Shadow Minister for Trade and Tourism, Kevin Hogan, has renewed his call for the Albanese Labor government to get Free Trade Agreement negotiations with Europe back on track.
Mr Hogan said European Union Commissioner Kadri Simson’s remarks at the National Press Club this week that the Australian Government is stalling negotiations are disappointing for Australian exporters.
“Commissioner Simson spoke of the EU leadership’s ‘surprise’ and ‘disappointment’ at Australia’s decision to halt negotiations and noted that all the Union’s main political parties are ‘very supportive’ of trade partnerships. The Commissioner also said the EU were still waiting for response to their proposal from Australia.”
Mr Hogan said Trade Minister Farrell has cited the upcoming European Parliament’s election in June as reason for the delay, however it is the European Commission rather than the Parliament that undertakes trade negotiations, and they retain their full powers until the end of the year.
“Serious questions remain unanswered about what happened in Osaka last year that led to the Minister killing the deal the day before the final round of negotiations were due to take place.
The Europeans are saying they were ready to negotiate and there were better offers to be made on the agricultural quotas, so why would the Minister kill the deal without even listening to what these offers were?”
When questioned in Senate Estimates in February, Minister Farrell admitted “labour market testing would have been one of the issues.”
For some visa types, employers seeking to sponsor workers must show they can’t find a suitable Australian worker. If they nominate an overseas worker, they need to test the local labour market. This typically involves advertising the position in Australia.
“We know the Australian union movement’s position on labour market testing in free trade agreements and we know the current Labor government is controlled by their union paymasters,” Mt Hogan said.
“However, an EU-Australia free trade agreement will be worth $40 billion a year in bilateral trade. It’s time to get back to the negotiating table with the European Commission.”
