wanted, in the first three years of this agreement, $3 billion worth of new access. I got them $2 billion worth of new access. Okay, it's not three billion, but two billion is a very significant figure. And my job is to represent the national interest, not just one section of the Australian economy. Every other industry in Australia, including every other agricultural industry, strongly supports this agreement.
Kieran Gilbert: Ok and in that sense-
Minister Farrell: Can I just finish that point?
Kieran Gilbert: Sure, sure.
Minister Farrell: I can't say to industry in Australia just because the beef industry didn't get everything they want, you're not going to get anything that you want. This agreement is just too important.
Kieran Gilbert: You can't renegotiate. You can't change the agreement. You've got to either get the coalition on board or get enough of their senators to cross the floor or to get the Greens on board. Are you confident you will have the numbers to get this through?
Minister Farrell. So, the way it starts, at the moment I've got 30 votes. And Matt Canavan, who's made it clear that the Nationals are opposing it, he's got four votes. The key number here is 39. I'm confident that of the other 46 senators, there'll be enough people who understand just how important this agreement is to the national interest to vote in favour of this agreement.
Kieran Gilbert: Alright, we will, we will see. I want to ask you quickly about an important issue. It's been generating a lot of interest in question time about the Prime Minister, about that grant to Marrickville Golf Club. He got it wrong when he told the Parliament that it was about sewage. It wasn't. He's conceded as much. Should he apologise to the Australian people for getting that wrong?
Minister Farrell: Oh, look, I think the Prime Minister answered this question honestly. He, you know, made it clear that he had made a mistake there. I think he's done the right thing and that should be the end of the matter.
Kieran Gilbert: You don't think it should be looked at by others? Maybe the NACC or others, given we're talking $6 million. It’s not a small amount.
Minister Farrell: No, but every political party goes into an election making promises in that particular electorate; there's nothing unusual that's happened here that hasn't happened in every other single election.
Kieran Gilbert. So, he admitted he got it wrong, but should he apologise?
Minister Farrell: Look, look-
Kieran Gilbert: You see, that's the end of it.
Minister Farrell: Look-
Kieran Gilbert: He should apologise?
Minister Farrell: I think he's explained the situation in Parliament yesterday. I believe that is the end of it Kieran.
Kieran Gilbert: Trade Minister Don Farrell. Thanks for your time. I appreciate it.
Minister Farrell: Great to be with you, Kieran. As always.