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Once upon a time, Paul Keating put Australia’s interests first. Long before he became yet another bought-and-paid-for bootlicker for the Chinese communist regime, Keating visited the graveyards of Villers-Bretonneux, where just some of the tens of thousands of young Australians – 10 per cent of our then population – died saving Europe from itself. As they would, again, a generation later. That generosity, Keating reflected, was not being reciprocated in the trade talks of the time.
“We are not seeing the magnanimity from France that all of us who have fought and respected France, have shown it,” Keating said. “I speak here about... the selfishness which has crept into European politics.”
And which still rules European politics.
The continent that had to be saved from itself twice by the outside world, is shamefully dragging its heels while Iran holds the rest of the world to ransom. And, once again, the most protected market in the world is treating with contempt the descendants of those whose blood was spilled in such vast quantities on the green fields of France. Rural Australia contributed far more than its share of sons to save France in WWI.
If they’d known how France was going to reciprocate, they might not have bothered.
Australia’s farmers have slammed an “extremely disappointing” and “subpar” trade deal with Europe, saying there has been no meaningful gains for the agricultural sector in the last three years of negotiations.
In a scathing critique of the Australia-Europe free trade agreement, National Farmers’ Federation president Hamish McIntyre said the $8bn deal with the world’s second largest economy offered an opportunity to ease pressure on farmers amid global volatility but it hadn’t delivered “commercially meaningful access” for agricultural exports.
“They (farmers) will now pay the price for this subpar EU deal for decades to come,” Mr McIntyre said.
While the EU is grudgingly relaxing some of its restrictive rules on ‘terroir’ (names like ‘Prosecco’ and ‘Parmesan’), and getting favourable access for its products, Australian farmers are getting nine-tenths of FA in return. While an ‘eight-fold’ increase in beef might sound generous, it still amounts to little more than 0.5 per cent of EU beef consumption. The same goes for sheep. Meanwhile, tariffs on dairy, while reduced, still remain.
Remember when the EU squealed like pigs over President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs? Almost as loudly as the Australian legacy media and normiecons.
Maybe the Bad Orange Man’s reciprocal tariffs don’t look so bad now?
“This is exactly what happened when the EU signed a deal with the Mercosur nations, fast-tracking nearly $80bn in farm subsidies, sending a clear signal protectionism is alive and well.
“While we acknowledge some progress on issues such as geographical indicators, preserving the use of names like Prosecco and Parmesan, and access conditionality, farmers will rightly be concerned that after years of negotiations this deal hasn’t delivered commercially meaningful access for Australian agricultural exports.”
Still, at least the Climate Cultists are copping some well-deserved pain.
Australia’s automotive industry warned the FTA wouldn’t deliver meaningful reform to the Luxury Car Tax, with the introduction of a higher threshold for electric vehicles that car dealers said would affect less than one per cent of vehicles sold.
The LCT for EVs would be lifted to $120,000 and the five per cent Passenger Vehicle Tariff on vehicles imported from the EU would also be removed but many “everyday vehicles” used by Aussies and small businesses would still be captured by the tax.
An EV, priced at a minimum at the same level as a BMW, is not an “everyday vehicle”. It’s a luxury car, for the boutique market of the inner-city, Greens-voting upper class, and should be taxed as such.
And the EU is almost as mean-spirited and bullying a trade ‘partner’ as China.
