Australia-EU Trade Deal Faces Parliament Fight as Nationals Leader Moves to Block It
CANBERRA — The Australia-European Union free trade agreement has split the federal Coalition as it heads for a parliamentary vote, Australian media reported on October 18. Nationals leader Matt Canavan is trying to block the deal, while a federal minister accused Nationals “fanatics” of leading the Liberal Party “by the nose” against its free-market and trade traditions.
The fight centres on farm access. Beef producers wanted market access quotas of 50,000 tonnes, but the agreement, finalised in March, secured 35,000 tonnes — an eight-fold improvement on current levels. Sheep meat exports landed at just under 31,000 tonnes, up from 5,800 tonnes.
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said this week the deal “is not perfect” but that “no agreements ever are.” Easier and greater access to a market of 450 million people “has the potential to be a general boost to our economy and to thousands of individual businesses,” he said. “We have been in protracted negotiations for a decade and while we have not got all we want, to turn our backs on the agreement now would be a major blow to Australia's long held support for free trade and open markets.” If the Coalition succeeded in blocking it, the deal would be the first free trade agreement not to pass Australia's parliament.
Sources: NewsWire; Australian Industry Group
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 澳大利亚堪培拉国会大厦。Photo by Nick Pitsas, CSIRO, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.
