Labor ‘dragging its feet’ on trade deals, says Dan Tehan

The Coalition has accused the Albanese government of ‘dragging its feet’ on ratifying free-trade agreements with Britain and India.

Former trade minister Dan Tehan. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Luis Enrique Ascui

The Coalition has accused the Albanese government of “dragging its feet” on ratifying free-trade agreements with Britain and India, as farmers warn a failure to finalise the deals by January will result in a year’s worth of lost tariff reductions.

Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan, a former trade minister who has recently returned from the Australia-India Leadership Dialogue in New Delhi, said no one there could understand why Australia had not implemented the ­agreement.

The Morrison government signed deals with the UK late last year and India a week before the election was called, but had not ratified them when parliament was dissolved for the May poll.

When Labor won government, the Australia-India Economic Co-operation and Trade Agreement and Australia-­United Kingdom Free-Trade Agreement had to be re-referred to the joint standing committee on treaties, which is due to hand down reports before the final sitting fortnight in November.

If the committee agrees to ratify the agreement, the government will bring forward legislation for debate in both houses.

“(The AI-ECTA) is signed and ready to go. The only hold up is the new Labor government dragging its feet,” Mr Tehan writes in The Australian. “Now Labor is in power and a free-trade deal that will eliminate tariffs on 85 per cent of Australian goods exports to India – valued at more than $12.6bn a year – is gathering dust. Every day that goes by costs our exporters millions of dollars. It is the same for the UK FTA – signed but gathering dust.”

Trade Minister Don Farrell said the agreements were a priority and noted Labor had sent them back to the committee – “a process the former government failed to complete” – at the “earliest possible time”. “Dan Tehan was trade minister for 1.5 years and failed to ratify these crucial deals,” Senator Farrell said.

“The government is seeking to expeditiously advance all processes necessary, to implement both trade agreements before the end of 2022. Given the enthusiasm from former government ministers, I expect full support from the opposition benches in both chambers when the legislation goes to a vote.”

Opposition trade spokesman Kevin Hogan said both deals needed to be in force by January so Australian exporters could get a “double hit” from tariff reductions – on the day the agreements come into force and again on January 1.

National Farmers Federation president Fiona Simson said if the deals were not finalised this year, farmers would lose a year’s worth of tariff reductions and quota increases – a cap on the volume of product that can be supplied at the reduced tariff rate set by the agreements.

“This means farmers not being able to sell their produce in very lucrative international markets and losing market share to the likes of NZ, Canada, Brazil and USA,” Ms Simson said.

“We can’t see any barriers holding back this legislation, and any delays are also adding salt to a widening wound. Apart from the EU, these are the last significant international markets for Australian agriculture.”