Australian farmers celebrate firm stance on EU free trade agreement

A free-trade agreement with the European Union is unlikely to happen during the current term of parliament. It’s being celebrated by Australian farmers.

Trade Minister Don Farrell. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

A free-trade deal with the EU is unlikely to happen during the current term of parliament after the Australian government walked away from what farmers ­described as a “dud deal”.

Trade Minister Don Farrell met European counterparts in Osaka, Japan, on the sidelines of the G7 summit at the weekend, but negotiations ended when it became apparent the EU had not made meaningful concessions since previous talks in July.

The National Farmers Federation, which last week criticised the Albanese government for failing to listen to producers, said turning down the “unacceptable” trade offer was a “hard decision” but the right one. The stand was backed by the sugarcane and dairy sectors.

“It’s disappointing the Europeans weren’t willing to put something commercially meaningful on the table,” NFF president David Jochinke said.

“This was always going to be a tough negotiation with no guarantee of an outcome. What was on offer would have hardwired protectionism into our trading ­relationship with Europe for another generation. It would have locked our farmers in at a disadvantage to competitors in New Zealand, Canada and South America.”

National Farmers Federation president David Jochinke. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

With the European Commission soon to enter its election cycle, followed by an Australian election, Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said any trade-free deal between the two markets would be years away.

“The EU elections will be next year, I can’t see them being in a position to resume negotiations before that,” Senator Watt said on ABC radio.

“We’ve made clear to them that we think it’s unlikely to occur within this current term of the Australian parliament as well, so, it could be some time.”

Australia and the EU agreed to enter talk about an FTA in 2018 and while some progress has been made, neither side has appeared willing to make the necessary concessions to reach a breakthrough.

Key to the impasse are perceived restrictive conditions and quotas on Australian agricultural products, particularly sugar, beef and lamb, as well as a desire from the EU for Australia to limit the use of geographical terms such as feta and prosecco.

“There’s a reason that no government has been able to reach an agreement with the EU up until now,” Senator Watt said.

“The EU takes a very strong stand. It’s a very protectionist market when it comes to agriculture, and they weren’t prepared to budge enough for it to be in our interests.”

Senator Farrell said the intention behind his trip to Osaka, his third meeting with the EU, was to finalise a deal. “Unfortunately we have not been able to make progress,” he said.

Central Queensland grazier Josie Angus, whose family business exports beef into Europe, said she was pleased with the government’s decision.

“While it’s absolutely at the heart of every producer to increase market access, we’ve really got to make sure that the deals, which are not just for us but for our children, do long-term good for our producers,” Ms Angus said.

“For beef, this was a laughable level of access that was offered compared to the level of red meat access Europe has into Australia and the access to the EU of our trading competitors.”

Having just signed a $US1.8bn free-trade deal in July with New Zealand that provides for only quotas rather than full liberalisation of trade in the sensitive agricultural areas of dairy, beef and sheep meat and sweet corn, the EU negotiators believed they had a strong hand in driving a similar watered down deal with Australia.

EU commissioners hoped they would obtain Australia’s signature in Osaka, which would give the EU quota-free access to Australia’s critical minerals as early as next year. Behind the scenes several governments of EU countries, in particular France, Ireland and The Netherlands are under increasing pressure from their farmers to protect their livelihoods amid ­cost-of-living crises.