ACTING LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION, SENATOR PENNY WONG: Thank you very much for coming, Im here to talk about the agreement with Japan. And its quite clear, for all the big talk from the Prime Minister that in the cold light of day the gloss has come off this deal. The gloss has come off this deal and the spin is unravelling as more and more representatives of industry come out and tell the truth about whats been agreed.
I just want to remind you, since weve had the big glitzy announcement from the Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, some of whats been said by key players who represent businesses, industries, who stand to benefit from a good deal with Japan. From the National Farmers Federation: the Japanese agreement falls short of the mark. From Canegrowers: this is yet another kick in the guts for Aussie Canegrowers. From the Cattle Council, theyve expressed disappointment about the outcome on beef. From Australia Pork Limited, they described the agreement as substandard and representing a missed opportunity for the pork sector. And, of course, the dairy industry council whove said theyre extremely disappointed with the deal.
Even Tony Abbotts own colleagues have expressed concerns about the detail of this deal. Government MP George Christensen has said that the Australia-Japan agreement has no significant benefit to farmers. Well thats whats happened today in the cold light of day.
We are concerned, Labor is concerned, that this trade deal with Japan falls a long way short. Were concerned it falls a long way short. Were concerned that the Prime Minister, in his rush to get an agreement, hasnt cut the best deal he could for Australia.
The Government claims this is a free trade agreement. Well it locks in high tariffs for example on beef for years to come. I mean, just imagine, 2032 and well still be seeing a tariff of nearly 20 per cent on Australias frozen beef products. Its not really a free trade agreement.
What we have got from the Government is a lot of spin, a lot of headlines. What we havent got is a lot of detail. And I think Australians, particularly our agriculture producers, are entitled to that detail.
Labor will be scrutinising this agreement very carefully. We think it is an agreement that falls short of what couldve been achieved. We think theres a lot of red tape in this agreement, its clearly very complex. Well certainly be scrutinising this agreement through the Parliament to make sure its in the national interest. Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: One of your former colleagues and a predecessor of the trade portfolio, Craig Emerson, has tweeted that the deal was the best Australia could have achieved and he says well done to Andrew Robb and the PM.
WONG: And Craigs entitled to his view and he was a very good Trade Minister. He was a strong advocate for trade liberalisation. I think its quite clear that its not only Labor thats expressing concerns about whether this was the best deal that couldve been had.
A lot of people, a lot of industry representatives, even some of the Liberals themselves have expressed these concerns. Well certainly approach the agreement sensibly, well look at it in detail. But I think there are a few people out there who say its a long way short of what they could have achieved.
JOURNALIST: With some of the specifics like beef and dairy, wasnt it the case that the Japanese were never going to lose on those key issues?
WONG: I think thats something the Government might say. What Id say is this: obviously industry were expecting a better set of arrangements than the one the Prime Minister has signed off on. I think there always has been the risk, under Tony Abbott, that hed seek to cut whatever deal he could in order to get the announcement.
And Ive seen the Americans express a view that this isnt as ambitious as they were seeking. So I suppose its a question of having a look at what could have been achieved and what the Americans are likely to achieve through the other set of arrangements, which is the Trans Pacific Partnership.
JOURNALIST: Is there a connection between this treatment of the fair trade deal with the news that were seeing coming out now about the submarines and that maybe we may have Japanese off the shelf models replacing job-generating projects in Australia?
WONG: Id make a couple of points about submarines. Before the last election, we made the point for some time in government that Tony Abbott and his Shadow Defence spokesperson hadnt made the commitments that should have been made in relation to South Australia and the submarines.
And you might recall gradually, under more and more political pressure and in the lead up to an election, Tony Abbott finally said to South Australians what he tried to avoid saying, he said we will commit to building 12 submarines here in Adelaide. He finally said that.
Well whats being said today, or overnight by the Defence Minister, David Johnston, is not consistent with the Prime Ministers commitment. And I think the Prime Minister needs to be clear with people in this state. Are you going to honour your promise to build 12 submarines here in Adelaide, or are you going to do what David Johnston is flagging, which is to say well look we might buy some off the shelf.
What the Defence Minister has said is that everything is on the table. Well if everythings on the table, thats not what the Prime Minister promised South Australians before the election.
JOURNALIST: What does that actually mean for South Australians and for jobs here if this is going offshore?
WONG: As you know, Im a strong supporter of the defence industry here in South Australia, we were strong supporters in government. We did a lot of work with ASC to improve performance and to put in the best position possible to maximise how much of this work it got. When the government made a decision to procure the subs, and I think everybody in South Australia understands particularly with the auto sector under the pressure it is and Holden going, that we need to ensure we have advanced manufacturing here in this state and defence industries are a critical and a core part of that.
JOURNALIST: But if it was an overseas design built here, that would still be consistent with previous commitments.
WONG: One of your colleagues in the ABC put that to me today and I said well if thats the response from the Government then the Government should tell people that. What have you got as South Australias journalists, what has the South Australian public got? Youve got one set of statements from the Prime Minister before the election, a very different set of statements currently being made by the Defence Minister explain to us how the two match up.
