‘Good deal’: Labor pushes back as farmers rage over FTA
By Joseph Olbrycht-Palmer
Trade Minister Don Farrell has pushed back against farmers furious with beef quotas in the freshly agreed free-trade deal with the EU, insisting it is “a good deal for Australia” and “a good deal for Australian farmers”.
The agreement, which needs parliamentary approval in both Australia and the EU, lets Australian producers ship 35,000 tonnes of beef to Europe per year, marking a 700 per cent boost in market access for farmers.
Similarly, sheep meat producers will be able to ship almost 31,000 tonnes per year to Europe, representing a five-fold increase on current figures.
But the National Farmers Federation has said the quotas would not give producers any meaningful access to the EU.