Kieran Gilbert, Host: Joining me live in the studio is the Trade and Tourism Minister, the Senator for South Australia, Don Farrell. Thanks for your time. In relation to our LNG exports, I spoke to Madeleine King yesterday. She'd been meeting with her Asian counterparts in Singapore, Korea and elsewhere, but reminding export markets that our LNG will be a stable supply in the face of this disruption to Qatar and elsewhere, but particularly Qatar.
Minister for Trade and Tourism, Don Farrell: I think it's an important message to our East Asian friends that we are a reliable supplier of gas. We have never not delivered on one kilojoule of contracted gas. And when you see the troubles in the Middle East, I think it's dawning on all of these countries how good it is to have a relationship with Australia. We're reliable suppliers and there's a good supply chain. So, in every respect, I think the message, or the penny is dropping in East Asia that they need to continue purchasing Australian gas.
Host: Can we leverage that to to ensure an ongoing supply of oil, refined oil, where we get it from Singapore and elsewhere?
Minister Farrell: Look, as we know for the moment, we've got a sufficient supply of oil in Australia, petrol in particular–
Host: You spend a bit of time in the regions. I know you do in South Australia. Why those shortages? What's happening there, where's the blockage?
Minister Farrell: Look, look, I think these are – it's not everywhere. You can go out of here today and you can go into your local petrol station and there's no trouble buying petrol. There are localised issues for a range of reasons. I think the message as a government, we have to give people, look, don't panic. There is sufficient oil in the country. We just have to make sure that as a government, this is both federal and state governments, that we are getting those products out into the regions that need them. But there is sufficient oil in the country. We've just got to make sure it's at the right place at the right time.
Host: Are some of the companies just not acting appropriately or what's going on?
Minister Farrell: Look, I don't think–
Host: Is that your fear?
Minister Farrell: I don't think anybody could have anticipated three weeks ago that we'd be in this situation. As a government, what we try and do is act in a cool and calm fashion, understand the problem and provide a solution. And that's what Chris Bowen is doing right now. And we'll continue to do that until we make it clear to people that there is no reason to panic. There is sufficient oil in the country and hopefully, if this war ends soon, then things will simply return to normal.
Host: Yes, it's interesting point though, isn't it? We say hopefully because there's no certainty around it. But it's an important time to shore up other relationships. And on that front, before I ask you about South Australia and the election at the weekend, which you're watching closely, I want to ask you about the EU free trade, because we've been talking about that for a while.
Minister Farrell Long time.
Host: It's been a long time. A few hurdles to overcome. Where are we at?
Minister Farrell: So, I had a video meeting with my counterpart, Maroš Šefčovič last night, went for about an hour. We went through all of the outstanding issues. I think there are ways through all of those remaining issues and I'm confident that if there's goodwill on our part and also the Europeans, that in the very near future we will be able to announce a free trade agreement with the Europeans. It's been hard to get–
Host: What is that worth?
Minister Farrell: Look my guess is, if based on the current offer, about $10 billion extra trade for Australia in the first year, and that figure simply builds up. What you have to understand about the Europeans, they've got a population of 450 million people, an economy of $31 trillion. They are potentially our second largest trading partner if we can pull this off, and we've just got to get over those last few hurdles to get this agreement across the line.
Host: Do you see it as a strategic play as well, not just an economic play because of the uncertainty elsewhere around the world?
Minister Farrell: At the moment, it's both of those. You're right there, Kieran. We need to be able to demonstrate to the rest of the world that there are countries that still believe in free and fair trade and that we can reduce trade barriers, not increase them. The way Australia has produced its prosperity is by being outwardly looking, by delivering goods, wonderful food, wonderful wine, terrific manufactured products, minerals, to the rest of the world. It's absolutely more important than ever that we continue to be able to do that. The troubles in the Middle East are a wake up call, I think, to everybody that we need to diversify our trade relationship. Europe really is the last, the last key to all of that. And I'm hopeful that, as I say, with some goodwill over the next few weeks, that we can get an agreement across the line.
Host: We'll be watching that one very closely over that next little while. Let's bring the focus closer to home and the South Australian election on Saturday. The voting's well and truly underway with pre-poll. Your protégé, Peter Malinauskas, looks like he's a red hot favourite to hold on to government. But Ashton Hurn putting up a bit of a fight not just to hold seats, but also up against the One Nation flank. What's your best read ahead of the election day?
Minister Farrell: So, look, I think Ashton has done well in very difficult circumstances. She's got a very divided party and they have looked a little bit shambolic in the lead up to this election. And now of course she does face Cory Bernardi and One Nation on her right flank. But unfortunately she comes up against the standout politician of his generation, Peter Malinauskas. But if you have a look at Peter, he hasn't stopped, he hasn't sort of said, oh, look, I'm, I'm taking this for granted.
Host: Now you've got the MotoGP and–
Minister Farrell: He's out there, he's–
Host: But he didn't deliver on the big one, which no doubt will come up in the Sky News/Advertiser leaders' debate tomorrow. But the ramping issue, he said he was going to fix it. He hasn't fixed it.
Minister Farrell: Look, he's tried. It's proving a more difficult–
Host: The ambulance ramping for our viewers.
Minister Farrell: I certainly know what you're talking about there, Kieran. Look, it's a difficult issue to resolve and he's expressed his regret that he hasn't been able to resolve it. What you see is what you get with Peter. You know, if there's an issue he's not been able to fix, he comes out and tells you about it. But I think when you look at the state of the economy, we're now leading the nation in terms of economic growth, in terms of some of the big issues like housing. Nick Champion, the Housing Minister, is leading the country, really, in terms of providing new housing. And you've mentioned some of them, those sports events, they're very important for, you know, from my point of view, for tourism, for bringing people into South Australia and picking up the most recent one, the Moto GP has been a terrific development.
Host: Gather Round and LIV Golf, and it's all good. It's a great place to come and visit, that's for sure. If we get our Adelaide ambassador's hat on, it is a beautiful city – happy St. Patrick's Day too, by the way.
Minister Farrell: Same for you, Kieran.