JOURNALIST: Senator John Faulkner is calling for some rule changes in the Labor Party, in the NSW branch, looking for exclusive integrity pledges to be made, and the like to address corruption. Do you think thats a good move?
WONG: Look, were having a very important discussion which has been going on for some time but still has some way to go, about how we open up our Party, how we strengthen our party, and how we ensure we have the strongest Labor Party we can and the strongest labour movement we can. Thats part of this discussion. There are a number of other propositions on the table.
Im up for this discussion. I was one of the people that did advocate for the changes in the way in which the Federal Labor leader was chosen, because I think part of a strong Labor Party is an engaged membership and if you give people a vote on a critical issue like the leadership of the Labor Party, thats a good way to engage them.
Weve got more work to do and its a useful contribution by Senator Faulkner to what is a very important conversation inside Labor. And its not just important for us, its important for the country. I do believe Australia is a better place for the reforms that Labor Governments historically have put in place. If you think through, whether its fair wages and conditions, superannuation, Medicare, disability insurance these are important Labor reforms and they are able to be delivered when our party is strong and we have a responsibility, particularly when we are in Opposition, to strengthen our party and our movement.
JOURNALIST: How do you think the new Senate is going to operate?
WONG: Its going to be interesting, isnt it? Its the largest number of crossbenchers in history and Tony Abbott, to get his legislation through, is going to have to negotiate with some pretty disparate groups. I have to say the Government hasnt demonstrated much capacity to negotiate well until now. And itll be interesting to see whether theyre up to the task. I can say, as Labors Senate Leader, we will take the role we always have in Opposition, we will hold the Government to account, we will uphold the standards of the Senate as the chamber of review and the chamber that scrutinises legislation properly.
JOURNALIST: Have you had any negotiations or discussions with Clive Palmer himself?
WONG: I have had some discussions with Mr Palmer, but obviously the new Senate doesnt take office until the 1st of July.
JOURNALIST: What sorts of issues are you negotiating with him on?
WONG: I dont talk about private discussions but youd anticipate that as Labors leader in the Senate Im going to be talking to all of the crossbenchers and, you know, he leads a party that has representation in the Senate. Just as Ill talk to John Madigan and Christine Milne and Nick Xenophon. Thats part of my job.
JOURNALIST: Speaking of matters as Labor Senate Leader, your lead Senate candidate, Senator elect, in Western Australia has threatened to quit the party in the past, particularly if he were to be put in a position where he was asked to vote against his conscience on the issue of gay marriage. Do you have any concerns about keeping Senator Bullock in line?
WONG: Look, Joes a long-standing member of the Labor Party and a person whos advocated for the interests of working people in the context of his being an official of a trade union. Thats a core role that Labor has to protect the wages and conditions of working people. On the issue of marriage equality, he like a number of other people have a long-standing position. Mine is a different position but I respect that that is the position that they hold.
JOURNALIST: We often hear in stories of government that governments and oppositions agree far more than they disagree but with the make up of the new Senate will Labor play more hardball and leave Tony Abbott at the mercy of Clive Palmer more often?
WONG: Well always look to the national interest. I have to say this government has not demonstrated any willingness to have a genuine bipartisan negotiation on anything. They never miss an opportunity to behave like an opposition, in fact, spending more time on trying to work out how to kick the Labor Party than how to run the country.
JOURNALIST: Back on the subs the next section of the Coles Review into the Collins Class has been released
WONG: Has it been released? I havent seen the release but as you know, it was commissioned by the former Labor Government, by Minister Smith and I. And I think it was a very important part of ensuring that we work to improve the performance of the ASC and the operational capacity of the submarines.
JOURNALIST: It talks about a remarkable transformation that came from significant problems in building the subs. Do you think that poses any scepticism about the ASC workforce going forward and potentially building the next generation?
WONG: I was the shareholder Minister of ASC and I thought they had a lot of extraordinarily skilled people there. Theyre skills we want in South Australia. Theyre skills we want for Australia. These are big engineering challenges, these projects. Obviously governments of both political persuasions have had to look at how you improve your performance in terms of constructing those projects and dealing with those projects. The review you spoke about I think been a really important contributor to improving performance.
JOURNALIST: I find the timing interesting. Theres obviously this story out today and suddenly this review gets popped out a day early. What are we to make of that? Is that maybe the Government signalling you know these submarines are being managed well now so maybe well just hang onto them for a bit longer? Should we be concerned? What does it actually mean?
WONG: Some of that youd have to ask the Government. Id go back to my core proposition, which is you had one thing said before the election about what a Liberal Government would do. And I would remind you all, and some of you might have been at some of the press conferences, it took Tony Abbott a long time to make that commitment. He kept dancing around it, using weasel words, but he finally got there before the election and said, yes, we make this commitment. People are entitled to be told by the government whether theyve changed their position.
Thank you.
ENDS
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