AGRICULTURE and Water Resources Minister Barnaby Joyce has declared Australia wants to open the batting to score potential new trading opportunities for major farm exports like beef, post-Brexit.
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Mr Joyce spoke yesterday after returning from the G20 Agriculture Ministers meeting held in Berlin, Germany last week.
He said that event saw talks held with other countries in the region on emerging trade deals ignited by Brittan’s decision to exit the European Union last year.
Trading opportunities with the EU and the UK are now in play due to Brexit, with the UK “quite affirmed” of the fact they’re now “going it alone”, he said.
“In both discussions we said we want to be one of the first to the table to try and open the batting and see what we can achieve,” Mr Joyce said in light of the recent trade talks with the EU and UK.
“The more we achieve the more we move our beef, the more we move our wool, the more we more our mutton, the more we move our dairy products, the more we get the money that not only goes back into regional Australia but also goes back into our capital cities.”
Treasurer Scott Morrison this week is also holding discussions around a G20 meeting to advance trade deals for Australia with Europe and the UK.
Ahead of his departure, Mr Morrison said there had been recent attention on growing international anti-trade sentiment - but the Australian government was committed to pursuing policies that enhanced trade relationships.
He said the government was also committed to working internationally to challenge policies that would close international trade access for Australia.
“As Brexit takes shape, the Australian government will work to maintain and improve the close investment relationship between Australia and the UK,” he said.
“As trading nations, we have both benefited from globalisation.”
Mr Morrison said Prime Minister May’s comments last week on her government’s approach to Brexit underscored the UK’s commitment to the benefits of open trade in noting that ‘trade is not a zero sum game: more of it makes us all more prosperous’.
“Discussions during this visit will begin laying the foundations for Australia to strike new beneficial trade and investment arrangements with the UK that benefit our businesses, exporters and citizens,” he said.
Australia’s total trade with the UK was worth around AU$27 billion in 2015-16, with Australian exports worth around AU$12b and imports from the UK around AU$15b.
In 2014, the EU was Australia’s sixth-largest agricultural export destination behind China, the US, Japan, Indonesia and Korea.
Analysis in August last year on the impacts of the Brexit vote for Australian agriculture, by Australian Farm Institute executive director Mick Keogh, said it could be up to five years before the separation is in effect.
Mr Keogh said potential terms of a UK exit from the EU remained “quite unclear” but it was reasonable to assume the decision had three major implications which carried potential impacts for Australian agriculture.
They are: agricultural trade between EU nations and the UK will no longer be free of any tariffs or restrictions, the movement of people (especially workers) between the UK and the EU will face increased restrictions, and; the large subsidy that UK farmers currently receive from the EU each year will cease - but may be at least partly replaced with subsidies from the UK government.
Mr Keogh said it seemed likely that the UK’s dependence on agricultural imports from the EU would be reduced due to likely trade barriers which would open up opportunities for other nations to export agricultural products to the UK.
However, he said the UK currently accounted for only approximately 1.5 per cent of Australian agricultural exports - mostly wine, lamb and beef - and that number seemed unlikely to increase, even in the post-Brexit era, to any great degree.
“There are, however, some wider implications of Brexit and similar protectionist and isolationist sentiments evident in the current political landscape of the USA and Europe,” he said.
“These suggest that the trend over the past decade of reducing international barriers for agricultural trade may have reached its limits and that further progress in reducing global agricultural trade barriers will be difficult to achieve.
“For example, both main contenders in the current US Presidential contest have expressed outright opposition to the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership agreement, indicating that the likelihood of this agreement being implemented is now remote.
“For farmers in Australia and New Zealand who have long advocated for the removal of agricultural trade barriers, it may be time to take stock of the undoubted progress that has been made in recent years and to focus on ensuring that the benefits of recently negotiated trade agreements are not eroded by the adoption of non-tariff trade restrictions.
“It will also be important to ensure that the protectionist and isolationist sentiments evident in these global developments do not go unchallenged.”
Mr Keogh said the UK was one of Australia’s major agricultural export markets during the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries – but by 2015, local farm exports were predominantly destined for North Asia, including Japan, Korea and China, which collectively accounted for more than 40 per cent of total exports.
During his visit, Mr Joyce met with UK Secretary of State for Food and Rural Affairs, Andrea Leadsom, to discuss strengthening agricultural cooperation.
“I’m encouraged by the global appreciation of the role Australia can play on the integrated issues of water accessibility and global food security,” he said.
“The global population is expected to reach 8.5 billion by 2030 and almost 10 billion by 2050.
“This offers real opportunities for Australia’s agricultural sector as we work in partnership with countries across the world to address the global food and water challenges and demands of population growth.
“Ensuring we have enough safe, nutritious and affordable food to feed the world will only be possible if we continue to boost the productivity and profitability of the agricultural sector, manage water resources sensibly and have strong trade relationships locked in place.
“We will need exceptional policies to meet this challenge.
“We will need to incentivise farmers to embrace new and improved technologies with better returns at the farm gate.”
Mr Joyce told the G20 Ministers, “We will need to embrace genetic modification to achieve sustainability goals and drive freer trade where the world's farmers are recognised as partners instead of competitors”.