INDUSTRY body the National Farmers Federation has urged political parties to vote against the proposed Australia–European Union Free Trade Agreement “as it stands”.
NFF president Hamish McIntyre said the deal offers no material improvement for key agricultural commodities from the proposal the Australian government “rightly rejected” in October 2023.
This is despite support for the FTA from leading economic commentators.
“The NFF has always supported free and fair trade, and more agricultural trade with Europe remains in Australia’s national interest,” Mr McIntyre said.
“But this agreement must deliver commercially meaningful and competitive access for Australian agriculture.
“The current one-sided deal would lock in decades of disadvantage, at a time when commodities like beef, dairy and sugar are already under immense pressure.”
Mr McIntyre said Australian farmers could not be expected to accept “subpar market access” while European producers continued to benefit from billion-dollar subsidies.
“That would be a double blow to our competitiveness,” he said.
“This is about an agreement that serves Australia’s long-term interests and gives our farmers a fair opportunity in one of the world’s largest markets.
“We are calling on all parties to stand with Australian farmers and insist on a trade outcome that is genuinely free, fair and commercially meaningful.”
The Coalition has said it will oppose the FTA, however leading economist Saul Eslake has come out in support.
“To be sure, the proposed EU-Australia FTA isn't perfect. No FTA ever is,” Mr Eslake wrote in a social media post.
“But the main ‘losers’ from the EU's insistence on a small quota for beef imports from Australia, and a high tariff on imports in excess of that quota, are European consumers, not Australian beef producers.
“It's Australian consumers, not European motor vehicle manufacturers, who are the losers from Australia's unwillingness to drop the tariffs our government imposes on motor vehicle imports, even though we no longer have a motor vehicle industry to protect.”
The AU-EU FTA was signed back in March this year, but parliamentary ratification and other processes are unlikely to be completed until well into the New Year.