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Katie Woolf spoke with Federal Minister for Trade Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello, Katie Wolvan three point sixty online at Mix one
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  Speaker 1: O four nine dot com.
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  Speaker 2: That free trade agreement which has been reached with the UK.
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  Speaker 2: And joining me on the line right now is the
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  Speaker 2: Federal Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dantee and good
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: morning to.
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  Speaker 1: You, good morning, how are you very well now? Minister?
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  Speaker 2: We know that the UK Australia free trade deal has
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  Speaker 2: been agreed between the country's prime ministers and will some
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: of the detail I guess still to be still to
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: be made public. But what does this mean for Australians.
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  Speaker 3: So what it means for Australians is that we will
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  Speaker 3: have greater access to the UK market and will also
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  Speaker 3: be able to get things from Britain at a cheaper rate.
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  Speaker 3: So it's a win win for both countries. But most
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  Speaker 3: importantly for our agricultural producers, it means that they can
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  Speaker 3: get access to the United Kingdom that they haven't had
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  Speaker 3: now for over fifty years. So that's where the real
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  Speaker 3: benefits will accrue.
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  Speaker 2: Why haven't they been able to, you know, to have
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  Speaker 2: that access for the last fifty years And how big
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  Speaker 2: a difference will this make?
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  Speaker 3: So what happened fifty years ago the United Kingdom turned
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  Speaker 3: to the European Union and decided to join the European
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  Speaker 3: Common Market yep. And that means that meant that there
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  Speaker 3: was prohibitive tariffs put on our sugar, our rice, our dairy,
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  Speaker 3: our beef and our lamb. And what we've been able
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  Speaker 3: to do through this agreement is get the United Kingdom
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  Speaker 3: agreed to eliminate those tariffs some over time, but immediately
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  Speaker 3: we will enable us in all those areas to get
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  Speaker 3: access to the United Kingdom well.
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  Speaker 2: And no doubt will mean, you know, creating such a
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  Speaker 2: big audience or such a big boost for us in
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  Speaker 2: terms of customers when it comes to our agriculture and
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  Speaker 2: our farming. I guess the real issue we've got at
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  Speaker 2: the moment, though, Minister, is really not having people to
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  Speaker 2: fill some of those jobs in the picking and particularly
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  Speaker 2: here in the territory when we talk about things like
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  Speaker 2: our mangos.
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  Speaker 3: Yes no, And that's one of the other great things
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  Speaker 3: about this agreement because for the first time we're establishing
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  Speaker 3: an agriculture and agribusiness visa and we will have that
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  Speaker 3: with the United Kingdom. We'll be looking to expand that
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  Speaker 3: with other countries. So not only will we be able
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  Speaker 3: to get our agricultural produce into the United Kingdom without tariffs,
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  Speaker 3: but we will also establish this Agricultural Visa and Agribusiness
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  Speaker 3: Visa which will enable our farmers to get access to
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  Speaker 3: a workforce. And this has been something that regional and
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  Speaker 3: rural Australia have been fighting for for quite some time.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Minister Tea, and we've spoken about this so extensively
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  Speaker 2: on our show. How soon do you anticipate that that
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  Speaker 2: visa will become active? And there's our farmers here in
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  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory are going to be able to utilize it.
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  Speaker 3: Obviously, we want to get it at debated as soon
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  Speaker 3: as we possibly can. Under the agreement with the UK,
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  Speaker 3: all the changes around the movement of people, including lifting
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  Speaker 3: the rate which young people can go to the UK
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  Speaker 3: or young people from the UK to come to Australia
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  Speaker 3: for the age has been lifted to thirty five in
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  Speaker 3: the period three years. All of that will be discussed
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  Speaker 3: and put in place over the next five years. When
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  Speaker 3: it comes to the ag visa though, this will be
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  Speaker 3: something that we're keen to get up and running as
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  Speaker 3: soon as possible.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I totally agree.
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  Speaker 2: I think that a lot of people will be really
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  Speaker 2: pleased if it can get happening sooner rather than later.
