Press conference, Parliament House

Minister for Trade: Welcome everybody, and, to a Senate-only week in the Federal Parliament. Australia is a trading nation, and we know just how important it is to have diversified trading partners. More trade, with more trading partners, means more jobs for Australians, more opportunities, and a lower cost of living. The Albanese Government is delivering on our commitment to secure new trade and investment opportunities for Australian exporters, producers, farmers and businesses.

On Friday of last week, I held trade talks with my United Arab Emirates counterpart Dr Thani, and today I'm pleased to announce that we have concluded negotiations on a trade agreement between Australia and the United Arab Emirates. This is the first trade agreement with the Middle East. The UAE is not only our largest trade and investment partner in the Middle East, but it is also one of our most important strategic, diplomatic and defence partners in the region. The deal complements our strategic relationship with the United Arab Emirates, and it's the gateway for Australian exporters to diversify into the Middle East, with a potential market of 58 million people and a GDP of $1.4 trillion.

We have proven in the past that we don't sign trade deals just for the sake of trade deals. As everyone saw when we negotiated with the European Union, if a deal is not good enough for our producers, farmers and exporters, we won't do it. But this is a great deal for Australian exporters, with over 99 per cent of all Australian products entering the UAE tariff-free. This is a very good deal for Australian farmers and producers, including beef and sheep producers, with estimated tariff savings of $50 million each year for our food and agricultural exports alone.

The UAE has some of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world and this trade agreement will facilitate investment to help us become a renewable energy superpower. From a cost-of-living perspective, the agreement cuts Australian import tariffs on a range of household items and building supplies from the United Arab Emirates, making them cheaper at the checkout and lowering business costs for tradies of around $40 million a year. It also delivers strong outcomes for Australian service providers across 120 sectors, Australian growers and producers, Australian universities and First Nation businesses. I want to thank my UAE counterpart for the smooth and efficient way our negotiations have gone, and I also want to thank our Chief Negotiator, Mr Ravi, and all of the agencies who helped negotiate this deal. There's still a little bit of work to do before we finally sign the agreement in the weeks ahead, but we'll release more details over coming weeks.

I want to assure Australian businesses, exporters and producers that the deal we have concluded with the UAE is of high quality, and it's a very good deal for Australia.

Journalist: Don, can I please ask the imports coming in, so, what are we going to save at the checkout? What kind of building materials are going to be made cheaper, and when does this come into effect?

Minister for Trade: Well, it comes into effect when it passes through all of the processes. We're going to move as quickly as we can on those. You might recall, when we came to government, we very quickly implemented agreements with the United Kingdom and India. Both of those are now operating very, very successfully. We'll go through the relevant processes under our system, and we'll process those absolutely as quickly as possible. In terms of the detail, we'll be releasing the document shortly.

Journalist: Minister, can you say how much Australian exporters are likely to make from this trade deal, in terms of the total number?

Minister for Trade: Well, in totality, over an annual period, we're talking about tens of millions of dollars. We'll release the exact figures when we release the final document.

Journalist: Senator Farrell, through this process, the ACTU was pressing for you to dump the deal. They were worried about non-existent labour protections in the UAE, criminalisation of homosexuality, virtually non-existent action on climate change. Why should the UAE be giving preferential access to a trade agreement in Australia?

Minister for Trade: Well, our job is to get new trade agreements, because what we know is that trade is good for businesses, obviously, but it's also good for workers. In particular, the access to the UAE's sovereign wealth fund, which comes along with this agreement, will be very good for the government's Future Made in Australia program. So, I'm hopeful that the unions will welcome this agreement.

Journalist: One of the objectives of the economic partnership with the UAE is fostering cooperation and collaboration on gender and women's economic empowerment. Can you elaborate on what that will actually mean at a practical level?

Minister for Trade: All of those details will be released when the final documentation is released, James.

Journalist: Senator, does this agreement contain an investor-state settlement dispute mechanism? And secondly -

Minister for Trade: No.

Journalist: It doesn't? Okay. And secondly -

Minister for Trade: Well, we've seen what Clive Palmer's been doing with that in the last few days. This government has made it very clear that we will not introduce those clauses into our agreements. They're not necessary. They can potentially damage Australian companies, and we won't have them.

