Hansard debates

Mrs McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (13:50): I thank Mr Davis for moving notice of motion 423 on the unjustified Chinese tariffs on Australian products. I raised this matter in the house last night in the adjournment debate, and I noted that in June the Premier had said:

… if you want a good trading relationship, if you want to send more Victorian-made product to China, to create jobs here in Victoria, then a good relationship on the things you can agree on is very, very important.

The Premier has clearly been duped by a foreign power. The Premier seriously thought and maybe still thinks that him allowing a communist dictatorship to expand their political influence and economic power in our state meant that they would uphold their end of the deal and allow more of our products to be sold on their markets. This is what happens when you make deals with foreign powers and ignore the briefings offered by ASIO, ASD and the Office of National Intelligence on the threat of foreign interference. The Premier was completely out of his depth when he made this deal, further proof that governments should always stick to their own knitting. The Victorian government should never be indulging itself in foreign affairs and making agreements with other nations, the federal government should not be funding local clubs and roads and the local government should not be passing ridiculous resolutions on climate change and nuclear proliferation.

The Premier has embarrassed this state, and the consequences are dire. Not only will a foreign dictatorship that utilises slave labour and oppresses ethnic minorities be able to expand its political and economic influence in this state but now it is punishing our rural communities too. Country Victoria depends on the agricultural sector for its economic vitality. When China introduces tariffs on our agricultural products, rural Victoria bears the brunt. Every year country Victoria exports approximately $167 million worth of wine, $1 million worth of lobster and millions of dollars worth of barley, timber and wool to China. Maybe the shops in Mulgrave will not be adversely affected by these trade restrictions. Maybe Bourke Street and Treasury Place will not even notice any changes, but for rural and regional Victoria, losing access to key export markets can be devastating for many businesses.

The government benches this morning have continued to argue that the Belt and Road deal is about more jobs for Victoria. Clearly it is a complete failure. These trade restrictions will cost jobs, not create them. On every metric the agreement signed by the Victorian government is unsuccessful, never mind being ill conceived in the first place, and this Labor government has to decide whose side they wish to bat on: the Chinese communist dictatorship or Victorian farmers. If the close relationship Daniel Andrews has supposedly developed with his friends in Beijing actually exists, then he needs to pick up the phone and demand an end to this blockade of Victoria’s vitally important products. Indeed if his relationship is so close to the Chinese Communist Party, the Premier could play a leading role in having the CCP pull back from their belligerent anti free trade approach. Our farmers are probably the most efficient and productive in the world. Their produce is widely sought and highly regarded, as the minister has said, and she has repeated that. So the government needs to support our farmers, and if our numerous Victorian trade reps that the minister referred to in China cannot put a stop to this communist belligerence then they need to have their roles reconsidered. I urge the Parliament to support this motion. It is vitally important for our agricultural industries.