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  Speaker 2: When you look at this agreement from an NT perspective,
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  Speaker 2: how do you think it's going to assist territorians and
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  Speaker 2: indeed local businesses.
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  Speaker 3: Oh well, what it means is there is a market
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  Speaker 3: of sixty million people which has been opened up to Australia.
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  Speaker 3: It means those who are existing exporters to the UK
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  Speaker 3: they'll be able to get their products in Chia. But
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  Speaker 3: it means in terms of workers, we'll be able to
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  Speaker 3: get access to young people from Britain for a longer
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  Speaker 3: period of time. There's many benefits right across the board.
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  Speaker 3: If you like your whiskey, whiskey will be cheaper in Australia.
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  Speaker 3: If you like English lollies and confectionery and biscuits, that
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  Speaker 3: will come in at a cheaper rate. And of course
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  Speaker 3: for our wine producers they get they're able to sell
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  Speaker 3: into the UK at a much cheaper rate. And of
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  Speaker 3: course our steak, our lamb chops, our eyes, our dairy
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  Speaker 3: products all going at a cheaper rate the consumers both
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  Speaker 3: here and in the UK. This is a real win
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  Speaker 3: for our economies. It's a real win. We've been an
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  Speaker 3: open and free trading nation and it is really benefited us.
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  Speaker 3: It's why we had twenty eight years of uninterrupted and
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  Speaker 3: economic growth leading into the pandemic. It's why we've bounced
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  Speaker 3: back so strongly because of our open economy, which means
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  Speaker 3: our businesses are competitive and we produce the best products
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  Speaker 3: in the wor world. So we'll see this agreement lead
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  Speaker 3: to more jobs, better jobs, and in particular out in
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  Speaker 3: our regions where one in four jobs are dependent on trade,
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  Speaker 3: this is a huge win.
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  Speaker 1: Minister.
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  Speaker 2: Is it really diversification that is needed at this point
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  Speaker 2: given our strained relationship with China.
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  Speaker 3: Well, diversification is always beneficial when it comes to exporting.
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  Speaker 3: You never know when you're going to have disputes with countries,
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  Speaker 3: when their economies might face a downturn, so there's less
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  Speaker 3: demand for your produce. So the more you can diversify,
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  Speaker 3: the better. And with this agreement, seventy five percent of
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  Speaker 3: everything we export will be covered by free trade agreements,
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  Speaker 3: So we're starting to build the network of free trade
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  Speaker 3: agreements to really help our exporters.
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  Speaker 2: Now, just finally I understand that this deal also well,
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  Speaker 2: it means that it will sort of set the terms
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  Speaker 2: for future negotiations with other nations, including the US.
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  Speaker 3: How so that's for the United Kingdom. For US, we
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  Speaker 3: obviously have an agreement already with the US, But for Britain,
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  Speaker 3: since they've left the European Union through Brexit, they're now
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  Speaker 3: looking to do more free trade agreements. So they've done
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  Speaker 3: this one with US, this first historic one. They'll now
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  Speaker 3: turn their eyes to the US and also to countries
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  Speaker 3: in our region through a regional trade agreement called the CPTPP.
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  Speaker 1: And how will that impact us?
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  Speaker 3: Well, what that means is that we hopefully will see
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  Speaker 3: the Britain economy grow stronger as it opens up more markets,
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  Speaker 3: and that means hopefully we'll see more demand for our steak,
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  Speaker 3: our chops, our wine, our dairy produce, our right, our sugar.
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  Speaker 3: So we want Britain, we want global Britain to succeed
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  Speaker 3: because the stronger their economy, the better it is for
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  Speaker 3: our exports.
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  Speaker 2: Well, Federal Minister for Trade, Tourism and te and we
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  Speaker 2: really appreciate you taking the time to have a bit
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  Speaker 2: of a chat with us this morning.
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  Speaker 3: It's been a pleasure. It's a great outcome for Australia
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  Speaker 3: and happy to come on the program and talk about it.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, Thanks very much, Minister