Journalist: This second question was about WA sheep farmers, who are furious about the decision to end the trade, the live trade, rather, with the Middle East. Could this potentially offset some of those financial losses?

Minister for Trade: Indeed, it could, and I'm sure it will. I'm sure the UAE understands just how important that trade is, not only to keep the supply of sheep meat into the Middle East, but to now do it in a cheaper way as a result of the drop in tariffs.

Journalist: Minister, does the agreement change the arrangements on foreign investment into Australia? And I especially want to focus on residential property because the Coalition has a policy that says there should be a two-year ban on foreigners buying residential property in Australia. Would this agreement help UAE residents buy residential property in Australia? What's your response to this broader argument about banning that residential property investment?

Minister for Trade: This agreement doesn't change any of the requirements under our foreign investment laws, so they have to comply with all of these foreign investment laws as they stand at the moment. What the agreement does do, however, is it facilitates the investment through the sovereign wealth funds of the UAE. These sovereign wealth funds are currently worth 1.7 trillion US dollars. We are a big country with a small population. We luckily have an overabundance of all of the critical minerals that we need to go to net zero.

Two weeks ago in Perth, I released 55 projects in the critical minerals space that require investment. Obviously, this gives the opportunity for the United Arab Emirates to start investing in some of those projects. Whether they go beyond that to commercial property, I'm not sure. But I'm absolutely certain that because of this new agreement, we will see a lot more UAE investment in our critical minerals space, leading to the net zero.

Journalist: Just to follow up on that. So, your hope is that the UAE will direct further - not that it will necessarily direct further investment into Australia's critical minerals space, but it opens the space up for that possibility?

Minister for Trade: Correct. So, what has gone with free trade agreements with the UAE - where there's been a free trade agreement with the UAE, the sovereign wealth fund has followed. There's almost an imprimatur by both governments that investment is welcome, and I'm absolutely certain that because of the interest in the critical minerals space by so many countries, including the UAE, that we'll get lots and lots of extra investment there.

Journalist: Minister, do you have perhaps a timeframe of when you might expect that sovereign wealth funding to follow the trade agreement, as you say? Does it have to come into, actually come into force first? And now that the European Parliament is done with its elections, are you looking to reopen trade talks with the EU anytime soon?

Minister for Trade: Well, look, I think what this agreement shows is that Australia is not the problem in terms of free trade agreements. We can enter free trade agreements where the deal is the right one for Australia. So, I'd welcome any discussions with any country that wants to have a free trade agreement with us. We're prepared to sit down and have discussions, but two things - Australia's national interest has to be paramount, and the deal has to be right for Australia.

Journalist: Minister, the Emiratis, I think, are leaning quite heavily into nuclear power as technology. Is there anything in this deal that would open the door for technology transfer or perhaps even the sale of uranium from our end?

Minister for Trade: No.

Journalist: Minister, can I just follow up on Dom's question earlier? You said this deal would be good for tradies. You said it will cut tariffs on household items and buildings supplies. Are you able to provide any detail about how tradies will benefit from this?

Minister for Trade: We'll provide the details when the final document is released.

Journalist: The sovereign wealth funds investment in Manchester City Football Club has been quite controversial. Indeed, there's a trial that began this week looking at how they've cut corners in their investment in their sponsorship in that club, which is one of the biggest football corporations, if you like, in the world. Were there any concerns or did you seek any reassurances about the wealth fund investing in Australian sport or not, or the parameters around it?

Minister for Trade: There were no specific discussions about sport. One more question. David?

Journalist: Just on a totally different subject, since we're here. There are a few headlines running now about a double dissolution election. Now, you're an esteemed member of the Upper House, you know the rules about calling double D's. Do you think we're heading for a double D election?

Minister for Trade: Look, the simplest way to avoid a double dissolution is for the Coalition and the Greens to get behind our housing bill. And if they do that, there is no trigger for a double dissolution, and we don't have to have one. Thanks very much.

Journalist: Would you be happy then to bring the Senate back on the week before Christmas?

Minister for Trade: To do what?

Journalist: To get the second half of the trigger.

Minister for Trade: Well, if we're going to come back to pass the legislation, we'll obviously pass the legislation and there won't be a trigger. So, we'll do everything we can to pass that legislation. Thank you very much.