Roger Fletcher calls for a fairer Aus-EU trade deal to rectify “scandalous” status quo

Australia’s biggest sheep processor is calling for higher EU meat export quotas, saying the current trade agreement is a “poor deal”.

Australia’s biggest sheep meat processor has called on the federal government to deliver the nation a “fairer deal” under a new Australia-European Union free trade agreement.

Dubbo meat industry icon Roger Fletcher told The Daily Telegraph’s Bush Summit he was prepared to “go public” about the poor hand Australia had been dealt in the current free trade agreement with the EU that allows 5851 tonnes of sheep and goat meat to be exported to the EU at a zero-tariff rate.

Stephen Galilee NSW Minerals Council chief executive, Campbell Mason, NSW Ports, Roger Fletcher, founder Fletcher International Exports and Bill Calabria, Calabria Family Wines at The Daily Telegraph Bush Summit 2022 at the Griffith Regional Theatre. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Demand for access to this quota traditionally exceeds the amount available so the Department of Agriculture has implemented an annual allocation process.

By comparison, New Zealand’s new EU free trade agreement allows 115,184 tonnes of sheep meat and goat meat to be exported at zero duty.

“Our government has got to have the guts to stand up to the Europeans. I’m willing to say this, get it out into the public, we’re on a poor deal,” Mr Fletcher said

“It’s an absolute scandal. Fifty years ago the last agreement was done. When Brexit came in we lost more ground to Europe again.”

When the United Kingdom left the EU, the previously available EU quota of 19,186 tonnes was split between the UK and EU, with just 30 per cent carved off for the EU and the rest for the UK.

Mr Fletcher said the status quo was untenable given the industry’s reliance on and therefore investment in European technology.

“The farm machinery is European, the trucks we put them on are Volvos and Mercedes. I go to the abattoirs and guess what, all the machinery is European. Then I go to my railway, all the big reach forklifts and things, they’re all European made,” he said.

A new round of negotiations on the much-anticipated trade deal with the 27-nation block will begin in October, with a final agreement anticipated by mid-next year.

EU ambassador to Australia Michael Pulch signalled last month the EU wanted Australia to abolish the $880m luxury car tax as part of the deal.

In exchange for doing so, it appears the federal government is pushing for significant market access for Australian exporters, including for agricultural products.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokeswoman said the EU considered market access for beef and sheep meat “sensitive”, and as such would be agreed to in the final stages of negotiations.

“New commercially meaningful market access for beef and sheep meat into the EU is a key priority for Australia in the EU Free Trade Agreement negotiations,” she said.

“Concluding an FTA with the EU will address Australia’s limited existing access into the EU for key agricultural products like beef and sheep meat. This limited access has placed Australian exporters at a disadvantage to many of our biggest competitors.”